{"title":"Norman Lock","description":"\u003cp\u003eNorman Lock’s novels weave richly textured tapestries within the realms of \u003cem\u003egeneral\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003ehistorical fiction\u003c\/em\u003e. His storytelling blends vivid character studies with intricate plotlines, drawing readers into immersive worlds shaped by significant moments in history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTitles like \u003cstrong\u003eThe Caricaturist\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eVoices in the Dead House\u003c\/strong\u003e reveal Lock’s skill at exploring human resilience and tragedy, set against atmospheric backdrops. His work invites reflection on the past while offering compelling narratives that resonate deeply.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-caricaturist-by-norman-lock-9781954276277","title":"The Caricaturist","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eA young artist meets Stephen Crane as America's hunger for empire draws them both into war\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOliver Fischer, a self-styled bohemian, boardwalk caricaturist, and student at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, enrages his banker father and earns the contempt of Philadelphia's foremost realist painter, Thomas Eakins, when he attempts to stage Manet's scandalous painting \u003ci\u003eThe Luncheon on the Grass\u003c\/i\u003e. Soon after, he is ensnared, along with Mark Twain and Andrew Carnegie, in a clash between the Anti-Imperialist League and their expansionist foes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSent to Key West to sketch the 1898 American invasion of Cuba, in company with war correspondent Stephen Crane, he realises—in the flash of a naval bombardment—that our lives are suspended by a thread between radiance and annihilation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Caricaturist\u003c\/i\u003e, the penultimate, stand-alone book in The American Novels series, is a tragicomic portrait of America struggling to honour its most-cherished ideals at the dawn of the twentieth century.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46715761950956,"sku":"9781954276277","price":37.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/22230203482883.jpg?v=1754411079"},{"product_id":"tooth-of-the-covenant-by-norman-lock-9781942658832","title":"Tooth of the Covenant","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBest known for his novel \u003ci\u003eThe Scarlet Letter\u003c\/i\u003e, Nathaniel Hawthorne was burdened by familial shame, which began with his great-great-grandfather John Hathorne, the infamously unrepentant Salem witch trial judge. In this, the eighth stand-alone book in \u003ci\u003eThe American Novels\u003c\/i\u003e series, we witness Hawthorne writing a tale entitled \u003ci\u003eTooth of the Covenant\u003c\/i\u003e, in which he sends his fictional surrogate, Isaac Page, back to the year 1692 to save Bridget Bishop, the first person executed for witchcraft, and rescue the other victims from execution. But when Page puts on Hathorne's spectacles, his worldview is transformed and he loses his resolve. As he battles his conscience, he finds that it is his own life hanging in the balance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAn ingenious and profound investigation into the very notion of universal truth and morality, \u003ci\u003eTooth of the Covenant\u003c\/i\u003e probes storytelling's depths to raise history's dead and assuage the persistent ghost of guilt.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'[Norman Lock's fiction] shimmers with glorious language, fluid rhythms, and complex insights.' -\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eNPR\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'[A] dazzling series...Lock's supple, elegantly plain-spoken prose captures the generosity of the American spirit in addition to its moral failures, and his passionate engagement with our literary heritage evinces pride in its unique character.' -\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Splendid....Lock masters the interplay between nineteenth-century Hawthorne and his fictional surrogate, Isaac, as he travels through Puritan New England. The historical details are immersive and meticulous.' -\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eForeword Reviews,\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cb\u003estarred review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A distinctive and ambitious foray into literary history.' -\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A reflective and subtly poignant look at Nathaniel Hawthorne...Lock displays a nimble virtuosity as he captures the speech of the time while demonstrating how the implicit bias, bigotry, and hypocrisy of Puritanism became the cancel culture of its day.' -\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'The novel's somber exploration of American cruelty and religious intolerance is balanced by its nimble prose, sly wit, and engaging glimpse of a literary figure. Lock's latest ambitious look at America's history will delight fans of the series and earn new converts.' -\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46846825529580,"sku":"9781942658832","price":34.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/18398913482879.jpg?v=1758924385"},{"product_id":"voices-in-the-dead-house-by-norman-lock-9781954276017","title":"Voices in the Dead House","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWalt Whitman and Louisa May Alcott meet the horrors of the Civil War as they minister to its casualties.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAfter the Union Army's defeat at Fredericksburg in 1862, Walt Whitman and Louisa May Alcott converge on Washington to nurse the sick, wounded, and dying. Whitman was a man of many contradictions: egocentric yet compassionate, impatient with religiosity yet moved by the spiritual in all humankind, bigoted yet soon to become known as the great poet of democracy. Alcott was an intense, intellectual, independent woman, an abolitionist and suffragist, who was compelled by financial circumstance to publish saccharine magazine stories yet would go on to write the enduring and beloved \u003cem\u003eLittle Women\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs Lock captures the musicality of their unique voices and their encounters with luminaries ranging from Lincoln to battlefield photographer Mathew Brady to reformer Dorothea Dix, he deftly renders the war's impact on their personal and artistic development.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eInspired by Whitman's poem \"The Wound-Dresser\" and Alcott's \u003cem\u003eHospital Sketches\u003c\/em\u003e, the ninth stand-alone book in The American Novels series is a masterful dual portrait of two iconic authors who took different paths toward chronicling a country beset by prejudice and at war with itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47601260134636,"sku":"9781954276017","price":34.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/5dbaf02a7b9b24688458767fb0714810.jpg?v=1778018453"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/collections\/norman-lock.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}