{"product_id":"happiness-as-such-9780811227995","title":"Happiness, as Such","description":"\u003cp\u003eAt the heart of \u003cem\u003eHappiness, as Such\u003c\/em\u003e is an absence--an abyss that pulls everyone to its brink--created by a family's only son, Michele, who has fled from Italy to England to escape the dangers and threats of his radical political ties. This novel is part epistolary: his mother writes letters to him, nagging him; his sister Angelica writes, missing him; so does Mara, his former lover, telling him about the birth of her son who may be his own. Left to clean up Michele's mess, his family and friends complain, commiserate, tease, and grieve, struggling valiantly with the small and large calamities of their interconnected lives.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNatalia Ginzburg's most beloved book in Italy and one of her finest achievements, Happiness, as Such is an original, wise, raw, comic novel that cuts to the bone.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eGinzburg, Natalia:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eNatalia Ginzburg\u003c\/strong\u003e (1916-1991), \"who authored twelve books and two plays; who, because of anti-Semitic laws, sometimes couldn't publish under her own name; who raised five children and lost her husband to Fascist torture; who was elected to the Italian parliament as an independent in her late sixties--this woman does not take her present conditions as a given. She asks us to fight back against them, to be brave and resolute. She instructs us to ask for better, for ourselves and for our children\" (Belle Boggs, \u003cem\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/em\u003e).\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eProctor, Minna:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - The author of \u003cem\u003eDo You Hear What I Hear? Religious Calling, the Priesthood, and My Father\u003c\/em\u003e, and the editor of \u003cem\u003eThe Literary Review\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eMinna Proctor\u003c\/strong\u003e won the PEN\/Renato Poggioli Award for her translation of Federigo Tozzi's \u003cem\u003eLove in Vain\u003c\/em\u003e.","brand":"New Directions Publishing Corporation","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50623115133202,"sku":"9780811227995","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_ba357fda-18fa-4fbf-be86-fa190d244252.jpg?v=1732592302","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/happiness-as-such-9780811227995","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}