Secret Language: A Novel (New American Fiction) - Hardcover

Wood, Monica

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 057112948X ISBN 13: 9780571129485

Publisher: Faber & Faber, 1993

Synopsis

At the heart of Secret Language are two sisters, Faith and Constance. Dragged around the country with their parents - egocentric, semi-famous actors who can scarcely take care of themselves - young Faith and Connie learn to rely exclusively on each other.
With years of unspoken closeness behind them, the adult sisters are beginning to drift apart when Isadora, the half-sister they never knew existed, makes her dramatic entrance into their lives. For Connie, Isadora offers a chance to expand her family; Faith, suspicious of Isadora's motives, shrinks from her demanding presence.
But a crisis unexpectedly forces Faith and Connie into their long-forgotten childhood habits, and they begin a slow journey back to each other, blending past and present in a way that compels them to include the other people in their lives.
Secret Language is a first novel of unusual grace and maturity. In it, Monica Wood explores ways of being a family, and of being in a family.

About this title

About the Author

Monica Wood is the author of several books, including the novel Secret Language and a guide for fiction writers, Description. Her short stories, some of which have been nominated for the National Magazine Award and read on public radio, have appeared in such publications as Glimmer Train, Redbook, Manoa, Yankee, Best American Mystery Stories, Twenty Timeless Stories, and Sudden Fiction International. She won a 1999 Pushcart Prize. A native of Mexico, Maine, she lives in Portland with her husband.

From the Inside Flap

"Connie has trouble with time. She always has to stop and think a minute: How old is she now? . . . Faith always seems to know, though her life is the same as Connie's: back and forth to theater towns all over. The same dingy food, the same noisy sidewalks, the same cramped suites in the same hotels. . . Sometimes they go to school, sometimes not, though they always have books to read: big packets of books that Armand sends to them in every city. Armand is their parents' lawyer, the only person they know who likes children. . . .
Faith and Connie endured the same childhood as daughters of egocentric, semi-famous actors who can scarcely take care of themselves. But the two sisters could not be more different. Connie learned to beg for attention, clamor for approval, and fill the silence with words. Faith turned inward, shrinking from the tender emotions that make up an ordinary life. Despite their differences, the sisters came to rely on each other exclusively. But lately, after years of quiet connection, Faith and Connie seem to have lost the ties that once held them close. Faith has a home and two growing sons, but is still unable to fathom unconditional love. Connie, a flight attendant, is always searching, ever-expecting to find her true place in life at the end of each long flight. But a series of shocking, revelatory events will bring the sisters back to each other--and forever alter how they define love, fulfillment, and most importantly, family.

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 057112948X
• ISBN 13: 9780571129485
• Binding: Hardcover