[close] From the author of the critically acclaimed novel In the Language of Love comes a captivating collection of stories illustrated with wood engravings and line drawings from the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. The subtle interplay of words and images creates a backdrop for Diane Schoemperlen's witty and intelligent exploration of devotion in its many forms--from material objects and daily rituals, to the pleasures of the body and the pains of romantic love, and even to the delicious stability of the status quo. The result is a playful, sometimes surreal, and often mysterious juxtaposition of a historical fascination with anatomy and classical themes, with the author's contemporary exploration of everyday people, places, and things. Michael Ondaatje, author of The English Patient, has called Schoemperlen the most exciting younger writer in Canada today. With its amusing, deeply moving insights into modern life, Forms of Devotion will make such acclaim universal. [close]