Dictionary of Animal Languages

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‘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.’

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‘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.’

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‘Not only a dictionary of animal language, but also an atlas of the human heart, Heidi Sopinka's gorgeous debut novel maps the difficult territory between history and memory, love and loss.’

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‘[T]ransfixing.’

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‘A rich, painterly novel, a space where image and sound and the powers of the written word meet and mingle.’

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‘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.’

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‘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.’

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‘[A] brilliant book.’

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‘[P]atient readers will find, as I did, that a bit of mystery about what exactly happened is just enough bait to keep them going until they’ve gotten to know Ivory so well that the last third or so of the book is emotionally devastating in the best way. This book is a powerful and brilliantly constructed story about loss, love, and communication of all types.’

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‘A stunning novel with quiet, prayerful prose to take your breath away. Sopinka flawlessly inhabits the rich inner world of her characters as if she could shed her own skin. Powerful in a soft way, like the static electricity before a storm.’

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‘Elements in the book build and shift, weaving together to create a vivid and powerfully human reckoning of a life, of ageing and loss, of a century of conflict, and of the relationship between the natural and the industrial world.’

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‘The writing is poetic and powerful … the language is full of imagery and energy, active and fresh. Sopinka has her own grammar, using sentence fragments in moments of urgency.’ FIVE STARS

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‘[M]ade me push past my own expectations of literature.’

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‘[T]he language of Sopinka’s Dictionary ... makes me feel I’m walking through lush dreamscapes from an art museum’s walls.’

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‘[R]ead it in two sittings, and completely enjoyed myself ... the depth to which I could slip into Ivory’s point of view, the rhythms of her emotional responses, was a dealmaker for me. And the fact that the story’s way of evincing feeling and thought felt more evoked than stated—there was just so much in this novel that held me.’

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‘Sopinka isn’t just a terrific writer, she’s a great thinker. Her writing has particular sway and grace when she writes about the natural world.’

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