Nominated for a SmithBooks/Books in Canada First Novel Award, selected by Toronto Star critic Philip Marchand as one of the year’s ten best novels, and the recipient of excellent reviews, In the Language of Love is Diane Schoemperlen’s innovative and imaginative first novel. Schoemperlen, who won the 1999 Governor General’s Award for Fiction for her short story collection Forms of Devotion, is a gifted writer, unafraid to play with literary convention. In the Language of Love is a perfect example, a novel in 100 chapters that uses the 100 stimulus words from the Standard Word Association as a framework. It is the story of Joanna, who has been brought up to believe that if she just does the right thing, happiness will be hers. As she discovers, life and love are determined more by chance than by control.

In the Language of Love is a tour de force of deadpan wit and word play, drawing profound insights from the seemingly ordinary details of one woman’s daily life.