{"product_id":"9780062847584","title":"Putney : A Novel","description":"\u003cstrong\u003ePutney\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Sofka Zinovieff\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIn the spirit of Zoë Heller’s \u003cem\u003eNotes on a Scandal\u003c\/em\u003e and Tom Perrotta’s \u003cem\u003eMrs. Fletcher,\u003c\/em\u003e an explosive and thought-provoking novel about the far-reaching repercussions of an illicit relationship between a young girl and a man twenty years her senior.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA rising star in the London arts scene of the early 1970s, gifted composer Ralph Boyd is approached by renowned novelist Edmund Greenslay to score a stage adaptation of his most famous work. Welcomed into Greenslay’s sprawling bohemian house in Putney, an artistic and prosperous district in southwest London, the musical wunderkind is introduced to Edmund’s activist wife Ellie, his aloof son Theo, and his nine-year old daughter Daphne, who quickly becomes Ralph’s muse.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRalph showers Daphne with tokens of his affection—clandestine gifts and secret notes. In a home that is exciting but often lonely, Daphne finds Ralph to be a dazzling companion, and while he worships her, he doesn't touch her. Their bond remains strong even after Ralph becomes a husband and father. But in the summer of 1976, when Ralph accompanies thirteen-year-old Daphne alone to meet her parents in Greece, their relationship intensifies irrevocably. One person knows of their passionate trysts: Daphne’s best friend Jane, whose awe of the intoxicating Greenslay family ensures her silence.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eForty years later Daphne is back in London. After years lost to decadence and drug abuse, she is struggling to create a normal, stable life for herself and her adolescent daughter. When circumstances bring her back in touch with her long-lost friend, Jane, their reunion inevitably turns to Ralph, now a world-famous musician also living in the city. Daphne’s recollections of her childhood and her growing anxiety over her own daughter eventually lead to an explosive realization that propels her to confront Ralph and their years together.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTold from three diverse viewpoints—victim, perpetrator, and witness—Putney is a subtle and powerful novel about consent, agency, and what we tell ourselves to justify what we do, and what others do to us.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e“Thought-provoking and relevant.”\u003cbr\u003e“Told from three vividly established points of view, and traveling back and forth between the 1970s and today, the novel makes a convincing case for how the anything goes ethos of that earlier decade can lead to a reckoning decades later.”\u003cbr\u003e“The characters in Zinovieff’s book are alternatively complicit and sympathetic. The novel manages its hefty load through brilliant writing, astute psychological insight, and the scenery of Greek islands. This post-MeToo Lolita will challenge your preconceptions on every page.”\u003cbr\u003e“Zinovieff’s novel is a nuanced, thought-provoking plunge into the questioning depths of consent and exploitation. \u003cem\u003ePutney \u003c\/em\u003eis a discussion starter. ”\u003cbr\u003e“Sofka Zinovieff’s second novel .. delves deep into the discussions surrounding consent and abuse of power. She has written a contemporary Lolita in which the rules of engagement have changed, women are speaking out about the ways they have been misused and the Humbert Humberts face prosecution and disgrace...“A novel that is accomplished, timely and unusually well wrought.”\u003cbr\u003e“Zinovieff’s novel, about the relationship between a young girl and a much older man in the 1970s, and the woman’s present-day reckoning with what actually happened, raises important questions about consent and agency.”\u003cbr\u003e“Zinovieff is obviously working with themes playing out in contemporary culture, but her novel is also reminiscent of the work of Iris Murdoch and A.S. Byatt...Timely and nuanced.”\u003cbr\u003e“Zinovieff’s triptych is too nuanced for hashtags, yet perfectly tuned to #MeToo.”\u003cbr\u003e‘This book is truly memorable and thought-provoking; throughout, Zinovieff sustains wonderfully perplexing and complex ambiguities. What is love, and what is exploitation? What is truth and what is self-deception? What is righteousness and what is hypocrisy? Can contradictions be simultaneously true?..I’ll remember the characters forever.’\u003cbr\u003e“..a disturbing, well-structured, nuanced story that provides no simple answers — an important addition to an urgent, current conversation.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9780062847584\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":41114925924558,"sku":"9780062847584","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/9780062847584.jpg?v=1649824604","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9780062847584","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}