{"product_id":"9781611457179","title":"The Manzoni Family : A Novel","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eThe Manzoni Family\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Natalia Ginzburg\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSet in ducal Italy and post-revolutionary France, \u003ci\u003eThe Manzoni Family\u003c\/i\u003e tells a rich story of passions, writing, rivalries, deaths, and war. It pivots on the figure of Alessandro Manzoni, celebrated Milanese nobleman, man of letters, and author of the masterpiece of nineteenth-century Italian literature,\u003ci\u003e I promessi sposi\u003c\/i\u003e (The Betrothed). But the tale begins with the matriarchal figure of Giulia, the mother whom the young poet found in Paris after she had abandoned him as an infant.\u003cbr\u003eThere is Enrichetta, the woman he and his mother chose to be his wife, and the many children she had by him until her death; literary friends from the beau monde in Italy and Paris; and Alessandro's second wife, Teresa, and her children. Against the background of Napoleonic occupation, the reestablishment of Austrian hegemony, and the stirrings of the revolutionary urge for unification and independence, Ginzburg gracefully weaves the story of a dynasty, the Manzoni family, that seems to grow autonomously around the life of the writer and to incorporate all the epic tumult and emotion of the age.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eThe Manzoni Family\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"[Ginzburg] re-creates the family life of Italy's great 19th-century writer with an immediacy that grips even one who has read little or none of the work of Alessandro Manzoni.\"—\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"The difference between this family saga and the ordinary family saga is the difference, say, between \u003ci\u003eWar and Peace\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eDallas\u003c\/i\u003e.\" —\u003ci\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"As social history, with something of the flavor and immediacy of fiction, this story of a famous family stretching from 1762 to 1907 is interesting and well done. The book skillfully stitches together biographical facts and numerous family letters.\" —\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Although Tolstoy maintained that 'happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,' contemporary readers of this work will identify with the illnesses of children, deaths of relatives, and all-too-frequent filial requests for money that confronted Italian literary giant Alessandro Manzoni, author of \u003ci\u003eI Promessi sposi\u003c\/i\u003e. Based on the family's voluminous correspondence, Ginzburg's portrayal is personal rather than literary, focusing on Manzoni family members; but a vivid picture of 18th- and 19th-century Italy and the literary scene in 19th-century Paris also emerges.\" —\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Italian novelist Ginzburg uses the epistolary technique to craft a brilliant biography of four generations of a complex, frequently tortured family . . . an extraordinarily moving and evocative book.” —\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Original, engrossing, appalling.\" —Bestselling author and literary critic Mary McCarthy\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for Natalia Ginzburg's work\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “One of the Great Italian Writers of the 20th Century.”—\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Clarity, precision and wit mark the work of Natalia Ginzburg.\" —\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Ginzburg was famous for her ability to conjure up a mixed emotional atmosphere, poignant yet unsentimental.\" —\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"A glowing light of modern Italian literature . . . Ginzburg's magic is the utter simplicity of her prose, suddenly illuminated by one word that makes a lightning streak of a plain phrase. . . . As direct and clean as if it were carved in stone, it yet speaks thoughts of the heart.\" — \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"I wish more people would read the Italian writer Natalia Ginzburg.\" — Mary Gordon, \u003ci\u003eMother Jones\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Natalia Ginzburg must surely be one of literature's most provocative and moving writers.\" — \u003ci\u003eElle\u003c\/i\u003e magazine\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Realistic, anchored by vivifying detail, crowded with wonderfully vibrant characters, luminous with deep feeling, responsiveness, and sympathy.\" — \u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Ginzburg draws her readers into her deceptively charming essays with cascades of alluring, everyday detail, then stealthily broaches moral questions of great weight and complexity. Wryly witty, acutely observant, and unfailingly valiant, Ginzburg is a revelation, a spur, and a joy.\" — \u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9781611457179\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Arcade","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":40591814951118,"sku":"9781611457179","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/O_a80b3651-3ec0-4f66-9225-6a2df5b69d17.jpg?v=1637757710","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9781611457179","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}