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Shipped off to the United States with dwarves and two headed calves, midgets and twelve fingered flute players, they toured the country before settling as slave owners in North Carolina. In a sort of pastoral idyll, Chang and Eng married a pair of sisters and fathered twenty children, before the spectre of the Civil War threatened their peace and their way of life. God's Fool is an astonishing, powerful and beautiful novel that vibrantly captures both a changing world and a unique relationship. 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It is only as an adult, when he makes his own journey to Prague, that he is finally able to piece together the truth of his parents' past: what they did, whom his mother loved, and why they were never able to forget.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49514465329425,"sku":"GOR013512186","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49516570149137,"sku":"GOR003176320","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49959482425617,"sku":"CIN1846270863G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51848276803857,"sku":"GOR007781336","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52665209684241,"sku":"NLS9781846270864","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52817224401169,"sku":"CIN1846270863VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1846270863.jpg?v=1758968591"},{"product_id":"brewster-book-mark-slouka-9781846275005","title":"Brewster","description":"As an infant, Jon Mosher tragically lost his older brother to a freak accident - something that could have happened to any family. There's nothing he could have done to prevent it, but there it is anyway, that loss echoing in every room and painted on the faces of his parents - German Jews who'd escaped the war - as if to say: you weren't, and aren't, enough. Saddled with this absence, Jon's life has been defined by what's missing and what he lacks; that is, until in high school he befriends wisecracking Ray, a reckless boy with a volatile father. Against the backdrop of the Summer of Love and the encroaching Vietnam War, Jon dreams of ultimately leaving his grey, blue-collar town, but is set on an irrevocable course as the escalating violence of Ray's home life threatens to shatter their bright-eyed plans to escape. Torn between obligation and desire, Jon's faced with the impossible decision of whether to help, or run.  In this magnificent, haunting novel, Slouka brilliantly captures the polarising forces of a working class, hardscrabble ethos and the hopeful vibrancy of the sixties and early seventies. With concise, wise prose, Slouka weaves together a tapestry of family, fate, friendship, and the impossibility of ever, really, leaving home.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49523314557201,"sku":"GOR005714122","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49807565226257,"sku":"GOR005830108","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51397725847825,"sku":"NGR9781846275005","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52665296355601,"sku":"NLS9781846275005","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53052617523473,"sku":"GOR008178514","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1846275008.jpg?v=1759232867"},{"product_id":"visible-world-book-mark-slouka-9781846270857","title":"The Visible World","description":"A story about memory and concealed histories, and about the way that the most fiercely-held secrets of the past eventually force their way to the surface. Embedded at the heart of this history, is a love story - of a tragic passion and an enduring commitment.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49560783126801,"sku":"GOR002134844","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49604798415121,"sku":"GOR012842267","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1846270855.jpg?v=1750833788"},{"product_id":"brewster-book-mark-slouka-9781846274992","title":"Brewster","description":"As an infant, Jon Mosher tragically lost his older brother to a freak accident - something that could have happened to any family. There's nothing he could have done to prevent it, but there it is anyway, that loss echoing in every room and painted on the faces of his parents - German Jews who'd escaped the war - as if to say: you weren't, and aren't, enough. Saddled with this absence, Jon's life has been defined by what's missing and what he lacks; that is, until in high school he befriends wisecracking Ray, a reckless boy with a volatile father, and finds that he can run with the kind of grace and speed possessed by only the most promising track stars in the state. Against the backdrop of the Summer of Love and the encroaching Vietnam War, Jon dreams of ultimately leaving his grey, blue-collar town, but is set on an irrevocable course as the escalating violence of Ray's home life threatens to shatter their bright-eyed plans to escape. Pulled between obligation and desire, Jon's faced with the impossible decision of whether to help, or run.  In this magnificent, haunting novel, Slouka brilliantly captures the polarising forces of a working class, hardscrabble ethos and the hopeful vibrancy of the sixties and early seventies. With concise, wise prose, Slouka weaves together a tapestry of family, fate, friendship, and the impossibility of ever, really, leaving home.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49611031150865,"sku":"GOR005172695","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49857308229905,"sku":"GOR005266258","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1846274990.jpg?v=1750833795"},{"product_id":"visible-world-book-mark-slouka-9781846271601","title":"The Visible World","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49634986492177,"sku":"GOR004168389","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1846271606.jpg?v=1751378665"},{"product_id":"essays-from-the-nick-of-time-book-mark-slouka-9781555975715","title":"Essays from the Nick of Time","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA new collection of prophetic essays from one of the sharpest practitioners of the form\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Mark Slouka writes from a particular vantage point, one invoked by Thoreau, who wished \"to improve the nick of time . . . to stand on the meeting of two eternities, the past and future.\" At this bewildering convergence, Slouka asks us to consider what it means to be human and what we must revive, or reject, in order to retain our humanity in the modern world.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Collected over fifteen years, these essays include fascinating explorations of the relationship between memory and history and the nature of \"tragedy\" in a media-driven culture; meditations on the transcendent \"wisdom\" of the natural world and the role of silence in an age of noise; and arguments in defense of the political value of leisure time and the importance of the humanities in an age defined by the language of science and industry. Written in Slouka's supple and unerring prose, celebratory, critical, and passionate, \u003ci\u003eEssays from the Nick of Time\u003c\/i\u003e reawakens us to the moment and place in which we find ourselves, caught between the fading presence of the past and the neon lure of the future.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49648770482449,"sku":"GOR009677482","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50718686707985,"sku":"CIN1555975712VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1555975712.jpg?v=1750718023"},{"product_id":"nobody-s-son-book-mark-slouka-9780393354751","title":"Nobody's Son","description":"Born in Czechoslovakia, Mark Slouka's parents survived the Nazis only to be forced to then escape the Communist purges after the war. 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Her story-the revelation of her life-long burden and the forty-year love affair that might have saved her-shows the way out of the maze.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49665459355921,"sku":"GOR009437383","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50690108096785,"sku":"CIN039335475XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51881786867985,"sku":"NIN9780393354751","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/039335475X.jpg?v=1754893222"},{"product_id":"war-of-the-worlds-book-mark-slouka-9780465004874","title":"War Of The Worlds","description":"Warning: A technological revolution is unfolding that promises, in the words of its creators, to redefine what it means to be human. Face-to-face communication (\"F2F\" to those in the know) is quickly becoming obsolete; already we turn to computers for information, entertainment, companionship--even love. Science fiction? Hardly. This is the brave new vision of the digital avant-garde, computer crusaders leading a high-tech assault on what was once known as reality. Sophisticated, well-funded, unabashedly messianic, they have the power, the technological know-how, and the marketplace savvy to make good on many of their wildest prophecies. 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A New York Times Notable Book  A California Book Award Silver Medalist for Fiction","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49909386379537,"sku":"CIN0393352668VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0393352668.jpg?v=1751039119"},{"product_id":"war-of-the-worlds-book-mark-slouka-9780465004867","title":"War of the Worlds","description":"Warning: A technological revolution is unfolding that promises, in the words of its creators, to redefine what it means to be human. Face-to-face communication (F2F to  those in the know) is quickly becoming obsolete; already we  turn to computers for information, entertainment, companionshipeven love. Science fiction? Hardly. This is the brave new vision of the digital avant-garde, computer crusaders leading a high-tech assault on what was once known as reality. 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Meanwhile, Ray Cappicciano, a rebel as gifted with his fists as Jon is with his feet, is trying to take care of his baby brother while staying out of the way of his abusive, ex-cop father. When Jon and Ray form a tight friendship, they find in each other everything they lack at home, but it’s not until Ray falls in love with beautiful, headstrong Karen Dorsey that the three friends begin to dream of breaking away from Brewster for good. Freedom, however, has its price. As forces beyond their control begin to bear down on them, Jon sets off on the race of his life—a race to redeem his past and save them all. Mark Slouka's work has been called \"relentlessly observant, miraculously expressive\" (New York Times Book Review). Reverberating with compassion, heartache, and grace, Brewster is an unforgettable coming-of-age story from one of our most compelling novelists.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50290815566097,"sku":"CIN0393239756G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51323563147537,"sku":"CIN0393239756VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0393239756.jpg?v=1751006912"},{"product_id":"brewster-book-mark-slouka-9780393348835","title":"Brewster","description":"The year is 1968. The world is changing, and sixteen-year-old Jon Mosher is determined to change with it. Racked by guilt over his older brother’s childhood death and stuck in the dead-end town of Brewster, New York, he turns his rage into victories running track. 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A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice  A Washington Post Notable Book of 2013  A Barron’s Favorite Book of the Year, selected by Daniel Woodrell  A Booklist Best Adult Books for Young Adults Editor’s Choice 2013","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50349735641361,"sku":"CIN0393348830G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50351120548113,"sku":"CIN0393348830A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50761991717137,"sku":"CIN0393348830VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51002094420241,"sku":"NIN9780393348835","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0393348830.jpg?v=1751102953"},{"product_id":"all-that-is-left-is-all-that-matters-book-mark-slouka-9780393292282","title":"All That Is Left Is All That Matters","description":"In fifteen beautifully wrought stories—ranging from occupied Czechoslovakia to California’s Central Valley to the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest—Mark Slouka explores moments in life when our back is to the wall. One of the most forceful American writers of his generation, Slouka captures the depth and emotional range of an array of characters—from a young boy attempting to shield his father from painful memories in \"The Hare’s Mask\" to a lonely man whose beloved dog inexplicably begins to sprout razor blades from her skin in \"Dog.\"   Whether battling the end of desire, the fact of injustice, or death itself, the men and women in these stories are doing everything possible to tighten their grip on life. In \"Crossing,\" a father hoping to compensate for his failures finds himself facing his past while fording a river with his young son on his back; in \"Conception,\" a young couple frozen by the possible end of their marriage is offered an unexpected way back; in \"Half-Life,\" a proud, aging shut-in finds her resolve tested by an extraordinary visitor determined to shatter her solitude.   Like its title, All That Is Left Is All That Matters consoles us with life’s tender humor and unexpected moments of redemption in the face of heartbreak, tragedy, and dislocation.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50350609629457,"sku":"CIN0393292282G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51201311211793,"sku":"NGR9780393292282","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52705502527761,"sku":"CIN0393292282VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0393292282.jpg?v=1751229190"},{"product_id":"nobody-s-son-book-mark-slouka-9780393292305","title":"Nobody's Son","description":"There comes a time in your life when the past decides to run you down, Mark Slouka writes in this heartbreaking and soul-searching memoir about one man's attempt to reckon with the past.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50350613397777,"sku":"CIN0393292304VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50946616688913,"sku":"CIN0393292304A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51415782686993,"sku":"CIN0393292304G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53234759794961,"sku":"GOR008583829","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0393292304.jpg?v=1750781368"},{"product_id":"visible-world-book-mark-slouka-9780618756438","title":"The Visible World","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn immensely moving, powerfully romantic novel about the vagaries of love and the legacy of war, \u003ci\u003e The Visible World\u003c\/i\u003e is narrated by theAmerican-born son of Czech immigrants. 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He suspects she had agreat wartime love, the loss of which bred a sadness that slowly engulfed her.As an adult, the narrator travels to Prague, hoping to piece together herhidden past.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51416045650193,"sku":"CIN0618756434G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53437055959313,"sku":"GOR014920340","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0618756434.jpg?v=1750847735"},{"product_id":"god-s-fool-book-mark-slouka-9780375402166","title":"God's Fool","description":"In God's Fool Mark Slouka, the acclaimed author of Lost Lake and Other Stories, presents us with an unparalleled novel about Chang and Eng, the original Siamese twins. 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Their journey through adulthood takes them from Asia to Europe and from there to America; they are granted audiences with kings, and paraded in salons and drawing rooms; later – starving and penniless – they trawl the doss-houses of London and, after a chance meeting with Phineas T. Barnum, join his travelling band of bearded ladies, albino beauties and German midgets. 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Haunting, poetic and elegiac, Slouka’s stories are about people who inhabit the margins of space and place, about home, history and humanity, about myth and memory.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52587360878865,"sku":"NLS9781447219248","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781447219248.jpg?v=1761056193"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-mark-slouka.oembed?page=2","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}