{"title":"Stephen Burgen","description":"\u003cp\u003eDelve into Stephen Burgen's insightful explorations of Spanish life and culture. From incisive commentary to captivating narratives, Burgen offers a unique perspective, perfect for armchair travellers and Hispanophiles alike.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"walking-the-lions-book-stephen-burgen-9781472127389","title":"Walking the Lions","description":"When New Yorker Alex Nadal inherits his aunt's farm near Barcelona he is more than intrigued.  First, because his aunt appears to have died twice - once at the end of the Spanish Civil War and again sixty years later - and secondly because he is curious about his Catalan roots, about which his father has always maintained a stony silence.  But his arrival on Spanish soil is not a prodigal's return; indeed he is made to feel very unwelcome.  He asks too many questions which are met with either hostility or silence, until Alex begins to understand that in this sun-baked and ancient land the past is not history but merely unfinished business.  And in the end it's a simple ultimatum: finish it or it will finish him.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49606321766673,"sku":"GOR009232885","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49993972580625,"sku":"GOR010701798","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51830495478033,"sku":"GOR009076909","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1472127382.jpg?v=1750758259"},{"product_id":"your-mother-s-tongue-book-stephen-burgen-9780575400900","title":"Your Mother's Tongue","description":"After centuries of war we Europeans are trying to get along together, but we keep treading on each other's toes. Tread on an English toe and you might get a 'Bloody hell!', or on an Italian's and you'll hear 'Cazzo!' (Prick!), a Spaniard's and you'll get 'Hostia!' (Sacred host!). And while a German will bluntly shout 'Scheisse!' (Shit!), a startled Portuguese might say 'Puta que pariu!' (The whore that bore you!). In this tour of anger, exasperation, prejudice, irony and loathing as expressed in some twenty European tongues, we learn that what is invective in one country is sweet talk in another. A single currency? Maybe. A common language? 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Very soon after landing on Spanish soil it soon becomes apparent that Alex's is not a prodigal's return. From the moment he steps off the plane he is under pressure to go back to where he came from, but Alex is not a quitter and to him any problem can be solved if people are willing to discuss it. And sure enough, people are happy to talk - but not about Alex's immediate problem: anything but that. It gradually dawns on Alex that he is in the way of something but when he tries to find out what that is the answer is always the same: don't ask, let sleeping dogs lie. But Alex will not be put off and his persistence brings him up against some of the most powerful forces in the country, including Salvador Oriol, the uncrowned king of Catalonia, and his nephew Narcis, a sharply-dressed thug with a talent for violence. Yet Alex is not without allies, among them Carmen, the dark-eyed arts correspondent of the Barcelona daily, who seems heaven-sent. On the other hand there is Angel, doyen of hustlers and Carmen's exlover, who most certainly isn't. Together Alex and Carmen unearth a dossier of explosive information on events which happened in 1938 that forced his father to flee the family farm and in trying to find out why, Alex discovers that this is a country where there is no such thing as the past but a place where there is only unfinished business.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49611803984145,"sku":"GOR006813413","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49640100823313,"sku":"GOR010206562","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1841194484.jpg?v=1751122224"},{"product_id":"your-mother-s-tongue-book-stephen-burgen-9780575061316","title":"Your Mother's Tongue","description":"This work provides an exploration of insults and swearwords in the European Union. 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