Fiction, partly based on fact, and very interesting from a historic perspective, this book is a gentle exploration of Ellen's silent world as a deaf person. Alexander Graham Bell is Ellen's tutor in Visible Speech. I related easily to Ellen's struggle and her feelings towards Bell and her passion for her friend Frank. The book is no less than a triumph.
Mr Bell showed me his next word which was Azure. He had written, 'This word similarly begins with our widened "a" sound.'
I strained my concentration but it was like trying to swerve a fast-rolling cart. When did anyone have occasion to say Azure? It was a word I'd scarcely seen in books. Did people use it in common daily talk?
Azure, I said, feeling the long slide of breath from my teeth.
No, he said. Try again.
Azure, I said for a second time. Could Miss Hubbard say Azure? Four years old, same as I. Was it the scarlet fever that stole her hearing too.
'Too far forward,' Mr Bell wrote...
I took the notebook and wrote, 'Mr Bell, forgive me but what use is the word Azure in ordinary conversation? Is it something people say very often?'
Mr Bell looked at me and blinked. Then he laughed. Azure, he said with a musing nod. He pointed to his eyes: Azure eyes? Out the window: Azure sky? He spread his hands; You're right. What does one call Azure?
