{"product_id":"how-it-all-began-9780143122647","title":"How It All Began","description":"\u003cb\u003eA vibrant novel from Booker Prize winner Penelope Lively\u003c\/b\u003e--\u003cb\u003ea wry, wise story about the surprising ways lives intersect \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhen Charlotte Rainsford, a retired schoolteacher, is accosted by a petty thief on a London street, the consequences ripple across the lives of acquaintances and strangers alike. A marriage unravels after an illicit love affair is revealed through an errant cell phone message; a posh yet financially strapped interior designer meets a business partner who might prove too good to be true; an old-guard historian tries to recapture his youthful vigor with an ill-conceived idea for a TV miniseries; and a middle-aged central European immigrant learns to speak English and reinvents his life with the assistance of some new friends.\u003cbr\u003eIn this engaging, utterly absorbing and brilliantly told novel, Penelope Lively shows us how one random event can cause marriages to fracture and heal themselves, opportunities to appear and disappear, lovers who might never have met to find each other and entire lives to become irrevocably changed. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFunny, humane, touching, sly and sympathetic, \u003ci\u003eHow It All Began\u003c\/i\u003e is a brilliant sleight of hand from an author at the top of her game.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePenelope Lively\u003c\/b\u003e was born and raised in Egypt, before moving to England for boarding school and later reading Modern History at St Anne's College, Oxford. Lively is the author of many children's books and adult novels, including\u003ci\u003e Family Album, \u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe Photograph, \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e Moon Tiger, \u003c\/i\u003e which won the Man Booker Prize. She was awarded an OBE in 1989 and a CBE in 2001 and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. In recognition of her contributions to British literature, she was elevated to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2012.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50409746268434,"sku":"9780143122647","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_05f32343-7691-471a-a772-078e9f807d4d.jpg?v=1729293483","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/how-it-all-began-9780143122647","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}