The bestselling modern classic by the author of I Never Promised You a Rose Garden about a deaf couple, a child of deaf adults, and the bond they forge through sign language, featuring a new introduction by Sara Novic, author of the New York Times bestseller True Biz, and a new afterword by the author "Astute and wholly authentic . . . This novel isn't only one of deaf hardship, but also one of bravery and great joy. . . . Over the course of it, I was often as gripped . . . as I am while reading a thriller." --Sara Novic, from the Introduction
A Penguin Classic
Deaf since birth, Abel Ryder grows up misunderstood and forced to learn to speak. It is not until he's sent from his rural hometown to a school for deaf students that he's exposed to Sign, opening his eyes to the richness of language and leading him to Janice, a fellow deaf student whose command over words enamors him.
In This Sign follows the lives of Abel, Janice, and their hearing daughter, Margaret, as they contend uneasily with the "Outside"--a world designed, often purposely, to be inhospitable to those like them.
First published in 1970, only a decade after ASL's formal recognition as a language and well before the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act,
In This Sign stands out as a rare, compassionate portrait of the deaf community.
