{"product_id":"the-painting-9781616207786","title":"The Painting","description":"In 1869 Japan, a young woman escapes the confines of her arranged marriage by painting memories of her lover on mulberry paper. She secretly wraps the painting around a ceramic pot that's bound for Europe. In France, a disenchanted young man works as a clerk at an import shop. When he opens the box from Japan, he discovers the brilliant watercolor of two lovers locked in an embrace under a plum tree. He steals the painting and hides it in his room. With each viewing, he sees something different, and gradually the painting transforms him. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSet outside the new capital of Tokyo during the Meiji Restoration and in Paris during the Franco-Prussian War, \u003ci\u003eThe Painting\u003c\/i\u003e is a richly imagined story of four characters whose lives are delicately and powerfully entwined: Ayoshi, the painter, pines for her lover as she dutifully attends to her husband; Ayoshi's husband, Hayashi, a government official who's been disfigured in a deadly fire, has his own well of secret yearnings; Jorgen, wounded by the war and by life, buries himself in work at the Paris shop; and the shop owner's sister, Natalia, who shows Jorgen the true message of the painting. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eExquisitely written and utterly spellbinding, \u003ci\u003eThe Painting\u003c\/i\u003e reveals the enduring effect of art in ordinary life and marks the debut of a skilled stylist and first-rate storyteller.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Algonquin Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/22\/2004\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781616207786\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 312\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.84lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.78d","brand":"Nina Schuyler","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52146994282677,"sku":"9781616207786","price":19.54,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_54c192e3-7646-4d97-bc76-2f6ab44d6dd7.jpg?v=1767678375","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-painting-9781616207786","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}