The Silent Year tells of a tumultuous, transformative year for eight-year-old Paul Kinsel, who abruptly stops speaking shortly after moving to a new home in the Sierra Mountains. No one except his mother really knows why. But over time people in his small town realize that little Paul is the perfect person to tell secrets to, secrets they’ve been dying to tell someone, somewhere. And as they do Paul learns of local lies, affairs, crimes and even the stunning truth about a popular teenager’s mysterious disappearance. But it’s the devastating secret between his mother and father that eventually forces Paul to emerge from his selective mutism and embark on a crusade of family reconciliation. It’s 1977. Vietnam veterans struggle as plumbers and repairmen to make ends meet in rugged mountain country. Episodes of M.A.S.H. flicker through television rabbit ears. Radio DJs rumor of a Beatles reunion. Newspaper headlines are transfixed on Patti Hearst and Jimmy Carter. And kids like Paul Kinsel can’t wait until a new film called Star Wars hits theaters in May. For two decades David Emerick has worked as a journalist, writing stories for newspapers and television for the Associated Press, The Washington Post and other agencies, and has long been an independent indie rock musician with numerous records.