{"product_id":"a-fairly-good-time","title":"A Fairly Good Time","description":"\u003cp\u003eMavis Gallant’s novels are as memorable as her renowned short stories. Full of wit and psychological poignancy, \u003ci\u003eA Fairly Good Time\u003c\/i\u003e, here with \u003ci\u003eGreen Water,\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eGreen Sky\u003c\/i\u003e, encapsulates Gallant’s unparalleled skill as a storyteller. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eShirley Perrigny (née Norrington, then briefly Higgins), the heroine of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003ci\u003eA Fairly Good Time\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, is an original. Derided b\u003c\/span\u003ey \u003cspan\u003ethe Parisians she lives among and chided by her fellow Canadians, this young widow—recently remarried to a French journalist named Philippe—is fond of quoting Jane Austen and Kingsley Amis and of using her myopia as a defense against social aggression. As the fixed points in Shirley’s life begin to recede—Philippe having apparently though not definitively left—her freewheeling, makeshift, and self-abnegating ways come to seem an aspect of devotion to her fellow man. \u003c\/span\u003eCould this unreliable protagonist be the unwitting heroine of her own story?\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eGreen Water, Green Sky\u003c\/i\u003e, Gallant’s first novel, is a darker tale of the fractured family life of Bonnie McCarthy, an American divorcée, and her daughter, Flor. Uprooted and unmoored, mother and daughter live like itinerants—in Venice, Cannes, and Paris—glamorous and dependent. With little hope of escape, Flor attempts to flee this untidy life and the false notes of her mother.\u003cspan style=\"display:\" none\u003e Mavis Gallant Peter Orner\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"New York Review Books","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":47053695844491,"sku":"9781590179871","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0745\/6892\/5323\/files\/A_Fairly_Good_Time.jpg?v=1779444048","url":"https:\/\/b0xrri-gd.myshopify.com\/products\/a-fairly-good-time","provider":"My Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}