{"product_id":"book-ax7u","title":"Black Swan Green","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eBy the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Bone Clocks\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eCloud Atlas \u003c\/i\u003e| Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eSelected by \u003ci\u003eTime \u003c\/i\u003eas One of the Ten Best Books of the Year\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e| A \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e Notable Book | Named One of the Best Books of the Year by \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post Book World, The Christian Science Monitor, Rocky Mountain News, \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e Kirkus Reviews \u003c\/i\u003e| A \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e Book Prize Finalist | Winner of the ALA Alex Award | Finalist for the Costa Novel Award\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom award-winning writer David Mitchell comes a sinewy, meditative novel of boyhood  on the cusp of adulthood and the old on the cusp of the new.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBlack Swan Green\u003c\/i\u003e tracks a  single year in what is, for thirteen-year-old Jason Taylor, the sleepiest village  in muddiest Worcestershire in a dying Cold War England, 1982. But the thirteen chapters,  each a short story in its own right, create an exquisitely observed world that is  anything but sleepy. A world of Kissingeresque realpolitik\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eenacted in boys’ games  on a frozen lake; of “nightcreeping” through the summer backyards of strangers; of  the tabloid-fueled thrills of the Falklands War and its human toll; of the cruel,  luscious Dawn Madden and her power-hungry boyfriend, Ross Wilcox; of a certain Madame  Eva van Outryve de Crommelynck, an elderly bohemian emigré who is both more and less  than she appears; of Jason’s search to replace his dead grandfather’s irreplaceable  smashed watch before the crime is discovered; of first cigarettes, first kisses,  first Duran Duran LPs, and first deaths; of Margaret Thatcher’s recession; of Gypsies  camping in the woods and the hysteria they inspire; and, even closer to home, of  a slow-motion divorce in four seasons.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePointed, funny, profound, left-field, elegiac,  and painted with the stuff of life, \u003ci\u003eBlack Swan Green \u003c\/i\u003eis David Mitchell’s subtlest  and most effective achievement to date.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eBlack Swan Green\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “[David Mitchell has created] one of the most endearing, smart, and funny young narrators ever to rise up from the pages of a novel. . . . The always fresh and brilliant writing will carry readers back to their own childhoods. . . . This enchanting novel makes us remember exactly what it was like.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “[David Mitchell is a] prodigiously daring and imaginative young writer. . . . As in the works of Thomas Pynchon and Herman Melville, one feels the roof of the narrative lifted off and oneself in thrall.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eTime\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49340855222576,"sku":"BDax7u","price":22.48,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/328451-ax7u-Square.jpg?v=1734049176","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-ax7u","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}