The Dictionary of Animal Languages

Author(s): Heidi Sopinka

Novel | Art | Historical | Fiction Reductions

A thrillingly elegant yet raw evocation of a woman clawing her way to a creative life, inspired by the story of surrealist artist Leonora Carrington.Born into a wealthy family in northern England, sent to boarding school, and educated by nuns, Ivory Frame escapes to interwar Paris where she finds herself through art, living amongst the most brilliant and bohemian people- the surrealists.Torn between a volatile and all-consuming affair with a Russian painter, and her soaring ambition, Ivory's life is violently interrupted by the Second World War. But her urge to create never deserts her.Now, aged 90, Ivory labours defiantly in the frozen north at her last, greatest artwork - a vast account of animal language - alone except for her sharp research assistant Skeet.And then unexpected news from the past arrives- this magnificently fervent, complex woman is told that she has a grandchild, despite never having had a child of her own . . .

Reviews:


'The Dictionary of Animal Languages is such a special book, suffused with an almost painterly intelligence. Sopinka's characters experience the world with an intensity we associate with children and visionaries. Watching them navigate the difficulties of the humdrum and the glamorous both is a distinctive, if unsettling, pleasure.' -Rivka Galchen, author of American Innovations and Atmospheric Disturbances


'With stunning prose, lavish details, deep wisdom, and emotional precision, reading this book is like falling in love - my interest in everything else was lost.' -Claire Cameron, author of The Last Neanderthal


'The Dictionary of Animal Languages shifts between past and present, across beautifully-rendered landscapes and soundscapes. In the foreground in sharp focus, an inner world, the story of a woman's life, a life spent in rebellion from society, domesticity, and definition. Sensual and sensory, this is a story about the strength of the human spirit and it is about bodies, desire, and irrevocable loss, told in prose that is fresh, urgent and lyrical. A passionate and compelling debut.' -Anna Thomasson, author of A Curious Friendship


 

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Product Information

Heidi Sopinka is the founder of renowned fashion label Horses Atelier, and has also worked as a cook, a pilot, and a literary journalist, in her native Canada. The Dictionary of Animal Languages is her first book.

General Fields

  • : 9781925322835
  • : Scribe Publications
  • : Scribe Publications
  • : 0.338
  • : November 2017
  • : 2.7 Centimeters X 13.5 Centimeters X 20.8 Centimeters
  • : Australia
  • : February 2018
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Heidi Sopinka
  • : Paperback
  • : 318
  • : 813.6
  • : 320