Rae Dumont

Author

Fiction

Short Stories

Paperback

e-Book

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/In-the-Shadow-of-Silence/Rae-Dumont/9798896360728

AUDIOBOOK

John Marshall Media

Audible : Preorder November 18th, 2025

PUBLICITY Crystal Patriarche at Booksparks

Available on February 17, 2026. Preorder wherever books are sold.

This book is for you, if you have struggled with depression. There are people who love you, and reasons to live.

If you have tried to help a loved one who does battle with darkness, this book will show that you are not alone

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REVIEWS

Moving, powerful, and filled with moments that will catch your breath, In the Shadow of Silence is a book for anyone struggling with mental illness or anyone who knows someone engaged in that struggle—in other words, for everyone.

With honesty, grace, and compassion, Rae Dumont gives readers a window into the impact of depression and suicide on a marriage and a family, providing us with an opportunity to increase understanding, and perhaps, acknowledge and address the silences in our own lives.”

—Anastasia Zadeik, author of award-winning books, Blurred Fates and The Other Side of Nothing

This captivating novel brings the reader into the lives of characters they will cherish forever. It touches on much of what makes us human.

It also delivers a powerful message: even the deepest love may not be capable of rescuing another from the depths of mental illness.

Lissa Parsonnet, PhD, LCSW. Former Asst. Director, Dept. of Social Work at Memorial-Sloane Kettering

This novel, In the Shadow of Silence, captures in beautiful prose the hardship of being family members of someone who suffers with clinical depression.

The constant worry, the stubborn resistance to stay on needed medications, and the nuanced relationships are all revealed by an author who clearly knows her terrain. Through her narrative, she conveys the many truths involved in loving someone who suffers from depression.

Caleb Mason, author of Normal Family and Thickafog

EDITOR’S PICK

BookLife Review , Publisher’s Weekly

In the Shadow of Silence: A Novel
By Dumont, Rae

Dumont explores the corrosive effects of mental illness on families in this moving debut. Eva, who emigrated from Belgium to the United States, has recently finished her psychiatry degree and wants nothing more than success at her new job—and to fall in love. When she first moves to Vermont to work as a child psychiatrist, she looks for love in the wrong places—until she meets the charismatic, moody ecologist Lyman Willis at a school lecture. His off-and-on communication initially leaves Eva wondering if the attraction is one-sided, though they eventually marry and have three children: Ezra, Gabe, and Olivia. But things with Lyman feel off, and Eva suspects more. When he’s eventually diagnosed with depression, a trial on Prozac seems to help—until several years later when Lyman stops taking it, rapidly spiraling and pulling his family down with him.

With spare but lyrical prose, Dumont sensitively demonstrates the life-changing power of mental illness and how it can affect families, informing readers that she “wrote this book for those who struggle with depression” before launching into the story. She navigates fraught topics with grace and empathy, illuminating the highs and lows Eva and Lyman experience together in a way that feels authentic and genuine. Lyman’s unraveling is painful to watch, causing Eva to feel unbalanced and that “Everything [is] precarious. Quiet moments are no longer innocent. Tired and irritable moments are harbingers of doom.”

Taut plotting draws readers into the story immediately, as do Dumont’s all-too-relatable points that depression can cause those affected to make impulsive, unhealthy decisions. But most importantly, Eva and Lyman’s trajectory shows that depression can be treated successfully, giving hope to those who may be mired in its pain. The couple is not gifted a tidy ending, but Dumont taps into the struggles, joys, and emotions that make them real, showing us that life is messy, wonderful, and worth it.

Takeaway: Sensitive portrayal of how mental illness affects a family’s dynamics.