In This Sign

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 Nović, 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 Nović, 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.