{"product_id":"9780141392004-road-through-the-wall-the","title":"The Road Through the Wall","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn Pepper Street, an attractive suburban neighbourhood filled with bullies and egotistical bigots, the feelings of the inhabitants are shallow and selfish: What can a neighbour gain from another neighbour, what may be won from a friend?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eReminiscent of her classic story 'The Lottery', Jackson's disturbing and darkly funny first novel exposes the underside of American suburban life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Her books penetrate keenly to the terrible truths which sometimes hide  behind comfortable fictions, to the treachery beneath cheery  neighborhood faces and the plain manners of country folk; to the threat  that sparkles at the rainbow's edge of the sprinkler spray on even the  greenest lawns, on the sunniest of midsummer mornings' Donna Tartt\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn Pepper Street, an attractive suburban neighbourhood filled with bullies and egotistical bigots, the feelings of the inhabitants are shallow and selfish: what can a neighbour gain from another neighbour, what may be won from a friend? One child stands alone in her goodness: little Caroline Desmond, kind, sweet and gentle, and the pride of her family. But the malice and self-absorption of the people of Pepper Street lead to a terrible event that will destroy the community of which they are so proud. Exposing the murderous cruelty of children, and the blindness and selfishness of adults, Shirley Jackson reveals the ugly truth behind a 'perfect' world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShirley  Jackson's chilling tales have the  power to unsettle and  terrify unlike any other. She was born in  California in 1916. When her  short story \u003ci\u003eThe Lottery \u003c\/i\u003ewas first published in \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e   in 1948, readers were so horrified they sent her hate mail; it has   since become one of the greatest American stories of all time. Her   first novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Road Through the Wall\u003c\/i\u003e, was published in the same year and was followed by five more: \u003ci\u003eHangsaman\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Bird's Nest\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Sundial\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Haunting of Hill House \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eWe Have Always Lived in the Castle\u003c\/i\u003e, widely seen as her masterpiece. Shirley Jackson died in her sleep at the age of 48.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'An amazing writer'  Neil Gaiman\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Shirley Jackson is one of those highly idiosyncratic, inimitable writers . whose work exerts an enduring spell' Joyce Carol Oates\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'An unburnished exercise in the sinister' \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":39537673437281,"sku":"9780141392004","price":9.26,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/stand_32350869.jpg?v=1737186919","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9780141392004-road-through-the-wall-the","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}