The Zaanics Deceit — Nina Post

Exiled from her wealthy San Francisco family five years ago, Cate Lyr has struggled to build a new life for herself halfway across the globe. But when her vengeful sisters take control of the family empire and threaten to expose the secrets that her ancestors have safeguarded for centuries, Cate must learn the family's constructed language, evade dangerous secret societies, and team up with a childhood friend to set things right. Taking the reader on a journey from modern-day Istanbul to plague-stricken 14th century Paris, from San Francisco's financial district to the tropical islands of Micronesia, The Zaanics Deceit is the first in a series of novels featuring Cate Lyr and the Væyne Zaanics language. As the first book in this series inspired by Shakespeare's King Lear, The Zaanics Deceit introduces the reader to the origins and usage of the language, including a functional character set, English pronunciation, and translation. Co-developed by David J. Peterson (creator of the languages from HBO's Game of Thrones and Syfy's Defiance) and Nina Post (author of five previous novels including Danger in Cat World), Væyne Zaanics is a constructed language with its own grammar and lexicon. Inspired by Latin, Middle English and Old French, the language was designed to be passed on from generation to generation within the Lyr and Severn families, and plays a prominent role within the fictional universe of the series.