The Confusion of Languages

February 15, 2018

After introducing a stupendous community of left-behind stateside military wives in her debut collection, You Know When the Men Are Gone, Fallon presents in her first novel two women who have accompanied their U.S. Army husbands to Jordan. Shared circumstances ease Cassie and Margaret into a tenuous friendship. Cassie's been based in Jordan for two years, having carefully adjusted to the explicit rules of being an American in a volatile foreign country. Her marriage is faltering, further frayed by her childlessness. Asked to guide newly arrived Margaret's expat immersion, Cassie's initial reluctance dissipates, even as she envies Margaret's new marriage and toddler son. Naively free-spirited, Margaret seeks adventure where she should exercise caution. A minor traffic accident sends Margaret to the police station, leaving her son in Cassie's care. Free to roam the apartment, Cassie finds Margaret's diary and begins to read; when Margaret doesn't return, her written secrets may be the only means of finding her. As individual readers, Lauren Fortgang (Cassie) and Jorjeana Marie (Margaret) are equally convincing, but their voices are often indistinguishable--frustratingly ironic as their characters are so varied. VERDICT Such careless production choices yield disappointing results, which may send readers to the printed page.--Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon, Washington, DC

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Dual narrators Jorjeana Marie and Lauren Fortgang immerse listeners in the escalating tensions between expat wives Cassie and Margaret, who are both married to servicemen serving abroad. Thrown together as strangers, they report a car accident in Jordan, and nothing goes as they expect. Marie and Fortgang convey the stress of being far from home, where everything is unfamiliar. Listeners with similar life experiences will relate to the competitive, backbiting atmosphere created when people are dislocated from their creature comforts. The pair of narrators give us a range of emotional ups and downs as Cassie and Margaret experience cultural frustrations and thwarted ambitions. Marie and Fortgang play well against each other in building suspense as secrets are revealed that threaten the characters' tenuous new lives. M.R. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine