Song of Silence” is the eighth book published by Ian Prattis and is his first novel. It was first written in 1975. Soon forgotten, yet rediscovered in 2011. The author dug it out of a filing cabinet where it was gathering dust. Modern technology enabled the yellowing typed manuscript to be transformed into a computer ready document. It required attention to spelling and typos yet surprisingly nothing further – it stands pristine as when it was first written. It is an allegory for the life difficulties experienced by the author at that time. The surprise was how could he have written such a book while in a desperate state of mind? The author was a real mess – with a failing marriage in the Hebrides and trying to keep a career going at Carleton University in Canada. He was not doing a good job with either. 
 

The novel is set in the Hebrides – an island chain in the North Atlantic off the NW coast of Scotland. It reads like an extended prose poem and reflects the primal forces of nature and of human nature. The focus is on cycles of maturing, downfall and redemption of one family. In particular the struggles of the main character – Callum Mor – a gifted child, master mariner, derelict drunk, who finally gains wisdom from a hard life’s journey. The novel has nature’s harsh and beautiful rhapsody; human failings of epic proportions highlighted by violence, greed, power, rape, murder, abortion and desertion. The failings are topped by the triumph of human decency, preceded by sharp and often grim humour and resilience. 
 

The author is a retired professor, having taught at Carleton University in Ottawa from 1970 - 2007. His recent books – of a different genre – are Anthropology At The Edge (1997); The Essential Spiral (2002); Failsafe: Saving The Earth From Ourselves (2008); Earth My Body Water My Blood (2011). His books provided the inspiration for a CD titled “Feed The Machine” released by SLYDE an upcoming hard rock/blues band. Their keyboardist was a student in his university class on Ecology and Consciousness. The lyrics for SLYDE’s CD were inspired by the class text: The Essential Spiral: Ecology and Consciousness After 9/11. Who knows what they will do with Song of Silence! http://slyde.ca/discography/feed-the-machine/