Cally Fisher volunteers to do a sponsored silence to raise money for a children's hospice but her silence lasts for not one, but thirty-one days. It is a year since her Mum died but Cally's family seems to be falling apart. One of the worst things is that her Dad won't talk about her Mum. On her Dad's birthday which is the anniversary of her Mum's death Cally sees her Mum looking happy and wearing her Red Raincoat.

At the same time a large Irish wolfhound comes into Cally's life but no-one will believe Cally or talk about what she has seen and she decides to keep up her silence indefinitely. Her life seems to be getting worse when they have to give up their home and move into a flat but the people that Cally meets help to change her family's life for ever.

I like all the characters in the book. Cally's Dad is the saddest because he just can't cope with life without his wife, and this makes life even harder for Cally and her brother. At the flat she meets Sam who is blind and deaf and has a weak heart but Cally finds that she can communicate with him better than with other most people. His Mum, Mrs Cooper is very kind to Cally. The other main character is Jed, a homeless beggar and he is the person who holds the key to Cally's family's recovery.

This is a story about coping with the death of someone very precious. I have read several books about people dying and I compared this one to: Shadow by Michael Morpurgo, Goodnight Mr Tom by Michelle Magorian, and Sky hawk by Gill Lewis. At first I thought I would not love it as much as I loved these books but it gets better and better the more you read I had no idea about what would happen in the end. I hope that lots of children read and enjoy it as much as I did.

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