As a little girl, Christy MacKinnon lived a very different than most people do today. She was born in Nova Scotia in 1889, a place and time when most people worked on a family farm, traveled by horse and carriage, and went to school in a one-room schoolhouse. Christy was also different because she lost her hearing at the age of two from a bout of whooping cough, the "Winter Fever". Through her colourful drawings and words, Christy remembers those days in Silent Observer. Her childhood was full of warmth and joy as she played and did daily chores with her many brothers and sisters in their house on a hill overlooking a beautiful blue bay. Like many people in her day, she knew sadness, too, from the loss of her mother and other loved ones due to illnesses that were common. Through it all, Christy grew into a remarkable young woman with a fine talent for art. Her loving memories, told as if they were just happening, will enchant readers young and old who share her story of a harder but wonderful time that has passed.