The Silent Partner

Matt Hartman is a freelance editor and cataloguer, running Hartman Cataloguing, Editing and Indexing Services.

Frustrated and angry after a hockey game, Corry Quinn, 8, ignores the
warning drummed into every child not to put your tongue on frozen metal
and licks a railroad spike. The youngster eventually loses half his
tongue, and his ability to speak properly. So the boy’s metamorphosis
into manhood becomes a silent one, punctuated by the writing of endless
notes.

Corry is being raised by his uncle, Kid Lauder, an “old hippie; a
refugee from the sixties,” who assumed responsibility for the boy
after the tragic death of Corry’s mother and Corry’s abandonment by
his father. Kid loves and respects his ward and the two of them make a
good team—Kid, the talker, and Corry, the note-taker. However, as
Corry enters adulthood, he finds his own voice.

Herb Curtis is the author of the critically acclaimed Brennen Siding
trilogy (The Americans Are Coming, 1989, The Last Tasmanian, 1991, and
The Lone Angler, 1993). This latest novel, a finely crafted, highly
readable coming-of-age story shows all of the author’s talents.
Recommended for public libraries.