Graphic novelist James Albon goes romantically global in Love Languages, a polyphonic romance featuring two expats of diverse backgrounds and their Parisian meet-cute beginning. Sarah, from London, is a self-described "slave to the capitalist grind" who aspirationally carries around 99 Ways to Re-energise and Be Your Best Incarnation in her bag. One morning, overzealous street mimes cause her to tumble, but the incident becomes the shake-up catalyst she didn't know she needed that transforms her life. Watching the scene with alarm is Ping from Hong Kong, working as an au pair. Their serendipitous meeting the next day, sharing English, French, and Cantonese, leads to a coffee and pastry--and, for Sarah, becomes a reminder of a Hong Kong trip so sweet that she's inspired to return to a long-neglected Cantonese language app. Another chance encounter, this time at the Louvre, progresses to a promising connection. Nurturing their polyglot conversations just might lead to true love.
Albon opens with a delightfully clever title page demonstrating the power of languages to both separate and connect: here, a French-speaking writer enthusiastically explains the narrative about to be revealed, while Sarah blushingly admits she can't understand. The story that unfolds--Sarah's--is all about what gets lost and found in leaving, attempting, adopting various languages. As an artist, Albon employs gorgeously riotous color for the everyday life that Sarah hasn't quite learned to enjoy. Initially shrouded in blues and browns, Sarah recognizes bright-yellow-jacketed Ping as a beacon ready to light her way out of drudgery and isolation. --Terry Hong