{"product_id":"9781596919709","title":"A Perfect Waiter: A Novel","description":"Erneste is the perfect waiter-and his private life seems to embody the qualities he brings to his profession. But inwardly this polite and dignified man is in the grip of a violent passion, aroused thirty years before, when he fell in love with a young waiter-in-training named Jakob. Jakob broke his heart when he fled Nazidominated Europe for a new life in America with his lover, Julius Klinger, a celebrated German intellectual. Nursing his wounds, Erneste slinks even deeper into his well-ordered world, hardening into what had only previously been a role. And then, after decades of silence, he receives a letter from a distraught and penniless Jakob asking for help. And Ernest must decide if he will finally take action. Set against the backdrop of a genteel Swiss hotel, and moving skillfully between two time periods, this exquisitely written story of a lifelong passion is rich in tension and emotion, exploring the nature of love and betrayal, memory, and regret.","brand":"Bloomsbury USA","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47151391015152,"sku":"9781596919709","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781596919709_p0.jpg?v=1763813353","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781596919709","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}