Siobhan Fallon, the award-winning author of “You Know When the Men Are Gone,” will visit The Bookmark Monday, July 10 at 7 p.m. to discuss and sign copies of her new novel, “The Confusion of Languages.”
The new book follows the stories of Cassie and Margaret, two women who have followed their military husbands to the United States embassy in Jordan. Cassie is determined to follow the rules, while Margaret seizes the opportunity to participate in local happenings and defy cultural taboos. As a result, their friendship becomes strained, and a mystery develops: Margaret disappears running a routine errand, and Cassie discovers her diary with some troubling and baffling entries.
“The Confusion of Languages” details the unpredictable path of friendship and the secrets kept in marriage, all set within the U.S. military community in Jordan during the rise of the Arab Spring.
“I found myself ignoring everything but the countdown of Jordanian hours and the unraveling mystery central to Fallon’s unforgettable novel, in which two military wives must explore a modern-day, cultural labyrinth,” said fellow author Sarah McCoy in a review. “An insatiable read that will leave you breathless.”
Fallon’s “You Know When the Men Are Gone,” a collection of stories about military families in Fort Hood, Texas, is a 2015 PEN Center USA Literary Award winner. Her writing has also appeared in The Washington Post Magazine, The Huffington Post, Good Housekeeping and NPR’s Morning Edition. She graduated from Providence College and spent a year at Cambridge University in England. After teaching English in Japan, she earned a Master of Fine Arts at the New School in New York City. She and her family moved to Jordan in 2011, and they currently live in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Fallon draws from her experience in the Middle East in writing “The Confusion of Languages.”
The Bookmark is located at 220 First St. in Neptune Beach.
