Where Silence Lives

Where Silence Lives is a haunting, lyrical novel of generational trauma, maternal inheritance, and the voices that echo through the walls we build—both literal and emotional. When Ayla Demir inherits her estranged grandmother's crumbling Victorian estate, she expects dust, disrepair, and maybe a few haunting memories. What she doesn't expect is a letter that speaks in riddles—and a house that seems to whisper back. As Ayla begins uncovering forgotten corners of the house, she discovers more than relics: she finds buried letters, preserved rooms, and ghostly visions of the women who came before her. From her great-great-grandmother Sirin, a refugee and gifted pianist in WWII-era Turkey, to Melek, a single mother with dreams she buried under a garden, to Esma, whose grief turned love into distance—each woman left behind more than heirlooms. With the unexpected arrival of her daughter Maya, Ayla must confront the generational silences passed down like heirlooms themselves. Together, mother and daughter sift through decades of hidden pain, unresolved love, and unspoken truths to break the patterns that shaped them. A literary tapestry of memory, music, and maternal lineage, Where Silence Lives is a story of what happens when women's voices are lost—and what it takes to find them again. For readers of The House of the Spirits, The Ghost Bride, and The Dutch House, this is an unforgettable journey into the haunted spaces of family history and healing.