{"product_id":"the-vixen-9780063012158","title":"The Vixen","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNamed one of the best books of 2021 by\u003cem\u003e NPR\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"No one states problems more correctly, more astutely, more amusingly and more uncomfortably than Francine Prose . . . The gift of her work to a reader is to create for us what she creates for her protagonist: the subtle unfolding, the moment-by-moment process of discovery as we read and change, from not knowing and even not wanting to know or care, to seeing what we had not seen and finding our way to the light of the ending.\"--Amy Bloom, \u003cem\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"Depending on the light, it's either a very funny serious story or a very serious funny story. But no matter how you turn it, \u003cem\u003eThe Vixen \u003c\/em\u003eoffers an illuminating reflection on the slippery nature of truth in America, then and now.\"--\u003cem\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCritically acclaimed, bestselling author Francine Prose returns with a dazzling new novel set in the glamorous world of 1950s New York publishing, the story of a young man tasked with editing a steamy bodice-ripper based on the recent trial and execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg--an assignment that will reveal the true cost of entering that seductive, dangerous new world. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt's 1953, and Simon Putnam, a recent Harvard graduate newly hired by a distinguished New York publishing firm, has entered a glittering world of three-martini lunches, exclusive literary parties, and old-money aristocrats in exquisitely tailored suits, a far cry from his loving, middle-class Jewish family in Coney Island.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut Simon's first assignment--editing \u003cem\u003eThe Vixen, the Patriot and the Fanatic, \u003c\/em\u003ea lurid bodice-ripper improbably based on the recent trial and execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, a potboiler intended to shore up the firm's failing finances--makes him question the cost of admission. Because Simon has a secret that, at the height of the Red Scare and the McCarthy hearings, he cannot reveal: his beloved mother was a childhood friend of Ethel Rosenberg's. His parents mourn Ethel's death.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSimon's dilemma grows thornier when he meets \u003cem\u003eThe Vixen\u003c\/em\u003e's author, the startlingly beautiful, reckless, seductive Anya Partridge, ensconced in her opium-scented boudoir in a luxury Hudson River mental asylum. As mysteries deepen, as the confluence of sex, money, politics and power spirals out of Simon's control, he must face what he's lost by exchanging the loving safety of his middle-class Jewish parents' Coney Island apartment for the witty, whiskey-soaked orbit of his charismatic boss, the legendary Warren Landry. Gradually Simon realizes that the people around him are not what they seem, that everyone is keeping secrets, that ordinary events may conceal a diabolical plot--and that these crises may steer him toward a brighter future. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt once domestic and political, contemporary and historic, funny and heartbreaking, enlivened by surprising plot turns and passages from Anya's hilariously bad novel, \u003cem\u003eThe Vixen \u003c\/em\u003eilluminates a period of history with eerily striking similarities to the current moment. Meanwhile it asks timeless questions: How do we balance ambition and conscience? What do social mobility and cultural assimilation require us to sacrifice? How do we develop an authentic self, discover a vocation, and learn to live with the mysteries of love, family, art, life and loss?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eProse, Francine:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003eFrancine Prose is the author of twenty-one works of fiction including, the highly acclaimed \u003cem\u003eMister Monkey\u003c\/em\u003e; the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e bestseller \u003cem\u003eLovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932\u003c\/em\u003e; \u003cem\u003eA Changed Man\u003c\/em\u003e, which won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize; and \u003cem\u003eBlue Angel\u003c\/em\u003e, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her works of nonfiction include the highly praised \u003cem\u003eAnne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife, \u003c\/em\u003e and the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e bestseller \u003cem\u003eReading Like a Writer\u003c\/em\u003e, which has become a classic. The recipient of numerous grants and honors, including a Guggenheim and a Fulbright, a Director's Fellow at the Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, Prose is a former president of PEN American Center, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a Distinguished Writer in Residence at Bard College.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50507950326034,"sku":"9780063012158","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_c9b09eff-05a7-4ad6-8f78-246afd3bcbe9.jpg?v=1730870893","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-vixen-9780063012158","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}