The rest is silence

the long version

When twelve-year-old Tommy overhears an adult conversation in which he learns that his mother didn't die of an illness, but took her own life, he is confused and hurt. Keeping what he has learned to himself, he begins his own secret investigation into what really happened. At the same time, his father and stepmother have their own problems. As all three retreat into their own worlds, leaving more and more unsaid between them, their family story moves inexorably and affectingly towards its devastating conclusion.--From back cover.