{"title":"Penelope Fitzgerald","description":"PENELOPE FITZGERALD (1916-2000) was one of the most elegant and distinctive voices in British fiction. She won the National Book Critics Circle Award in fiction for The Blue Flower,  the Booker Prize for Offshore,  and three of her novels -- The Bookshop, The Gate of Angels,  and The Beginning of Spring were short-listed for the Booker Prize.","products":[{"product_id":"offshore-paperback","title":"Offshore - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"Dazzling. The novelistic equivalent of a Turner watercolor.\" --\u003cem\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePenelope Fitzgerald's Booker Prize-winning novel of loneliness and connecting is set among the houseboat community of the Thames. This edition includes a new introduction from Alan Hollinghurst.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn the Battersea Reach, a mixed bag of the slightly disreputable, the temporarily lost, and the patently eccentric live on houseboats, rising and falling with the tides of the Thames. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere is good-natured Maurice, by occupation a male prostitute, by chance a receiver of stolen goods. And Richard, an ex-navy man whose boat, much like its owner, dominates the Reach. Then there is Nenna, an abandoned wife and mother of two young girls running wild on the muddy foreshore, whose domestic predicament, as it deepens, will draw this disparate community together.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA novel the Booker judges deemed \"flawless,\" \u003cem\u003eOffshore\u003c\/em\u003e is one of Fitzgerald's greatest triumphs.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWinner of the Booker Prize\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003eOn the Battersea Reach of the Thames, a mixed bag of the slightly disreputable, the temporarily lost, and the patently eccentric live on houseboats, rising and falling with the great river s tides. Belonging to neither land nor sea, they cling to one another in a motley yet kindly society. There is Maurice, by occupation a male prostitute, by happenstance a receiver of stolen goods. And Richard, a buttoned-up ex-navy man whose boat dominates the Reach. Then there is Nenna, a faithful but abandoned wife, the diffident mother of two young girls running wild on the waterfront streets. \u003cbr\u003eIt is Nenna s domestic predicament that, as it deepens, draws the relations among this scrubby community together into ever more complex and comic patterns. The result is one of Fitzgerald s greatest triumphs, a novel the Booker judges deemed flawless. \u003cbr\u003e A marvelous achievement: strong, supple, humane, ripe, generous, and graceful. \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003ePENELOPE FITZGERALD (1916 2000) was one of the most elegant and distinctive voices in British fiction. She won the National Book Critics Circle Award in fiction for The Blue Flower, the Booker Prize for Offshore, and three of her novels The Bookshop, The Gate of Angels, and The Beginning of Spring were short-listed for the Booker Prize. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50103957029087,"sku":"9780544361515","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/KSAglca1fb9780544361515.webp?v=1781099821"},{"product_id":"the-beginning-of-spring-paperback","title":"The Beginning of Spring - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFitzgerald's novel of pre-revolutionary Moscow, shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Featuring an introduction by Andrew Miller.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Fitzgerald was the author of several slim, perfect novels.\u003cem\u003e The Blue Flower \u003c\/em\u003eand\u003cem\u003e The Beginning of Sprin\u003c\/em\u003eg both had me abuzz for days the first time I read them. She was curiously perfect.\"-- Teju Cole, author of \u003cem\u003eOpen City \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Writing so precise and lilting it can make you shiver.\" -- \u003cem\u003eLos Angeles Times \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMarch 1913. Moscow is stirring herself to meet the beginning of spring. English painter Frank Reid returns from work one night to find that his wife has gone away; no one knows where or why, or whether she'll ever come back. All Frank knows for sure is that he is now alone and must find someone to care for his three young children. Into Frank's life comes Lisa Ivanovna, a quiet, calming beauty from the country, untroubled to the point of seeming simple. But is she? And why has Frank's bookkeeper, Selwyn Crane, gone to such lengths to bring these two together?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e Fitzgerald was the author of several slim, perfect novels. \u003ci\u003eThe Blue Flower\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Beginning of Spring\u003c\/i\u003e both had me abuzz for days the first time I read them. She was curiously perfect. Teju Cole, author of \u003ci\u003eOpen City\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e March 1913. Moscow is stirring herself to meet the beginning of spring. English painter Frank Reid returns from work one night to find that his wife has gone away; no one knows where or why, or whether she ll ever come back. All Frank knows for sure is that he is now alone and must find someone to care for his three young children.\u003cbr\u003e Into Frank s life comes Lisa Ivanovna, a quiet, calming beauty from the country, untroubled to the point of seeming simple. But is she? And why has Frank s bookkeeper, Selwyn Crane, gone to such lengths to bring these two together?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Writing so precise and lilting it can make you shiver. \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e A singular achievement. \u003ci\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e PENELOPE FITZGERALD (1916 2000) was one of the most elegant and distinctive voices in British fiction. She won the National Book Critics Circle Award in fiction for \u003ci\u003eThe Blue Flower, \u003c\/i\u003e the Booker Prize for \u003ci\u003eOffshore, \u003c\/i\u003e and three of her novels \u003ci\u003eThe Bookshop, \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Gate of Angels, \u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Beginning of Spring\u003c\/i\u003e were short-listed for the Booker Prize.\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50104195252447,"sku":"9780544484115","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/mWOuIOGJ2V9780544484115.webp?v=1781104386"},{"product_id":"innocence-paperback","title":"Innocence - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"A delectable comedy of manners.\" --\u003cem\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/em\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe Ridolfi are a Florentine family of long lineage and little money. It is 1955, Italy is still struggling back after the war, and the family, like its decrepit villa and farm, has seen better days. Among the Ridolfi, only eighteen-year-old Chiara shows anything like vitality. But it's a vitality matched by innocence--a dangerous combination, to herself and to all who love her. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eChiara sets her heart on the bull-headed Salvatore, a brilliant young doctor from the south who resolved long ago to be emotionally dependent on no one. Stymied, she calls on her resourceful English girlfriend, Barney, to help her make the impossible match. And so ensues a comedy of errors, in which guileless lovers, with the best of intentions, considerable charm, and the kindest of instincts, succeed in making one another thoroughly and astonishingly miserable. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"An exquisite mosaic, where every tiny piece is part of a world.\" --A. S. Byatt, \u003cem\u003eThreepenny Review\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA delectable comedy of manners. \u003ci\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThe Ridolfi are a Florentine family of long lineage and little money. It is 1955, Italy is still struggling back after the war, and the family, like its decrepit villa and farm, has seen better days. Among the Ridolfi, only eighteen-year-old Chiara shows anything like vitality. But it s a vitality matched by innocence a dangerous combination, to herself and to all who love her. \u003cbr\u003eChiara sets her heart on the bull-headed Salvatore, a brilliant young doctor from the south who resolved long ago to be emotionally dependent on no one. Stymied, she calls on her resourceful English girlfriend, Barney, to help her make the impossible match. And so ensues a comedy of errors, in which guileless lovers, with the best of intentions, considerable charm, and the kindest of instincts, succeed in making one another thoroughly and astonishingly miserable. \u003cbr\u003e An exquisite mosaic, where every tiny piece is part of a world. A. S. Byatt, \u003ci\u003eThreepenny Review\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003ePENELOPE FITZGERALD (1916 2000) was one of the most elegant and distinctive voices in British fiction. She won the National Book Critics Circle Award in fiction for The Blue Flower, the Booker Prize for Offshore, and three of her novels The Bookshop, The Gate of Angels, and The Beginning of Spring were short-listed for the Booker Prize. \u003cbr\u003e\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50104260231391,"sku":"9780544359468","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/6fLiYofph29780544359468.webp?v=1781104519"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/penelope-fitzgerald.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}