{"product_id":"abyssinian-book-jean-christophe-rufin-9780330393874","title":"The Abyssinian","description":"In The Abyyssinian, Jean-Christophe Rufin yokes the elegant language of the French enlightenment with the storytelling of Alexandre Dumas to create a splendid parable of liberty, religious fanaticism and the possibility of happiness.  'Set in 1700, towards the end of the reign of Louis XIV, it follows the fortunes of a brave apothecary, a talented but unofficial doctor, who is talked into leading an embassy from Cairo to Ethiopia . . . Rufin maintains a perfect balance between impatient detachment and compassionate curiosity. The Abyssinian, like Thackeray's  Vanity Fair, carries the weight of history with good-humoured finesse' The Times   ‘An ambitious first novel, dashing, abundant and, when necessary, vividly theatrical’ Times Literary Supplement  ‘[A] remarkably assured first novel . . . Rufin’s writing is elegantly readable’ Independent  ‘It is old-fashioned enough to be delightful, and new enough to be moving’ Glasgow Herald   ‘Rufin offers the reader at least three different novels in the space of a single book: a tale of diplomatic intrigue, a voyage of discovery to a virtually unknown civilisation, and a chronicle of the adventures and loves of his irrepressible hero’ Daily Telegraph","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49523399524625,"sku":"GOR002976818","price":14.69,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49613212057873,"sku":"GOR004396104","price":14.69,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51675610186001,"sku":"GOR008399821","price":11.39,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53496056545553,"sku":"GOR014945871","price":13.69,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0330393871.jpg?v=1751006894","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/products\/abyssinian-book-jean-christophe-rufin-9780330393874","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}