{"product_id":"a-soldier-of-the-great-war-9780156031134","title":"A Soldier of the Great War","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eFrom acclaimed, award-winning novelist Mark Helprin, a lush and literary epic about love, beauty, and the world at war.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlessandro Giuliani, the young son of a prosperous Roman lawyer, enjoys an idyllic life full of privilege: he races horses across the country to the sea, he climbs mountains in the Alps, and, while a student of painting at the ancient university in Bologna, he falls in love.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen, the Great War intervenes. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHalf a century later, in August of 1964, Alessandro, a white-haired professor, tall and proud, meets an illiterate young factory worker on the road. As they walk toward Monte Prato, a village seventy kilometers away, the old man--a soldier and a hero who became a prisoner and then a deserter, wandering in the hell that claimed Europe--tells him how he tragically lost one family and gained another. The boy, envying the richness and drama of Alessandro's experiences, realizes that this magnificent tale is not merely a story: it's a recapitulation of his life, his reckoning with mortality, and above all, a love song for his family.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHelprin, Mark:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMARK HELPRIN\u003c\/b\u003e is the acclaimed author of \u003ci\u003eWinter's Tale, A Soldier of the Great War, Freddy and Fredericka, The Pacific, Ellis Island, Memoir from Antproof Case, \u003c\/i\u003e and numerous other works. His novels are read around the world, translated into over twenty languages.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mariner Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50614955770130,"sku":"9780156031134","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_05bc3f94-56b0-4f99-a637-a4cef6dc004b.jpg?v=1732469111","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/a-soldier-of-the-great-war-9780156031134","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}