Under the Skin of Silence

After two decades of self-imposed exile, Layla Zakri, a 36-year-old psychotherapist, returns to her isolated coastal hometown to bury her estranged mother. But grief is not the only shadow awaiting her. In a town that seems to have forgotten how to breathe, Layla reopens a private clinic in a long-abandoned psychiatric hospital — a place that once held secrets… and people. Her first patient speaks in riddles, echoing nightmares from her childhood. Then, strange noises. A hidden notebook in a child's handwriting. And the recurring name: Salma — her best friend who vanished without a trace twenty years ago. As Layla's sessions deepen, hallucinations blur with memory. Cassette tapes surface, revealing her mother's voice — and Salma's cry for help. Each revelation unearths a deeper layer of guilt, silence, and a truth Layla may have once chosen to forget. Caught between a past that haunts and a present that unravels, Layla must decide: remain silent like the others… or finally listen to the voice she buried within. Under the Skin of Silence is a haunting psychological novel about memory, trauma, and the silences that shape us.