{"product_id":"9781805332763","title":"Salt Water by Charles Simmons","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A small masterpiece. Simmons has found the perfect, delicate, elegiac voice' \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'A perfectly-cut gem' \u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'Simply spellbinding' \u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt's 1963, and fifteen-year-old Michael is spending the summer in the usual place: his family's New England beach house. This isn't a summer like the others, though. This is the summer he falls in love with the girl next door, twenty-year-old Zina. This is the summer he begins to understand the difference between what adults say and what they really mean. This is the summer he finds himself betrayed and learns in his turn to betray. This is the summer his life falls apart.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis devastating coming-of-age story, inspired by Ivan Turgenev's classic novel First Love, is a witty, elegiac masterpiece, which captures all the booze-soaked, salt-brined atmosphere of America's last summer of innocence.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduced by Vesna Goldsworthy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCharles Simmons (1924-2017) was for decades the editor of \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e. Born in Manhattan, he was educated at Columbia University and served in the Army in the Second World War. As well as \u003ci\u003eSalt Water\u003c\/i\u003e, he published several comic novels.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eVesna Goldsworthy is originally from Belgrade, but has lived in England since 1986. She is the author of several works of memoir, poetry and fiction, among them \u003ci\u003eChernobyl Strawberries, Gorsky\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eIron Curtain: A Love Story\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Paperback \/ softback","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55897633161589,"sku":"9781805332763","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781805332763.jpg?v=1757001646","url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/products\/9781805332763","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}