FOR THE SAKE OF SILENCE

(Quartet, £20)

At 558 dense pages, For the Sake of Silence is an undertaking. It’s hard to describe the book’s effect, though J. M. Coetzee’s praise: “A work of history-come-fiction that will grip and sometimes amaze . . .” comes close.

Trappists are monks of The Order of the Cistercians of the Strict Observance who take a vow of silence as an essential part of their withdrawal from the world.

A historical account of the Trappist enterprise in 19th century South Africa might seem dry, but Cawood Green’s dramatisation of events as seen through the eyes of a historically accurate yet little documented narrator brings this extraordinary story powerfully to life.

Who could resist a tale which opens with an abbot’s death in exile, a nun (not a word that the Trappists would use) carving the heart from his chest and a distraught monk toiling uphill with that heart in his hands to bury the heart of his friend and leader beneath an iron cross.

Cawood Green conveys such desolation and hints at such monumental wrongdoings that I was instantly hooked.

There are times when the painstakingly careful history is less affecting — of course it must be so, but in the reflection of events through the eyes of Fr Joseph Beigner, a very human perspective is maintained.

The smallest ecclesiastical details become important and the scarcity of dialogue lends a peculiar intensity.

Drama is present throughout this unusual book, not only in late revealed scenes of demonic possession, madness and murder, but in our privileged view of our narrator’s state of mind.

For the Sake of Silence isn’t a light read, but it rewards the effort of finding a quiet place to immerse oneself in Fr Joseph’s world.