{"title":"Books by Alexandra Bell","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781529100846","title":"The Winter Garden","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWelcome to the Winter Garden. Open only at 13 o'clock.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eYou are invited to enter an unusual competition.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eI am looking for the most magical, spectacular, remarkable pleasure garden this world has to offer.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn the night her mother dies, 8-year-old Beatrice receives an invitation to the mysterious Winter Garden. A place of wonder and magic, filled with all manner of strange and spectacular flora and fauna, the garden is her solace every night for seven days. But when the garden disappears, and no one believes her story, Beatrice is left to wonder if it were truly real.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEighteen years later, on the eve of her wedding to a man her late father approved of but she does not love, Beatrice makes the decision to throw off the expectations of Victorian English society and search for the garden. But when both she and her closest friend, Rosa, receive invitations to compete to create spectacular pleasure gardens - with the prize being one wish from the last of the Winter Garden's magic - she realises she may be closer to finding it than she ever imagined.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow all she has to do is win.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43204670750898,"sku":"9781529100846","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781529100846_954be35e-667b-4eaf-9ebc-5b5f1e1a2836.jpg?v=1786022173"},{"product_id":"9781529917482","title":"The White Octopus Hotel","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe White Octopus Hotel follows Anna, an art valuer, who is asked by an old man to value a strange ornamental white octopus as his dying wish.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs she investigates, she follows its trail to the wreck of a glamourous art deco hotel, once known for a collection of magical artefacts.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnna manages to track down a key, but when she uses it, she is transported through time to the White Octopus Hotel as it was during its heyday in the 1930s and is caught up in a scavenger hunt. Here, Anna will find the key to unlocking her family's mysterious past, and a passionate love story with a young artist.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57685695299957,"sku":"9781804947654","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":55896442503541,"sku":"9781529917482","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781804947654.jpg?v=1792598847"},{"product_id":"fortune-pearl","title":"Fortune Pearl","description":"After a young woman’s husband vanishes while aboard a magical ocean liner, she embarks on a journey to find both him and herself throughout the early chaos of World War II in Britain, in this heartfelt new novel from the author of The White Octopus Hotel.   Estelle Lewis, a parson's daughter from rural England, has always longed to escape the traditional life that seems to be her fate. So when Ross Walker, a daring airman, appears, it seems a dream come true. For he offers her not only love and excitement, but also the sky. In the cockpit of his plane, with England laid out like a tapestry below her, Estelle, for the first time, feels possibility and freedom.   But tragedy strikes during Estelle and Ross’s honeymoon aboard the Fortune Pearl—a magnificent art-deco ocean liner that is making its maiden voyage from England to New York. On the last night of the voyage, her husband vanishes. No one has any memories of Ross ever existing, and Estelle is told she boarded alone, with a passport showing only her maiden name.   What follows are Estelle’s attempts to return to both the Fortune Pearl and her husband—a journey of self-discovery that will take her through some of the grimmest, and yet also most transformative, parts of the war, and teach her the true meaning of courage.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57536437977461,"sku":"9781529988390","price":22.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-alexandra-bell.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}