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W.W. Norton
April 2015
On Sale: April 6, 2015
Featuring: Gideon Birdsall; Sophy Hedge
460 pages
ISBN: 0393057135
EAN: 9780393057133
Kindle: B00L4HAXNM
Hardcover / e-Book
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Historical
Set in nineteenth-century New England, this exquisite novel tests a womanβs love against her husbandβs 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 Gideonβs 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 paradiseβthe 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.
 Media BuzzAll Things Considered - April 23, 2015
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