When I am

swept into the light

of life, I get loud.

A girl finds her voice and befriends a stranger, who becomes her closest companion. They speak and sing and laugh, their friendship weathering darkness and light, stormy seas and calm waters. Then, embarking on an uncertain journey to a new land with thousands of others, they become separated. The girl worries that her voice alone is too quiet to find her friend and make herself known—but it’s their voices that lead them back to each other, and that preserve their pasts and pave their future in a new home.

The companion to David Ouimet’s acclaimed debut, I Go Quiet, I Get Loud is a poetic and arresting fable about the power of expression and human connection in the face of change.