When fifteen-year-old Queenie escapes from the squalid slums of nineteenth-century London, she has no idea about the dangers of the dark world she is about to become embroiled in. Initially thrilled at being taken on as a maid for the seemingly respectable Waters sisters, Queenie comes to realise that something is very wrong with the dozens of strangely silent babies being `adopted` into the household. Meanwhile, lonely & unloved sixteen-year-old Ellen is delighted when her handsome & charming young cousin Jacob is sent to live with her family. She thinks she has finally found a man to fall in love with & rely on, but when Jacob cruelly betrays her she finds herself once again at the mercy of her cold-hearted father. Soon the girls` lives become irrevocably entwined in this tension-filled drama. THE QUIETNESS is a novel of friendship & trust in the darkest of settings.