{"product_id":"9781455417957","title":"The City in the Clouds","description":"Under a gay awning of red and white which covered a portion of the famous roof-garden of the Palacete Mendoza at Rio, reclined Gideon Mendoza Morse, the richest man in Brazil, and—it was said—the third richest man in the world.\u003cbr\u003eHe lay in a silken hammock, smoking those little Brazilian cigarettes which are made of fragrant black tobacco and wrapped in maize leaf.\u003cbr\u003eIt was afternoon, the hour of the siesta. From where he lay the millionaire could look down upon his marvelous gardens, which surrounded the white palace he had built for himself, peerless in the whole of South America.\u003cbr\u003eThe trunks of great trees were draped with lianas bearing brilliantly-colored flowers of every hue. There were lawns edged with myrtle, mimosa, covered with the golden rain of their blossoms, immense palms, lazily waving their fans in the breeze of the afternoon, and set in the lawns were marble pools of clear water from the center of which fountains sprang. There was a continual murmur of insects and flashes of rainbow-colored light as the tiny, brilliant humming birds whirred among the flowers. Great butterflies of blue, silver, and vermilion, butterflies as large as bats, flapped languidly over the ivory ferns, and the air was spicy and scented with vanilla.\u003cbr\u003eBeyond the gardens was the Bay of Rio de Janeiro, the most beautiful bay in all the world, dominated by the great sugar-loaf mountain, the Pão de Azucar, and studded with green islands.\u003cbr\u003eGideon Morse took a pair of high-powered field-glasses from a table by his side and focused them upon the harbor.\u003cbr\u003eA large white yacht, lying off Governador, swam into the circle, a five-thousand-ton boat driven by turbines and oil fuel, the fastest and largest private yacht in existence.\u003cbr\u003eGideon Morse gave a little quiet, patient sigh, as if of relief...\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"B\u0026R Samizdat Express","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47107358163184,"sku":"9781455417957","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781455417957_p0.jpg?v=1763867046","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781455417957","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}