{"product_id":"9781620408834","title":"Mr. Mac and Me","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eMr. Mac and Me\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Esther Freud\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is 1914, and Thomas Maggs, son of the local publican, lives with his parents and sister in a village on the Suffolk coast. He is the youngest child, and the only son surviving. Life is quiet--shaped by the seasons, fishing and farming, the summer visitors, and the girls who come from the Highlands every year to gut and pack the herring.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Then one day a mysterious Scotsman arrives. To Thomas he looks like a detective in his black cape and felted wool hat, puffing on his pipe like Sherlock Holmes. Mac is what the locals call him when they whisper about him. And whisper they do, for he sets off on his walks at unlikely hours and stops to examine the humblest flowers. He is seen on the beach, staring out across the waves as if he's searching for clues. But Mac isn't a detective, he's the architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and together with his artist wife, they soon become a source of fascination and wonder to Thomas.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Yet just as Thomas and Mac's friendship begins to blossom, war with Germany is declared. The summer guests flee and are replaced by regiments of soldiers, and as the brutality of war weighs increasingly heavily on this coastal community, they become more suspicious of Mac and his curious ways.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In this story of an unlikely friendship, Esther Freud paints a vivid portrait of the home front during World War I, and of a man who was one of the most brilliant and misunderstood artists of his generation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A superbly gifted writer . . . [\u003ci\u003eLucky Break\u003c\/i\u003e is] breezily charming and typically shrewd, and comes with a new satirical edge . . . Freud creates relationships so fraught and delicate that at times the characters themselves can hardly bear to examine them.\" —\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e on \u003ci\u003eLucky Break\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Each of [Freud's] beautifully written books creates a fascinating special world.\" —\u003ci\u003eMarieClaire\u003c\/i\u003e on \u003ci\u003eLucky Break\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[Freud] has [a] talent for burrowing under people's skins, understanding their motivations . . . A book full of subtle and rounded characters . . . \u003ci\u003eThe Sea House\u003c\/i\u003e is a sensuous and intelligent novel about love and the traces it leaves.\" —\u003ci\u003eWashington Post Book World\u003c\/i\u003e on \u003ci\u003eThe Sea Horse\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The entire book radiates with the empathy for which Freud is known . . . \u003ci\u003eLove Falls\u003c\/i\u003e is immediate, organic and kind.\" —\u003ci\u003eTimes Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e on \u003ci\u003eLove Falls\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9781620408834\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Bloomsbury USA","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":40596068925646,"sku":"9781620408834","price":26.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/getimage_89a3f36e-210b-4e47-a42f-4170797ea054.jpg?v=1637848446","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9781620408834","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}