Ivory Frame is a world-renowned painter now in her nineties. Fiercely private, she is still devoted to her work. She has never been married, has no family, and no children. When a letter arrives to notify Ivory that she has a granddaughter who lives in New York, her life is turned upside down and her painful past collides with the life she's built for herself.
Disowned by her bourgeois family, the young Ivory had gone to interwar Paris to study art. She discovered her calling with the avant-garde painters and poets who frequent the city's cafes and at the Zoological Gardens, the subject for her art. Ivory also found love in Russian painter, Lev.
When the Second World War claims the life that Ivory has carved out for herself, she turns back to the project that she began in Paris—the dictionary of animal languages—which will consume the rest of her life. The dictionary is both scientific and artistic.
Ivory fully withdraws into her work until one of Lev's paintings is discovered which is inscribed to her. It is now worth a fortune and it brings to light a secret from Ivory's time in Paris. Now in her nineties, she is forced to acknowledge what she has lost.
I had the pleasure of attending an author event with Heidi and she is articulate, gracious, and truly lovely.
Sopinka's novel is a slow burn with lyrical prose. She uses her words as a form of art in this solid debut about love, grief, and art. It is an emotionally charged novel that reflects a love of language with each beautifully written chapter named after an animal.
The vehicle to uncover Ivory's past is the letter that arrives informing her that she has a granddaughter. This information is shocking given that she has never married, or has any family. The reader is then taken on a journey through Ivory's memories in times of art, war, and her yearning for Lev.
The only thing I struggled with, and am unclear about, is why the choice to omit the quotations around the dialogue—this is a huge pet peeve of mine. I never understand why someone would willingly choose to confuse the reader. And who decides this? Is it the writer, or is it the editor? This is incredibly distracting and it detracted from what could have been an amazing story.
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HEIDI SOPINKA is a published journalist who has also written for The Believer.
She has also worked as a bush cook in the Yukon, a travel writer in Southeast Asia, a helicopter pilot, a magazine editor, and is co-founder and co-designer at Horses Atelier. The Dictionary of Animal Languages is her first novel.
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