{"product_id":"the-vixen-francine-prose","title":"The Vixen;  Francine Prose","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIt’s 1953, and Simon Putnam, a recent Harvard graduate newly hired by a distinguished New York publishing firm, has entered a glittering world of three-martini lunches, exclusive literary parties, and old-money aristocrats in exquisitely tailored suits, a far cry from his loving, middle-class Jewish family in Coney Island.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBut Simon’s first assignment—editing \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Vixen, the Patriot and the Fanatic,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003ea lurid bodice-ripper improbably based on the recent trial and execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, a potboiler intended to shore up the firm’s failing finances—makes him question the cost of admission. Because Simon has a secret that, at the height of the Red Scare and the McCarthy hearings, he cannot reveal: his beloved mother was a childhood friend of Ethel Rosenberg’s. His parents mourn Ethel’s death.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSimon’s dilemma grows thornier when he meets \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Vixen\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e’s author, the startlingly beautiful, reckless, seductive Anya Partridge, ensconced in her opium-scented boudoir in a luxury Hudson River mental asylum. As mysteries deepen, as the confluence of sex, money, politics and power spirals out of Simon’s control, he must face what he’s lost by exchanging the loving safety of his middle-class Jewish parents’ Coney Island apartment for the witty, whiskey-soaked orbit of his charismatic boss, the legendary Warren Landry. Gradually Simon realizes that the people around him are not what they seem, that everyone is keeping secrets, that ordinary events may conceal a diabolical plot—and that these crises may steer him toward a brighter future. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAt once domestic and political, contemporary and historic, funny and heartbreaking, enlivened by surprising plot turns and passages from Anya’s hilariously bad novel, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Vixen\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003eilluminates a period of history with eerily striking similarities to the current moment. Meanwhile it asks timeless questions: How do we balance ambition and conscience? What do social mobility and cultural assimilation require us to sacrifice? How do we develop an authentic self, discover a vocation, and learn to live with the mysteries of love, family, art, life and loss?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJune 29,2021\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-testid=\"contentContainer\" class=\"TruncatedContent__text TruncatedContent__text--medium TruncatedContent__text--expanded\" tabindex=\"-1\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"DetailsLayoutRightParagraph\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"DetailsLayoutRightParagraph__widthConstrained\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Formatted\"\u003eFrancine Prose is the author of twenty works of fiction. Her novel\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eA Changed Man\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ewon the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eBlue Angel\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ewas a finalist for the National Book Award. Her most recent works of nonfiction include the highly acclaimed\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eAnne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife\u003c\/i\u003e, and the\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ebestseller\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eReading Like a Writer\u003c\/i\u003e. The recipient of numerous grants and honors, including a Guggenheim and a Fulbright, a Director's Fellow at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, Prose is a former president of PEN American Center, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her most recent book is\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eLovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932\u003c\/i\u003e. She lives in New York City.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"FREEAIR Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44885675049282,"sku":"","price":9.4,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0730\/8735\/3154\/products\/vix.jpg?v=1680544237","url":"https:\/\/shop.freeairbooks.com\/products\/the-vixen-francine-prose","provider":"FREEAIR Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}