NBCC-nominated exploration of a writer’s search for her voice, by the bestselling author of the V. I. Warshawski novels

In this powerful book, Sara Paretsky explores the traditions of political and literary dissent that have informed her life and work, against the unparallelled repression of free speech and thought in the USA today. In tracing the writer’s difficult journey from silence to speech, she turns to her childhood and youth in rural Kansas, and brilliantly evokes Chicago—the city with which she has become indelibly associated—from her arrival during the civil-rights struggle in the mid-1960s to her most extraordinary literary creation, the south-side detective V. I. Warshawski.

Paretsky traces the emergence of V. I. Warshawski from the shadows of the loner detectives that stalk the mean streets of Dashiell Hammett’s and Raymond Chandler’s novels, and in the process explores American individualism, the failure of the American dream, and the resulting dystopia. Both memoir and meditation, Writing in an Age of Silence is a compelling exploration of the writer’s art and daunting responsibility in the face of the assault on US civil liberties post-9/11.

Praise for Writing in an Age of Silence

“A passionate Zolaesque j’accuse.” — John Leonard, Harper’s

“This poignant and compelling personal testimony explains both the influences which made her a writer and the kind of writer she became & both a testimony and a polemic; it is one woman’s voice among many, but it is a powerful one.” — P D James, Spectator

“The journey from love-starved childhood to adult celebrity, and the essential role of literature in the metamorphosis, makes for a powerful and anguishing kind of autobiography.” — Chicago Tribune

“In this brief, potent memoir, Paretsky proves as sharp and straight-shooting as V. I. Warshawski.” — Publishers Weekly

“Written with graceful economy, Writing in an Age of Silence is an urgent cry for dissent and a powerful reminder that liberties taken for granted may someday not be granted at all.” — Booklist

Sara Paretsky most recent book is Bleeding Kansas. The author of the bestselling V. I. Warshawski novels, including Fire Sale and Blacklist, Paretsky is the winner of many awards, including the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for lifetime achievement from the British Crime Writers’ Association. She lives in Chicago.