{"title":"Series: Penguin European Writers","description":"\u003cp\u003eWelcome to the \u003cem\u003ePenguin European Writers\u003c\/em\u003e collection, a remarkable series that transports readers into the heart of European culture through its meticulously curated selection of novels. This series features literary gems from across the continent, offering an engaging exploration into the diverse narratives and perspectives that define Europe's rich tapestry of storytelling.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEach book in the collection stands as a testament to the innate power of literature to transcend borders and connect us to the human experiences beyond our own. From timeless classics to lesser-known works, these novels delve into a broad spectrum of themes, capturing the essence of European life in both its simplicity and complexity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAn exemplary addition to any reader's collection is \u003cem\u003eStories of Ireland\u003c\/em\u003e, which richly illustrates Ireland's vibrant tradition of storytelling. This collection promises to enchant readers with tales that echo the country's quintessential wit, wisdom, and lyrical beauty.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIdeal for lovers of general fiction, the \u003cem\u003ePenguin European Writers\u003c\/em\u003e series invites you to embark on a literary journey that encapsulates the soul of Europe through the eyes of its most celebrated and enduring voices. Dive in and discover a diverse range of narratives that continue to resonate with audiences around the globe.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-beautiful-summer-by-cesare-pavese-9780241983393","title":"The Beautiful Summer","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1930s Italy, a young girl falls in love for the first time, with devastating consequences; introduction by Elizabeth Strout.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eLife was a perpetual holiday in those days...\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt's the height of summer in 1930s Italy, and sixteen-year-old Ginia is desperate for adventure. So begins a fateful friendship with Amelia, a stylish and sophisticated artist's model who envelops her in a dazzling new world of bohemian artists and intoxicating freedom. Under the spell of her new friends, Ginia soon falls in love with Guido, an enigmatic young painter. It's the start of a desperate love affair, charged with false hope and overwhelming passion—destined to last no longer than the course of a summer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Beautiful Summer\u003c\/em\u003e is a gorgeous coming-of-age tale of lost innocence and first love, by one of Italy's greatest writers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46495710904556,"sku":"9780241983393","price":24.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/3547473482274.jpg?v=1748483002"},{"product_id":"the-train-was-on-time-by-heinrich-boll-9780241370384","title":"The Train Was on Time","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA hauntingly beautiful tale about a young German soldier, from a Nobel Prize-winning author, introduced by Anna Funder.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTwenty-four-year-old Andreas, a disillusioned German soldier, is travelling on a troop train to the Eastern Front when he has an awful premonition that he will die in exactly five days. As he hurtles towards his death, he reflects on the chaos around him - the naive soldiers, the painfully thin girl who pours his coffee, the ruined countryside - with sudden, heart-breaking poignancy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eArriving in Poland the night before he is certain he will die, he meets Olina, a beautiful prostitute, and together they attempt to escape his fate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Train Was on Time\u003c\/em\u003e explores themes of fate, existential dread, and the fleeting moments of connection that make life meaningful amid chaos.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46534021644524,"sku":"9780241370384","price":24.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/25503173482273.jpg?v=1749403735"},{"product_id":"three-summers-by-margarita-liberaki-9780241475065","title":"Three Summers","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA gorgeous Greek modern classic about three sisters coming-of-age over the course of three summers, introduced by Polly Samson.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThat summer we bought big straw hats. Maria's had cherries around the rim, Infanta's had forget-me-nots, and mine had poppies as red as fire. . .\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThree Summers\u003c\/em\u003e is a warm and tender tale of three sisters growing up in the countryside near Athens before the Second World War. Living in a ramshackle old house with their divorced mother are flirtatious, hot-headed Maria, beautiful but distant Infanta, and dreamy and rebellious Katerina, through whose eyes the story is mostly observed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOver three summers, the girls share and keep secrets, fall in and out of love, try to understand the strange ways of adults, and decide what kind of adults they hope to become.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46534148391148,"sku":"9780241475065","price":24.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/26549983482273.jpg?v=1749415063"},{"product_id":"the-lady-and-the-little-fox-fur-by-violette-leduc-9780241357453","title":"The Lady and the Little Fox Fur","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA quirky and compassionate tale of a woman's solitary wanderings through 1960s Paris, with an introduction by Deborah Levy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Lady and the Little Fox Fur\u003c\/i\u003e is an existential feminist classic about an old woman who lives alone in a tiny attic flat in Paris, where she counts out coffee beans every morning beneath the roar of the overhead metro. Starving, she spends her days walking around the city, each step a bid for recognition of her own existence. She rides crowded metro carriages to feel the warmth of other bodies, and watches the hot batter of pancakes drip from the hands of street-sellers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOne morning she awakes with an urgent need to taste an orange; but when she rummages in the bins she finds instead a discarded fox fur scarf. The little fox fur becomes the key to her salvation, the friend who changes her lonely existence into a playful world of her own invention. \u003ci\u003eThe Lady and the Little Fox Fur\u003c\/i\u003e is a stunning portrait of Paris, of the invisibility we all feel in a big city, and ultimately of the hope and triumph of a woman who reclaims her place in the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46554608599276,"sku":"9780241357453","price":22.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/25373863482273.jpg?v=1750088249"},{"product_id":"women-by-mihail-sebastian-9780241442906","title":"Women","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA gorgeous Romanian modern classic about love and relationships, with an introduction by Booker-winner John Banville.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eStefan Valeriu, a young Romanian student, holidays alone in the Alps, where he soon becomes entangled in romantic relationships with three different women who pass through his guesthouse. We follow Stefan after his return to Paris as he reflects on the women in his life, at times playing the lover, and at others observing shrewdly from the periphery.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWomen's\u003c\/em\u003e four interlinked stories offer nuanced and deeply moving portraits of romantic relationships in all their complexity, from unrequited love and passionate affairs to tepid marriages of convenience. In light, elegant prose, Mihail Sebastian, widely regarded as the greatest Romanian writer of the 20th century, explores longing, otherness, empathy, and regret.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46557184590060,"sku":"9780241442906","price":22.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/26228393482273.jpg?v=1750183602"},{"product_id":"stories-of-ireland-by-brian-friel-9781405972239","title":"Stories of Ireland","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA collection of delightful short stories from one of Ireland's greatest ever writers, Brian Friel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'A fake! A quack! A charlatan! Get a grip on yourself, woman! We'll say another rosary and then I'll leave you home.'\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eStories of Ireland\u003c\/em\u003e is a brilliant, colourful compendium of mid-century Irish experience from one of Ireland's greatest ever writers, Brian Friel. Demonstrating all of Friel's peerless instinct for voice, scene, and the uncanny mystery found in the everyday, these tales tell of beauty, struggle and discovery—from the drowning of a man in the bog-black waters of Lough Keeragh, to the camaraderie of teenage potato gatherers in County Tyrone, and from the careful work of the German War Graves Commission in Glenn na fuiseog, to trawlermen's talk of sunken gold off the coast of Donegal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSelected by Friel himself, and introduced by acclaimed author Louise Kennedy, this delightful, heartfelt collection truly offers some of the best stories ever written.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46671493136620,"sku":"9781405972239","price":32.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/15918873482688.jpg?v=1752819325"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/collections\/series-penguin-european-writers.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}