How successfully did James Watson engage teenage readers with Talking in Whispers?
Kelly, he was successful in engaging young readers because his main character was young. I found this for you. A book about courage, nationhood, friendship and hope. Set in Chile, and based closely on events surrounding Pinochet’s military coup, Watson’s book follows the fortunes of Andres – a young musician with a dream that soon his country will be free. However his hopes are dashed in a security ambush on a lonely road which leaves his uncle dead and his father a prisoner of the secret police. Andres himself is forced to go into hiding whilst the military junta impose a brutal dictatorship. Those who question are tortured and murdered. They become ‘the disappeared.’ At this lowest point of his life, Andres finds himself inspired by the freedom songs and poems of his countrymen, and by the close friendship he forges with two travelling puppeteers. Determined that they will not forever be forced to “talk in whispers, eyes on the ground” – Andres, Beto and Isa set out to deliver a mess
