In 1933, Ellie Elkson’s family stands in shocked silence around her grave in a small English cemetery. No one wants to discuss the unsavoury details of her death, so they never speak of Ellie again. Her quiet but meaningful life is forgotten, but Ellie wasn’t always a family secret. She has a promising start as one of six siblings raised in Hartsbeck, Lancashire. In 1899, nineteen-year-old Ellie disobeys her traditional father and leaves small-town life behind to study nursing in London. In a time when women are only beginning to join the professional workforce, Ellie embarks on a career in paediatric nursing and midwifery that will benefit the lives of thousands of children. Along the way, she dabbles in spiritualism, befriends her quirky London neighbours, lives through the horrors of World War I, and falls in love. But as she faces loss, heartbreak, and a growing emotional distance from her family, Ellie begins to lose the passion that drove her for so long.Silence Unlocked is a meticulously researched remembrance of the great social upheavals of twentieth-century England, and an examination of how a special life can be lost to family shame and secrets. Read Less