{"product_id":"9781939140678","title":"Play Things","description":"\u003cb\u003eWinner of the Somerset Maugham Award\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"An agreeably readable first novel . . . light-hearted throughout, and altogether the book is a promising beginning to Mr Prince's career as a novelist.\" - J. G. Farrell, \u003ci\u003eThe Listener\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Mr Prince is absolutely first class. His short book grips as a story . . . It's exciting, relevant, a whole-sale gift for the top-notch department.\" - Oswell Blakeston, \u003ci\u003eBooks and Bookmen\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"[A] newcomer who looks worth watching . . . Prince contrives to make [his] hero entirely sympathetic . . . he creates an air of hope and human potential, and you feel a surge of sheer affection for this not-so-null figure.\" - \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe 27-year-old hero of \u003ci\u003ePlay Things\u003c\/i\u003e recently graduated and landed a job at a top architectural firm, but, he says, \"I got tired.\" Now he's dropped out, grown his hair out long and taken a job as a playleader at an adventure playground. But he quickly finds that the job isn't quite what he'd expected. The kids are violent thugs, even criminals, and the playground is a haven for thieves, perverts, and drug dealers. As the ineffectual playleader finds himself mixed up rather comically in their bizarre and dangerous schemes, it starts to look as though the summer will prove to be less about finding himself, and more about finding a way to survive. . . .\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCompellingly readable, very funny, and unexpectedly moving, Peter Prince's critically acclaimed first novel, \u003ci\u003ePlay Things\u003c\/i\u003e (1972), won the prestigious Somerset Maugham Award. This edition, the first in nearly forty years, includes a new foreword by the author.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Valancourt Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47060654817520,"sku":"9781939140678","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781939140678_p0.jpg?v=1763665144","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781939140678","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}