{"product_id":"one-big-damn-puzzler-9780061132186","title":"One Big Damn Puzzler","description":"\u003cp\u003eOn an island paradise somewhere in the South Pacific, Managua--the only native who can read or write--is busily translating \u003cem\u003eHamlet\u003c\/em\u003e into pidgin English when a plane interrupts his noble work. Strapping on his false leg, he makes his way to the landing strip to greet the unexpected arrival: William Hardt, a young American lawyer driven by his misguided ambition to win reparations for the island's inhabitants. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHardt is not the first white outsider to pay a visit; the British came earlier, bringing their language, the small pigs that run wild in the jungle, and Shakespeare . . . and the Americans followed with guns, land mines, and Coca-Cola. But in this place of riotously logical ritual, Hardt's determined quest to do good could make him the most devastating visitor of all. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eProfoundly moving and achingly funny, \u003cem\u003eOne Big Damn Puzzler\u003c\/em\u003e brilliantly explores the collision of the twenty-first century with unsullied pagan reality--and establishes John Harding as one of the most imaginative contemporary chroniclers of the human condition.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHarding, John:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003eJohn Harding was born in a small Fenland village in the Isle of Ely in 1951. He studied English at St. Catherine's College, Oxford, and worked as a newspaper reporter and magazine editor before becoming a freelance writer. Harding is the author of two previous novels, \u003cem\u003eWhat We Did on Our Holiday, \u003c\/em\u003e which was shortlisted for the WH Smith New Talent Award, and the acclaimed \u003cem\u003eWhile the Sun Shines. \u003c\/em\u003eHe lives in Richmond upon Thames with his wife and two sons.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50923892932882,"sku":"9780061132186","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_98c2e782-03dc-479d-9a2b-0895c63f3483.jpg?v=1738964155","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/one-big-damn-puzzler-9780061132186","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}