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Sign up todayNative Tongue
Native Tongue: Book #1
Narrator
Amy Landon
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Length
13 hours 42 minutes
Language
English
Bookseller recommendation
“While one may certainly choose to read this classic feminist SF work in its recent print reprint edition, I strongly endorse enjoying this work about language and its ability to not just reflect culture and reality, but actually form it, via its audio incarnation. While listening / rereading, I noted on social media, “Me reading NATIVE TONGUE back in the mid-80's -- ooh, disturbing but unlikely. Me rereading now -- damn, triggering!” I hope some of the current difficult conversations in our own timeline will lead to a future in which women don’t need to create Láadan. Recommend the trilogy to readers of all genres, with caution for some dated concepts.”
— Maryelizabeth • Creating Conversations
Bookseller recommendation
“Published the year before The Handmaid’s Tale, Native Tongue is your 1980s feminist sci-fi cult classic trilogy, finally back in print from the Feminist Press at CUNY! In a future America where women have no legal rights, aliens are major economic players, and linguists are in high demand, the women of the Lines (the 13 families trained from birth in language acquisition) labor in secret to craft a language of their own - a women’s language that may finally have the power to change everything. Native Tongue is definitely not a subtle book but it is a fascinating one, full of linguistics and aliens and madcap feminist conspiracies! ”
— Megan • Underground Books
Summary
Originally published in 1984, this classic dystopian trilogy is a testament to the power of language and women's collective action.
In 2205, the Nineteenth Amendment has long been repealed and women are only valued for their utility. The Earth's economy depends on an insular group of linguists who "breed" women to be perfect interstellar translators until they are sent to the Barren House to await death. But instead, these women are slowly creating a language of their own to make resistance possible. Ignorant to this brewing revolution, Nazareth, a brilliant linguist, and Michaela, a servant, both seek emancipation in their own ways. But their personal rebellions risk exposing the secret language, and threaten the possibility of freedom for all.
