{"product_id":"9780544227682","title":"Human Voices","description":"\u003cb\u003eA British radio station struggles through the London blitz, in a “\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ewonderful” novel of World War II England (A.S. Byatt), by a veteran of the BBC.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The nation is listening. It’s 1940, and BBC radio is on the air. Dedicated to the cause, it’s going to do what it does best: keep the British upper lip stiff without resorting to lies. But nightly blackouts and the thunder of exploding enemy bombs are only part of the chaos faced by the staff.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e There’s a battle for control between two program directors—one recklessly randy, the other efficient. Their comely assistant is suffering the pangs of unrequited love; an unwed mother is resisting the impending birth of her baby; and an exiled French general takes to the airwaves demanding Britain’s surrender. Then there’s the concert hall itself—a makeshift shelter for the displaced that quickly becomes a hotbed for quick trysts, bloody brawls, private wars between the sexes, political grandstanding, pointless deaths, and overriding fear, as the news unfolds just outside the building’s vulnerable walls.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Inspired by the Booker Prize–winning author’s own wartime experiences at the BBC, \u003ci\u003eHuman Voices\u003c\/i\u003e is a novel at once “funny, touching, and authentic” (\u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e, London).\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Made me laugh out loud as I have hardly done since \u003ci\u003eCold Comfort Farm\u003c\/i\u003e. It is extraordinary and immensely praiseworthy that a book with such an ultimately serious idea can be so brilliantly funny.” —\u003ci\u003eCountry Life\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “A tribute to the unsung and quintessentially English heroism of imperfect people.” —\u003ci\u003eNew Criterion\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"Houghton Mifflin Harcourt","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47123695862000,"sku":"9780544227682","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780544227682_p0.jpg?v=1763712498","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780544227682","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}