Connecticut, 1826. After twelve harrowing years on this earth, newly orphaned Adeliza Huntington moves her hands to speak her first words. “Are you… deaf too?” Until this point, she had thought herself the only one. Born to an alcoholic father and battered mother, Adeliza escapes her small town to study at The American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, the first of its kind in the newly founded United States.

With her new friends, she learns to read, perform Greek theater, skate on frozen ponds, and, of course, to worship Almighty God. Most importantly, she finds within herself a depth of feeling and expression that cannot be silenced. But Adeliza keeps a terrible secret that she dare not speak–a secret that threatens her eternal soul. As she grows into a confident young woman,  she faces the threat of her inevitable future in a hearing world outside the Deaf community. How will Adeliza reconcile the benevolent God from her lessons with the cruelty she has known and her wicked nature?

Intended for an adult, hearing audience, Cacophony is a literary look into the deaf perspective and the birth of a culture. Inspired by The Color Purple and Anne of Green Gables, Cacophony personalizes this famous moment in Deaf history to hearing and Deaf people alike.