{"product_id":"esmond-and-ilia-an-unreliable-memoir-paperback","title":"Esmond and Ilia: An Unreliable Memoir - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eMarina Warner\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eBy one of the finest English writers of our time, a luminous memoir that travels from southern Italy to the banks of the Nile, capturing a lost past both personal and historical.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMarina Warner's father, Esmond, met her mother, Ilia, while serving as an officer in the British Army during the Second World War. As Allied forces fought their way north through Italy, Esmond found himself in the southern town of Bari, where Ilia had grown up, one of four girls of a widowed mother. The Englishman approaching middle age and the twenty-one-year-old Italian were soon married. Before the war had come to an end, Ilia was on her way alone to London to wait for her husband's return and to learn how to be Mrs. Esmond Warner, an Englishwoman. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIlia begins to learn the world of cricket, riding, canned food, and distant relations she has landed in, while Esmond, in spite of his connections, struggles to support his wife and young daughter. He comes up with the idea of opening a bookshop, a branch of W.H. Smith's, in Cairo, where he had spent happy times during the North African campaign. In Egypt, however, nationalists are challenging foreign influences, especially British ones, and before long Cairo is on fire. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDeeply felt, closely observed, rich with strange lore, \u003ci\u003eEsmond and Ilia\u003c\/i\u003e is a picture of vanished worlds, a portrait of two people struggling to know each other and themselves, a daughter's story of trying to come to terms with a past that is both hers and unknowable to her. It is an \"unreliable memoir\"--what memoir isn't?--and a lasting work of literature, lyrical, sorrowful, shaped by love and wonder.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMarina Warner\u003c\/b\u003e's studies of religion, mythology, and fairy tales include \u003ci\u003eAlone of All Her Sex: The Myth and the Cult of the Virgin Mary\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eFrom the Beast to the Blonde\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eStranger Magic\u003c\/i\u003e. She is a professor of English and creative writing at Birkbeck, University of London. In 2015 she was given the Holberg Prize and in 2017 she was elected president of the Royal Society of Literature. She has contributed to a number of NYRB Classics, including Robert Kirk's \u003ci\u003eThe Secret Commonwealth\u003c\/i\u003e and Leonora Carrington's \u003ci\u003eDown Below\u003c\/i\u003e. She lives in London.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 432\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.94 x 8.43 x 5.67 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e June 14, 2022\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51767420944672,"sku":"9781681376448","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/18e0372eb0f583fe8e678564328c5fce.webp?v=1780310461","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/esmond-and-ilia-an-unreliable-memoir-paperback","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}