{"product_id":"watching-the-fire-eater","title":"Watching the Fire-eater","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFormer Arts Council of Wales Book of the Year\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom Copacabana to urban Yorkshire, from New Mexico to a Welsh funfair, from The Netherlands to the Clare coast, Robert Minhinnick's world is a shrinking one.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIts cast of characters includes Rio beach beggars, Madison Avenue literati, saloon-bar poolsters and millionaire scrap merchants. These essays cover a variety of subjects: third world poverty and the internationalism of alcohol, rugby through the eyes of a vegetarian, nuclear power, sunbathing and a thanksgiving dinner for the demise of Margaret Thatcher.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut at the core of this collection is a vivid series of attempts to strip away the exhausted mythologies of the writer's own country and the increasingly-packaged places he visits. Whether in the rainforest or the big match crowd, Minhinnick's language, acid, imagist, compassionate, celebrates the people he meets and, fleetingly, defines their lives.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57490250498421,"sku":"9781854110756","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781854110756.jpg?v=1786442135","url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/products\/watching-the-fire-eater","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}