When his difficult mother is diagnosed with ALS, a sharp-witted yet sensitive artist named Noah York reluctantly returns to his New Hampshire hometown - and all the ghosts he left behind. Fans of Andrew Sean Greer, Jonathan Tropper, and Armistead Maupin will adore this outrageously funny, deeply touching, buoyant new novel from the award-winning author of Leave Myself Behind. As it turns out, you can go home again. But sometimes, you really, really don't want to . . . Home, for Noah York, is Oakland, New Hampshire, the sleepy little town where Noah's mother, Virginia, had a psychoticbreakdown and Noah got beaten to a pulp as a teenager. Then there were the good times--and Noah's not sure which ones aremore painful to recall. Now thirty-seven and eking out a living as an artist in Providence, Rhode Island, Noah looks much the same--and swears just ascolorfully--as he did in high school. Virginia has become a wildly successful poet who made him the subject of her most famouspoem, "The Lost Soul," a label Noah will never live down. And J.D., the one who got away--because Noah stupidly drove himaway--is in a loving marriage with a successful, attractive man whom Noah despises wholeheartedly. Is it any surprise that Noah wishes he could ignore his mother's summons to come visit? But Virginia has shattering news to deliver, and a request he can't refuse. Soon, Noah will track down the sister and extendedfamily he never knew existed, try to keep his kleptomaniac cousin out of jail, feud with a belligerent neighbor, confront J.D.'sjealous husband--and face J.D. himself, the ache from Noah's past that never fades. . . . All the while, contending with hisbrilliant, unpredictable mother. Bittersweet, hilarious, and moving, and as unapologetically candid and unforgettable as Noah himself, The Language of Love and Loss is a story about growing older, getting lost--and finding your way back to the only truths that really matter.