The Thunder and the Silence

<p>A sweeping historical novel revealing the man behind America's most enigmatic Founding Father-Benjamin Franklin whose brilliance built a nation but shattered his family...</p><p>From Boston's candlelit print shops to Paris's glittering salons The Thunder and the Silence follows Benjamin Franklin's rise-from runaway apprentice to statesman-and the family torn apart along the way.</p><p>For readers of <em>Wolf Hall</em> and <em>The Book of Lost Names</em> this is Franklin's story as you've never seen it: the brilliant mind who built a nation but couldn't mend his own family.</p><p>This richly imagined novel brings to life the lesser-known Franklin-the young husband who brought his illegitimate son into his home the devastated father who lost his beloved four-year-old to smallpox and the aging diplomat who sacrificed his relationship with his loyalist son for the cause of independence.</p><p>Across seven masterfully crafted parts spanning 1706-1790 readers witness the triumphs and heartbreaks that defined a genius's life:</p><p>• Young Ben's brutal apprenticeship under his jealous brother James and his secret identity as the witty widow Silence Dogood • His unconventional marriage to Deborah Read and their decision to raise his illegitimate son William as their own • The heartbreaking loss of their son Franky that nearly destroyed their marriage • His five-year absence in London that left Deborah to manage everything alone-and ultimately die without seeing him again • The painful fracturing of father and son as William chose loyalty to the Crown while Ben embraced revolution • His brilliant diplomatic triumph in securing the French alliance that won the war • His final years grappling with the human cost of his public achievements</p><p><em>The Thunder and the Silence</em> illuminates Franklin not just as the inventor diplomat and wit of history books but as a man navigating the universal struggles of <strong>ambition versus family</strong> <strong>principle versus pragmatism</strong> and <strong>public duty versus private loyalty</strong>.</p><p><em>By the end you'll see Franklin not as a figure in history-but as a father a husband and a man haunted by what he could not save.</em></p><p>Perfect for readers of historical fiction who loved <em>Wolf Hall</em> <em>Hamnet</em> or <em>The Book of Lost Names</em> this intimate portrait transforms Benjamin Franklin from a face on currency into a fully realized human being whose genius came at profound personal cost.</p><p><strong>A story of sacrifice ambition love and loss that asks: What is the price of greatness and who ultimately pays it?</strong></p><p></p>