{"product_id":"2940016243078","title":"The Shadow of Desire","description":"First paragraph:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     \"So he was dead. Ruth Parker shivered and drew her crape closer about her as the panorama of her life revolved.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e* * * * *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMost authors consider they have dealt very fairly with their heroine when they provide her with one husband, but Irene Osgood, accustomed doubtless to the large scale of American transactions, deems three none too many for Ruth Parker in \"The Shadow of Desire.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRuth first appears before the reader as a beautiful and interesting young widow of eighteen, her husband, with whom she eloped only the year before, having died of yellow fever. But her grief, though seemingly overwhelming, is not lasting, and ere a twelvemonth has elapsed she has provided herself with a substitute in the person of Waldo Bronson, 'a handsome Baltimorean, a keen sportsman, and a large stockholder in most of the desirable things afloat,' to which he adds complete devotion to his wife. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt would be difficult to say under which phase Ruth is most repulsive, as maiden, wife, or widow. Whether shooting, hunting, smoking, gambling at Monte Carlo, or lavishing 'hot and passionate kisses' on male friends, she is equally objectionable. She breaks the heart of her dearest friend, who thereupon commits suicide by jumping her horse down a stone quarry, and while supposed to love her husband, her shameless behavior obliges him to a duel, in which he is killed, then 'she loathes herself and rebels against God and destiny'...\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNevertheless she is soon ready to try her luck again, and Ruth, not yet twenty, marries Jack Carey, with every prospect of continuing the same course ad infinitum.","brand":"OGB","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47153135550704,"sku":"2940016243078","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940016243078_p0.jpg?v=1763631479","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940016243078","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}