The Quiet Ear: An Investigation of Missing Sound

Poet Antrobus (Signs, Music) delivers a spellbinding account of his youth as a deaf, mixed-race child in East London. Diagnosed deaf at seven years old, Antrobus struggled socially and academically. He felt alienated from his peers, family, and even other deaf individuals who considered him strange for not signing as well as they could. Shame “seemed to follow me everywhere,” Antrobus writes: “If I wear both hearing aids I look disabled not desirable, if I take too long to answer questions I’m failing, the girl will reject me, the public will pity me, they will act awkward, assume me slow.” Antrobus’s mixed English and Jamaican ancestry made him even more of an outsider. In one particularly heartbreaking passage about the bullying he endured, he admits to “play[ing] into whatever perception kept me safest; black, white, whatever they wanted to see.” Through it all, poetry provided salvation, convincing Antrobus of the power in “finding ways to articulate your unique self in the world.” With lyrical prose, bruising candor, and remarkable tenderness toward his wounded younger self, Antrobus provides an unforgettable account of finding one’s voice. It’s masterful. Agent: David Evans, David Higham Assoc. (Aug.)