When in French

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A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR. "Talking to you in English," he said, "is like touching you with gloves." A language barrier is no match for love. New Yorker journalist Lauren Collins experiences this when she moves to London and falls for Olivier, a Frenchman. As their relationship deepens, Lauren realizes she doesn't fully understand Olivier without speaking his mother tongue. When they relocate to French-speaking Geneva, she struggles to communicate with locals and fears being unable to converse with her own children. Determined to learn French, Lauren faces various challenges, from awkward role-playing at her Swiss language school to mistakenly telling her mother-in-law she has given birth to a coffee machine. Yet, she also discovers unexpected joys, like learning French words that lack English equivalents and winning her first argument with Olivier in his native language. This funny and thoughtful memoir explores how language shapes our lives—impacting our thoughts, our experiences of love, and the collisions of different cultures.