The Language of Paradise: A Novel

by Barbara Klein Moss

Overview

Set in nineteenth-century New England, this exquisite novel tests a woman’s love against her husband’s utopian quest.

Sophy Hedge, the artistic daughter of the town's minister, falls in love with Gideon Birdsall, a driven theology student assisting her father with a Hebrew lexicon. Sophy is drawn to Gideon's intellect, passion, and spiritual nature, while Gideon glimpses in her a free soul unbound by convention. Yet Gideon's restlessness after they wed worries Sophy, and she finds his friendship with Leander Solloway, the charismatic new schoolmaster, a cause for anxiety. As the men immerse themselves in Gideon’s mystical theories, Sophy translates her fears into secret paintings.

When Sophy becomes pregnant, Gideon and Leander construct a faux Eden in a greenhouse as part of a daring experiment to discover the language of paradise—the tongue Adam spoke when he named the creatures of the earth. Sophy must decide whether to live and paint in the world her husband has made or escape to save her child and herself.

Addressing the timeless issues of faith, art, and the elusive dream of perfection, Barbara Klein Moss has captured the fragility of human longing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393057133
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	04/06/2015
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Barbara Klein Moss is the author of the story collection Little Edens. Her fiction has appeared in a number of journals including the Missouri Review and the Georgia Review, and in Best American Short Stories. She has received fellowships from MacDowell, Bread Loaf, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She lives in Annapolis, Maryland.

Editorial Reviews

02/16/2015
In an earlier story collection, Little Edens, Moss explored humans’ pale imitations of paradise in their all-too-flawed lives. In her debut novel, she further delves into utopian ideals. Set in 1830s New England, Sophy, the free-spirited adopted daughter of a minister, begins a relationship with Gideon, who is studying theology and Hebrew with Sophy’s father. But even (or especially) after their marriage, Gideon discovers that their daily realities fail to capture the Edenic rapture of their initial encounter, when he spotted Sophy dancing in a meadow. Gideon’s real passion is reserved for his studies, particularly his quest for the original language uttered by Adam in the Garden of Eden. When Sophy becomes pregnant, Gideon, aided by the town’s beguiling and shrewd new schoolmaster, hatches a plan to use the child to discover the language of paradise. The novel’s world never collapses under the weight of the substantial research that informs it; it is vibrant and, especially in the second half, engrossing. Throughout, Moss’s language is precise and controlled, effectively describing the inner lives of Gideon and, in particular, Sophy, whose initial childlike innocence makes way for something much stronger and harder earned. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"Compelling, powerful, lit by art and language, this novel of ideas embodies in the struggles of a passionate family a great intellectual and spiritual conflict. And what a family this is! Moss's brilliantly realized characters will stay with me for a long time."

Andrea Barrett

"Beautifully written…an ambitious debut."

A.V. Club - Samantha Nelson

"Barbara Klein Moss inhabits the hearts and minds of her characters with such empathy that it’s hard not to feel that she witnessed their complicated lives firsthand. I am full of admiration for the way in which The Language of Paradise brings to life the struggles of faith and family. An utterly absorbing novel."

Margot Livesey

"The Language of Paradise quickly carves its own stunningly unique niche in the realm of historical fiction. The indelibly drawn characters think with their hearts, love with their minds as they navigate their faith and their passions. Moss’s debut novel is unconventional in all the right ways."

Kimberly Elkins

★ 02/15/2015
When Gideon Birdsall first catches sight of Sophy Hedge's private joyful dance in a sunlit meadow, he imagines her as some wild abandoned wood nymph, not the parson's daughter, and she, suddenly aware of being watched, thinks him more an angel than her father's zealous student invited for Sunday dinner. But mythical images cannot survive the brutal demands of daily life, and their marriage lies stagnant until the appearance of a mysterious and mesmerizing schoolmaster transforms them into parents of a child who will be the ultimate proof of Gideon's passionate philological quest. Ugly reality, in the form of 19th-century New England prejudice, soon intrudes into their paradise and, cast out of Eden, it is the more mundane Sophy and not the brilliant Gideon who guides their little family back into the real world. VERDICT A linguistic tour de force whose deft exploration of language, intellect, family, love, nature, and art will delight discerning readers everywhere, especially fans of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry James.—Cynthia Johnson, Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, MA

Library Journal