{"product_id":"9780811224772","title":"Lost Words","description":"\u003cp\u003eWinner of the Viareggio Prize, a vivid portrait of Italy on the brink of social upheaval in the 1970s.\u003c\/p\u003e Inside an apartment building on the outskirts of Milan, the working-class residents gossip, quarrel, and conspire against each other. Viewed through the eyes of Chino, an impressionable thirteen-year-old boy whose mother is the doorwoman of the building, the world contained within these walls is tiny, hypocritical, and mean-spirited: a constant struggle. Chino finds escape in reading.One day, a new resident, Amelia Lynd, moves in and quickly becomes an unlikely companion and a formative influence on Chino. Ms. Lynd—an elderly, erudite British woman—comes to nurture his taste in literature, introduces him to the life of the mind, and offers a counterpoint to the only version of reality that he’s known. On one level, Lost Words is an engrossing coming-of-age tale set in the seventies, when Italy was going through tumultuous social changes, and on another, it is a powerful meditation on language, literature, and culture.","brand":"New Directions Publishing Corporation","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47129370689776,"sku":"9780811224772","price":14.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780811224772_p0.jpg?v=1763741987","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780811224772","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}