The Lip Reader Celebrates its First Year Anniversary

The Lip Reader, a novel about deafness, was published a year ago, November 2021, by Paper Angel Press. It’s had 31 ratings and 20 reviews on Amazon with an overall rating of 4.8 out of a possible 5. My book is more than a novel about the deaf experience. Amazon reviewer, Maestro Jeff, said, “The Lip Reader is a well written and absorbing tale of a girl whose life without sound didn’t stop her from impacting the people in her world in so many positive ways.” 

Other reviewers made statements like, “It will touch your heart,” and “It shows the resilience of the human spirit.” These readers understood my goal: To tell Zhila’s story through a first-person account illustrating her goodness even during times of social upheaval and personal adversity. 

My favorite review written by the Paper Angel Press Acquisitions Editor sums up the book perfectly: It’s so vivid, so earnest, so honest, so full of love and luminous intelligence, so lacking in mean spirit even as it treats some of the deepest horrors of life with total clarity and resolution. I’m not ashamed to say that even this much-scarred, stoical woman is weeping freely. The world must have this book.

My wife amazed me. Not only was she fluent in Farsi, her native tongue, but once she arrived in the United States, she simultaneously learned American Sign Language and English, and she could lipread both oral languages like a champ. Zhila’s three siblings learned English, too, but Zhila spoke it the best, and she was the deaf one. My mother met her and said, “Your girlfriend is awesome. She’s deaf, but I couldn’t hear a hint of an accent.”

Zhila and I were together for 16 years. During that time, she told me some eye-opening stories—abuse by elementary school teachers, college professors and students—all because of her deafness. Her father was tortured by the Islamic Guard for the crime of being a Jew, and an abusive husband was the catalyst for a miscarriage. Zhila saw life in a positive way and refused to let negativity bring her down. 

Zhila Shirazi confronted life in a productive way that inspired others. With her kindness, a glowing smile, and amazing hugs she made friends with almost everyone she met. Unfortunately, after a 5-year bout with stage 4 colon cancer, the love of my life died December 22, 2015, when she was 65 years old. The following year, to pull myself out of a deep funk, I decided to reanimate her by writing her story. 

To date, I’ve written six novels and am working on book seven with the working title, “The Lip Reader: Mickey’s Story”. It will be the sequel to the book about Zhila. Icelander, an Amazon Reviewer, has read all my books and wrote: “…this [The Lip Reader] is the best one yet.” I think she’s right. When I wrote Zhila’s story, I wrote from the heart creating buckets of tears along the way.

Publication of the novel was validating, but when The Lip Reader won first place Inspirational Fiction in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. I was jubilant. If you haven’t done so already, help me celebrate the The Lip Reader’s one year anniversary and give it a read. If you are so inclined, please share your thoughts about the book on Amazon. Thank you.

Michael Thal is the author of the Goodbye Tchaikovsky.