"No one knows how to navigate the transatlantic language divide better than Lynne Murphy. Moving beyond facile stereotypes[...] The Prodigal Tongue is a wonderful reading experience for anyone interested in understanding the true nature of these two distinct 'nationlects'".
—Ben Zimmer, language columnist for The Wall Street Journal

‘The book’s momentum comes from Murphy’s witty presentation, but its real power comes from its commitment to inquiry and its profound belief that “communication involves a million little acts of faith.”’
—Publisher’s Weekly

‘Murphy’s book [is] such a welcome and refreshing revelation… With wit and expertise, The Prodigal Tongue calls all English speakers home to a language big enough for both fries and chips, bumbershoots and brollies.’
—Kory Stamper, author of Word by Word

"playful, funny, smart and often humbling...Murphy's prose is beguilng”
—Lionel Shriver in the Times Literary Supplement

‘Forget the usual bumbershoots and lifts and lorries – Lynne Murphy’s book on the difference between English in America and English in England is full of much more interesting things… You’ll be chuffed as nuts on every page.’
—John McWhorter, author of Words On the Move and Talking Back, Talking Black

"Finally, this emotional topic gets the hilarious, myth-demolishing and stereotype-smashing take it needed. As an American in London I couldn't stop talking about it with everyone I met."
— Lane Greene, author of Talk on the Wild Side

‘I love this book. Sassy but balanced, authoritative but fun: this is a must for anyone who fears that English is going to the American dogs.’ 
—Susie Dent, Countdown’s resident lexicographer and author of Dent’s Modern Tribes

‘The Prodigal Tongue is great fun – impeccably researched and outright funny at the same time… Murphy is one smart cookie, or should I say biscuit?’
—Patricia T. O’Conner, author of Woe Is I