Author of the 2012 bestseller, You Know When the Men Are Gone, Fallon again writes about the wives of military men.  This time her work centers on two very different women living in Jordan.  Cassie is realistic, even a bit cynical, lonely and childless and has been living in Jordan for a while.  Margaret has just arrived in Jordan with her husband and young son.  She is idealistic, naive and lonely.  Cassie takes on the roles of mentor and friend as she tries to teach Margaret the proper way to behave in a Middle Eastern, Muslim country.  After knowing each other for four months, Margaret asks Cassie to stay with her son while she clears up a matter at the local police station.  Waiting for her friend to return home, Cassie finds Margaret’s journal, reads it and begins to understand who this young woman really is.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Confusion of Languages.  Both main characters are complex, yet identifiable.  There are many themes running throughout this novel which would make it good for book group discussions.