{"product_id":"basic-black-with-pearls-9781681372167","title":"Basic Black with Pearls","description":"\u003cb\u003eA brilliant, lost feminist classic that is equal parts domestic drama and international intrigue.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eShirley and Coenraad's affair has been going on for decades, but her longing for him is as desperate as ever. She is a Toronto housewife; he works for an international organization known only as the Agency. Their rendezvous take place in Tangier, in Hong Kong, in Rome and are arranged by an intricate code based on notes slipped into issues of \u003ci\u003eNational Geographic\u003c\/i\u003e. He recognizes her by her costume: a respectable black dress and string of pearls; his appearance, however, is changeable. But something has happened, the code has been discovered, and Coenraad sends Shirley (who prefers to be known as \"Lola Montez\") to Toronto, the last place she wants to go. There the trail leads her through the sites of her impoverished immigrant childhood and sends her, finally, to her own house, where she discards her pearls and trades in her basic black for a dress of vibrant multicolored silk. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHelen Weinzweig published her first novel when she was fifty-eight. \u003ci\u003eBasic Black with Pearls\u003c\/i\u003e, her second, won the Toronto Book Award and has since come to be recognized as a feminist landmark. Here Weinzweig imbues the formal inventiveness of the nouveau roman with psychological poignancy and surprising humor to tell a story of simultaneous dissolution and discovery.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e New York Review of Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/17\/2018\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781681372167\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 160\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.45lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.90h x 5.10w x 0.50d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 02\/19\/2018\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Helen Weinzweig","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43067727675573,"sku":"9781681372167","price":12.71,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_e4bbabc9-46d4-4a1e-8f83-adee28ae8646.jpg?v=1690864124","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/basic-black-with-pearls-9781681372167","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}