Inspired by true events, A SIGN OF HER OWN tells the story of Ellen Lark, a deaf woman and favorite student of Alexander Graham Bell, in his race to invent the telephone, perfect for fans of Fiona Davis and Maggie O'Farrell.
 
London, 1878, Ellen Lark’s world forever changes when she falls ill to scarlet fever and loses her hearing. Determined for her daughter to have a “normal” life, her mother painstakingly teaches Ellen how to read and finds she has a gift for memorizing passages and lip reading. With the help of a wealthy patron, she enrolls Ellen into a school for the deaf where Ellen for the first time meets others like her.
 
Ellen excels at her studies, which leads her to be introduced to Alexander Graham Bell and his new way of teaching deaf students – Visible Speech – which allows deaf people to perfectly pronounce words but without having any comprehension of their meaning. While it doesn’t serve a practical purpose, it allows the deaf person a mask of normality. Ellen is captivated by Mr. Bell and his many dreams for a variety of inventions. However, he becomes less engaged in their studies and in Ellen as the race to create the telephone takes over his time.
 
Meanwhile, the Western Union is nipping at Bell’s heels with their own invention of casting a human voice over the wire. They employ spies to keep an eye on Bell and have strong reason to believe in foul play when Bell submits his own patent. They try to hire Ellen to report on his movements and speech, using both her proximity to Bell socially as well as her ability to read lips. Ellen must decide if she’ll remain loyal to Bell – despite her growing realization of his harmful teachings – or if she’ll spy on him to protect someone she loves.
 
Inspired by journals kept by Alexander Graham Bell's real students, this stunning novel casts new light on the inventor and the ableist ways deaf people historically have been pressured to mask their disability.
 
Contributor Bio(s)
 
Sarah Marsh was shortlisted for the Lucy Cavendish prize in 2019 and selected for the London Library Emerging Writers programme in 2020. She has an MA in Creative Writing from UEA. She is the daughter of neurosurgeon and author Henry Marsh.