Zookeepers Kate McKinsey and Marco Lopez are torn between their profound professional disagreements and their growing attraction. When an orphaned chimpanzee, traumatized by experiments in a medical lab arrives at the zoo, they are forced to work together to help her acclimate. Strong differences of opinion cause tempers to flare and resentments to grow.

But when they discover that they're each sole caregivers for their mothers--one who has been deaf her entire life and the other who's lost her ability to process words--Kate and Marc begin to see each other in a new, more compassionate light. Struggling to avoid their differences and keep work and private life separate, they get more deeply involved as Marc helps Kate move her mother to nursing care and begins teaching her and her mother American Sign Language.

As disaster strikes the zoo and one life-threatening crisis spirals into another, old animosities surface and anger boils over, burning a painful path to decisions that threaten to shatter their relationship. With their futures on the line, can they risk reaching across the divide to save the ones they love--and themselves?

Lynne Hugo's twelfth novel, The Language of Kin takes readers behind-the scenes in a zoo while weaving a masterful, riveting story in "...a work of fiction that rises to an impressive level of literary excellence." --Midwest Review