Allen & Unwin Learning to Speak American book Fiction English Paperback 384 pages

Can a house renovation in the gorgeous Napa Valley let two bereaved parents learn to love again?

For fans of Hilary Boyd and The Tea Planter's Wife, Colette Dartford's Learning to Speak American explores whether a parent can ever truly move on from the death of a child.Having suffered in silence since the tragic death of their young daughter, Lola and Duncan Drummond's last chance to rediscover their love for one another lies in an anniversary holiday to the gorgeous Napa Valley. Unable to talk about what happened, Duncan reaches out to his wife the only way he knows how - he buys her a derelict house, the restoration of which might just restore their relationship. As Lola works on the house she begins to realise the liberating power of letting go. But just as she begins to open up, Duncan's life begins to fall apart.After all the heartbreak, can Lola and Duncan learn to love again?

A Londoner by birth, Colette Dartford went to university in Bath and made it her home. A scholarship to undertake a doctorate led to a career in health and social research, before she moved to California's Napa Valley. Here she studied Viticulture and Enology and wrote her debut novel.