{"product_id":"9781927063262","title":"The Paradise Engine","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhile working to restore an historic theatre in a seedy part of the city, a graduate student named Anthea searches to find her best friend, lost to the rhetoric of an itinerant street mystic. Almost a century earlier, Liam, a tenth-rate tenor, visits the same theatre while eking out a career on the dying Vaudeville circuits of the day. In both eras, an apocalyptic strain of mysticism threatens their existence: Anthea contends with a nascent New Age movement in the heart of the city while Liam encounters a radical theosophical commune along the coast of British Columbia, who appear to be building … something.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Paradise Engine\u003c\/i\u003e unfolds across a colourful backdrop of labour organizers, immaculately-attired cultists, ambitious socialites, basement offices and coffee shops. Its cast of characters and historical setting recalls Robertson Davies’ \u003ci\u003eFifth Business\u003c\/i\u003e or Thomas Pynchon’s \u003ci\u003eAgainst the Day\u003c\/i\u003e, while its approach to memory and community is reminiscent of \u003ci\u003eThe Wind-Up Bird Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e by Haruki Murakami.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NeWest Publishers, Limited","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47151465005296,"sku":"9781927063262","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781927063262_p0.jpg?v=1763636085","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781927063262","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}