{"title":"Books by John McCarthy","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780552145954","title":"Between Extremes","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn 1986 Brian Keenan and John McCarthy were forced to take a journey without maps. For the next four years they were incarcerated in a Lebanese dungeon. From the blank outlook of a tiny cell, with only each other and a few volumes of an ancient American encyclopaedia to sustain them, they could only wander the wide open spaces of their imagination. To displace the ugly confines of their existence, they envisaged walking in the High Andes and across the wastes of Patagonia.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFive years after their return Brian and John chose to travel together again to see how the reality of Chile matched their imagination and to revisit their past experiences. They journeyed by every means available through vast empty deserts, verdant plains and barren tundra. Between Extremes is the story of that journey which once more found them far from home, in an unfamiliar landscape, but which for the first time allowed them to live by their own rules.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56290744729973,"sku":"9780552145954","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780552145954_93010b70-6068-4bd7-9b33-2d7830941292.jpg?v=1786013777"},{"product_id":"9780552774475","title":"You Can't Hide the Sun","description":"\u003cp\u003e“Fascinating and timely” Jeremy Bowen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHeld hostage for many years by terrorists in Lebanon, John McCarthy is all too familiar with the pain and injustice of being denied your home. Determined to understand the day-to-day complexities of being a Palestian-Arab in modern-day Israel, he embarks on a deeply personal journey from the shores of the Mediterranean to the desert landscape of the Negev. He discovers the hidden stories of the ordinary people who must live out their lives in the shadow of a brutal conflict, and asks the vital question – how does humanity endure under such great oppression?\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56292182196597,"sku":"9780552774475","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780552774475_d6f14d2c-5ec3-4f11-baa4-92fad7c66d6a.jpg?v=1786013371"},{"product_id":"9781947458802","title":"The Modern Gentleman","description":"\u003cb\u003eA compact volume that introduces modern gentlemen to some of the greatest pleasures in life, from the very best spirits to the most complex hot sauces to the suavest of accessories. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The book is targeted to aspiring \u003ci\u003ebon vivants\u003c\/i\u003e, modern metrosexuals, millennials, and hipsters eager to become the new gentleman. Content not only includes quick guides to great drinks, foods, and cigars, but also makes the case for why every real gentleman needs a great flask, a classic pen, and a watch that may not be “smart” but will make you look and feel like 007.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Features short essays on each subject, with classic illustrations accompanying each, all in a handsome package that will evoke thoughts of a trusted old leather-bound book.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56309848539509,"sku":"9781947458802","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781947458802_79d16add-5d2c-43bb-a578-4a5e7c240eaf.jpg?v=1786030355"},{"product_id":"some-other-rainbow","title":"Some Other Rainbow","description":"\u003cp\u003eOn 17 April 1986 John McCarthy was kidnapped in Beirut. For the next five years he was cut off from everything and everybody he knew and loved, from family, friends, and, perhaps above all, from Jill Morrell, the girl he was going to marry.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor five years, John McCarthy had to endure the deprivation - both physical and psychological - of captivity; the filth and squalor of the cells in which he was kept; the agony of isolation and repeated self-examination; and the pain of ignorance, of not knowing if those he loved even realized he was alive.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor Jill Morrell, the five years of John's captivity were a different kind of hell: the initial shock and disbelief; the gradual acceptance that John had been taken and that her life had changed irrevocably, that all their plans had been shattered.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut Jill refused to give up hope. For five years she and a group of friends worked ceaselessly on behalf of John and all British hostages in the Middle East, until the extraordinary day in August 1991 when John McCarthy stepped down from an aeroplane at RAF Lyneham. A day when they could begin again.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is their story, a remarkable account of courage, endurance, hope and love.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57481576481141,"sku":"9780552174510","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780552174510.jpg?v=1786089851"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-john-mccarthy.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}