{"product_id":"who-is-martha-9781939931139","title":"Who Is Martha?","description":"\u003cp\u003eHilarious, beautiful and compassionate ... exquisitely rendered.--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWorld Literature Today\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn this rollicking novel, 96-year-old ornithologist Luka Levadski forgoes treatment for lung cancer and moves from Ukraine to Vienna to make a grand exit in a luxury suite at the Hotel Imperial. He reflects on his past while indulging in Viennese cakes and savoring music in a gilded concert hall. Levadski was born in 1914, the same year that Martha - the last of the now-extinct passenger pigeons - died. Levadski himself has an acute sense of being the last of a species. He may have devoted much of his existence to studying birds, but now he befriends a hotel butler and another elderly guest, who also doesn't have much time left, to share in the lively escapades of his final days. This gloriously written tale, in which Levadski feels \"his heart pounding at the portals of his brain,\" mixes piquant wit with lofty musings about life, friendship, aging and death.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMarjana Gaponenko\u003c\/b\u003e was born in 1981 in Odessa, Ukraine. She fell in love with the German language as a young girl, and began writing in German when she was sixteen. She now lives in Vienna and Mainz.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e New Vessel Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/07\/2014\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781939931139\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 217\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.45lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.90h x 5.20w x 0.60d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/18\/2014\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Marjana Gaponenko","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40721105387701,"sku":"9781939931139","price":14.44,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_b6b631ec-22b3-4e85-b3ff-da8e63e2f3b5.jpg?v=1628605151","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/who-is-martha-9781939931139","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}