{"product_id":"the-governesses-9780811228077","title":"The Governesses","description":"In a large country house shut off from the world by a gated garden, three young governesses responsible for the education of a group of little boys are preparing a party. The governesses, however, seem to spend more time running around in a state of frenzied desire than attending to the children's education. One of their main activities is lying in wait for any passing stranger, and then throwing themselves on him like drunken Maenads. The rest of the time they drift about in a kind of sated, melancholy calm, spied upon by an old man in the house opposite, who watches their goings-on through a telescope. As they hang paper lanterns and prepare for the ball in their own honor, and in honor of the little boys rolling hoops on the lawn, much is mysterious: one reviewer wrote of the book's \"deceptively simple words and phrasing, the transparency of which works like a mirror reflecting back on the reader.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Written with the elegance of old French fables, the dark sensuality of Djuna Barnes and the subtle comedy of Robert Walser, this semi-deranged erotic fairy tale introduces American readers to the marvelous Anne Serre. \u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSerre, Anne:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - The author of fourteen novels and short story books, \u003cstrong\u003eAnne Serre\u003c\/strong\u003e was born in 1960. Her first novel, \u003cem\u003eLes Gouvernantes\u003c\/em\u003e, was published in 1992, and praised by Michel Crépu in La Croix for its \"remarkable economy of style.\"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHutchinson, Mark:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eMark Hutchinson\u003c\/strong\u003e was born in London in 1957 and lives in Paris. Among his many translations are René Char's \u003cem\u003eHypnos: Notes from the French Resistance\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Inventors and Other Poems\u003c\/em\u003e.","brand":"New Directions Publishing Corporation","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50514537939218,"sku":"9780811228077","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_2e3f90b1-0e75-463a-b998-d62b4e2e18f5.jpg?v=1730986567","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-governesses-9780811228077","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}