{"product_id":"9780739300619","title":"The Fourth Hand","description":"\u003cp\u003eTHE FOURTH HAND asks an interesting question: \"How can anyone identify a dream of the future?\" The answer: \"Destiny is not imaginable, except in dreams or to those in love.\" While reporting a story from India, a New York television journalist has his left hand eaten by a lion; millions of TV viewers witness the accident. In Boston, a renowned hand surgeon awaits the opportunity to perform the nation's first hand transplant; meanwhile, in the distracting aftermath of an acrimonious divorce, the surgeon is seduced by his housekeeper. A married woman in Wisconsin wants to give the one-handed reporter her husband's left hand?that is, after her husband dies. But the husband is alive, relatively young, and healthy.This is how John Irving's tenth novel begins; it seems, at first, to be a comedy, perhaps a satire, almost certainly a sexual farce. Yet, in the end, THE FOURTH HAND is as realistic and emotionally moving as any of Mr. Irving's previous novels?including \u003ci\u003eThe World According to Garp, A Prayer for Owen Meany\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eA Widow for One Year\u003c\/i\u003e?or his Oscar-winning screenplay of \u003ci\u003eThe Cider House Rules\u003c\/i\u003e. THE FOURTH HAND is characteristic of John Irving's seamless storytelling and further explores some of the author's recurring themes?loss, grief, love as redemption. But this novel also breaks new ground; it offers a penetrating look at the power of second chances and the will to change.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Books on Tape, Inc.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47095024615664,"sku":"9780739300619","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780739300619_p0.jpg?v=1763631835","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780739300619","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}