Mother Tongue

STICKS AND STONES HAD IT WRONG.Words can hurt you as elementary school teacher Jon Wanamaker learns while working to preserve a dying language. Already mired in the aftermath of a failed marriage Jon is suddenly tormented by ghostly ribbon-like sentences that stream across his vision wrenching him in and out of consciousness.But are they hallucinations or something more? Minutes after the ribbons appear a deranged sniper is hot on Jons trail; a pro baseball pitcher sees exactly what Jon is seeing from three thousand miles away; and a neurophysicist is leaving cryptic warnings while rushing to Jons rural mountain community. Meanwhile Jons ex-wife an ailing journalist searching for one final story is about to expose a deadly ribbon-related episode from Jons hidden past... a revelation that could endanger the entire region.Then there are the whispers about ties between the mysterious sentences and a wondrous mother language unspoken for four thousand years. As Jons swirling sentences mushroom so does an unprecedented opportunity to safeguard his town while reviving hundreds of languages on the brink of extinction.Are Jons ribbons something miraculous as his growing convictions insist? Or are they dangerous as the people hunting for him--and the woman he still loves--suspect? The startling answers promise to unlock new frontiers... if Jon can avoid falling prey to the Mother Tongue.