{"product_id":"innocence-9780544359468","title":"Innocence","description":"\"A delectable comedy of manners.\" --\u003cem\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/em\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\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\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 \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.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Houghton Mifflin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50556264317202,"sku":"9780544359468","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_2e07d82b-b4b3-40c2-817b-eab848d1eb2c.jpg?v=1731750890","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/innocence-9780544359468","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}