For so long the term lds historical fiction meant adventures in the west as saints lived through persicution only to be pushed out to the Salt Lake Valley. As the LDS Church has become a world wide church, the history of the world has effected many members of the LDS Church. “The Silence of God” is a book based on true events taken place during the revolution in Russia. Most LDS Bookstores have it on their shelves. Hopefully in time more books like this one will help us to understand the struggles endured by all saints worldwide.
At the turn of the twentieth century, St. Petersburg offers the best of Imperial Russia. The vast country is filled with grand cathedrals, a faithful populace, and many people who love and revere Tsar Nicholas II and the Romanov family. But as Russia becomes further entrenched in the Great War, a revolution begins brewing within her own borders.
For the wealthy Lindlof family, the only Latter-day Saints living in St. Petersburg at the time, the glitz and glamour of the Silver Age soon dissolves into mass rebellion, dividing their family and testing their faith. Life for Agnes Lindlof will never be the same—changed forever by an ideology that forces equality and demands the silence of God.
Agnes’s lifelong friend, Natasha Ivanovna Gavrilova, is the daughter of a professor and a firm supporter of Bolshevik ideals; she doesn’t believe in God at all. Yet, when the waves of the revolution wash over her family and her friends, Natasha must examine her own heart and decide for herself what to believe and what voice to listen to.
Based on an amazing true story of the only Latter-day Saint family living in St. Petersburg during the Bolshevik Revolution, The Silence of God is a rare glimpse into a fascinating period of history and a powerful, extraordinary novel of devotion and loyalty.
One reviewer said:
Johan and Alma Lindlof and their eight children were the first members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Russia. Their story of faith during the Bolshevik Revolution is brought to life in the historical novel “The Silence of God.”
Granted, several of the characters surrounding the family are fictional as Gale Sears gives readers a front-row seat to the uproar of revolution (think of LDS Church history and “The Work and the Glory” series). One of those fictional characters is a neighbor and friend to the Lindlof family who has a hard time understanding the family’s faith in God.
Readers learn of the miracles surrounding Johan and Alma’s baptism, the dedicatory prayers in Russia, life at the Lindlof home and the struggles the family experienced during the revolution, when many churches were converted to offices. The Lindlofs are considered suspicious because of Johan’s occupation as a merchant and because the family doesn’t publicly align itself with the Russian Orthodox Church or any of the political factions.
Sears provides explanatory notes at the end of each chapter that help clarify fact from fiction and give background on many of the political groups and other historical figures. The notes also include a few historical tidbits that have present-day relevance. For example, according to the notes in the first chapter, when Christianity was first introduced nearly a millennia before the revolution by Prince Vladimir, the Church of the Tithes was established in Kiev on a mount that was sacred to a pagan god. In the last note of the last chapter, Sears points out that the LDS temple site in the Ukraine is only 6 miles from where the Church of the Tithes was established.
Some readers rated the book as follows:
Excellent read and I highly recommend it., August 24, 2010
By LaDeana
Gale Sears captured my interest from the beginning. She did an excellent job weaving fictional characters into true historical events in Russia. I learned so much from what it must of have been like to be LDS in the early 20th Century Russia. This is a book I will read more than once.
Rating:
Incredible!, June 23, 2010
By Allison
This book was a true eye-opener for me. I had no idea what it was like in Russia during the Bolshevik revolution. This book made history come alive and made it more realistic. I will never forget this book. It makes me want to learn more!
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