Author(s): Heidi Sopinka

General Fiction

It's okay for men to make bad art. There's no price on their head for doing it ... Nothing for men is pre-determined, except their chance at great success.When Romy, a gifted young artist in the male-dominated art scene of 1970s California, dies in suspicious circumstances, it is not long before her husband Billy finds a replacement.Paz, fresh out of art school in New York, returns to California to take her place. But she is haunted by Romy, who is everywhere- in the photos and notebooks and art strewn around the house, and in the eyes of the baby she left behind, the baby Paz is now mother to.Then, strange things begin to happen. Photographs move, noises reverberate through the house, people start to question what really happened the night Romy died, and then a postcard in her handwriting arrives. Praise for The Dictionary of Animal Languages-'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 DisturbancesPraise for The Dictionary of Animal Languages-'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 NeanderthalPraise for The Dictionary of Animal Languages-'Masterfully written in expressive prose, The Dictionary of Animal Languages is a tale of an artist's life outlining love and loss and the surprises, both good and bad, that were thrown in her path. It is full of keen observations which are almost meditative, perhaps an indication of the artist's ability to appreciate beauty and small details, especially in nature, which give continued meaning to life even when events turn tragic.'-Carina Mcnally, Irish Examiner