{"product_id":"ivory-pearl-isbn-9781681372105","title":"Ivory Pearl","description":"\u003cb\u003eSet in Cuba's Sierra Maestra in the 1950s, in the days leading up to the Revolution--Manchette's unfinished masterpiece with a fearless female protagonist.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOut of the wreckage of World War II swaggers Ivory Pearl, so named (rhymes with girl) by some British soldiers who made her their mascot, a mere kid, orphaned, survivor of God knows what, but fluent in French, English, smoking, and drinking. In Berlin, Ivy meets Samuel Farakhan, a rich closeted intelligence officer. Farakhan proposes to adopt her and help her to become the photographer she wants to be; his relationship to her will provide a certain cover for him. And she is an asset. The deal is struck...\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1956: Ivy has seen every conflict the postwar world has on offer, from Vietnam to East Berlin, and has published her photographs in slick periodicals, but she is sick to death of death and bored with life and love. It’s time for a break. Ivy heads to Cuba, the Sierra Maestra. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHistory, however, doesn’t take vacations.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eIvory Pearl\u003c\/i\u003e was Jean-Patrick Manchette’s last book, representing a new turn in his writing. It was to be the first of a series of ambitious historical thrillers about the “wrong times” we live in. Though left unfinished when Manchette died, the book, whose full plot has been filled in here from the author’s notes, is a masterpiece of bold suspense and black comedy: chilling, caustic, and perfectly choreographed.\"The opening chapter in particular is as sharp and brutal as anything Manchette wrote, including his masterpiece, \u003ci\u003eThe Prone Gunman\u003c\/i\u003e. The obsessive details...might make even Ian Fleming feel uninformed...Noir fans won’t want to miss this one.\" —\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“In his final, unfinished novel, available for the first time in English, Manchette departs from crime fiction—but not extreme violence—to deliver a saga of high adventure...Thanks to New York Review Books' translations, the English-speaking world has a generous sampling of [Manchette’s] unique fiction to enjoy. Idiosyncratic French novelist Manchette...went out in style. Short but sprawling, the novel packs a mean punch.” —\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“His writing is lean and relentless.” —David L. Ulin, \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “In France, which long ago embraced American crime fiction, thrillers are referred to as \u003ci\u003epolars\u003c\/i\u003e. And in France the godfather and wizard of \u003ci\u003epolars\u003c\/i\u003e is Jean-Patrick Manchette.... [H]e’s a massive figure.... There is gristle here, there is bone.” —\u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Manchette is legend among all of the crime writers I know, and with good reason: hHis novels never fail to stun and thrill from page one.” —Duane Swierczynski, author of \u003ci\u003eExpiration Date\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Manchette called crime novels ‘the great moral literature of our time.’ Manchette pushes the Situationist strategy of \u003ci\u003ederive\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003edéetournement\u003c\/i\u003e to the point of comic absurdity, throwing a wrench into the workings of his main characters’ lives and gleefully recording the anarchy that results.” —Jennifer Howard, \u003ci\u003eBoston Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eJean-Patrick Manchette\u003c\/b\u003e (1942-1995) was a genre-redefining French crime novelist, screenwriter, critic, and translator. Throughout the 1960s Manchette supported himself with various jobs writing television scripts, screenplays, young-adult books, and film novelizations. In 1971 he published his first novel, a collaboration with Jean-Pierre Bastid, and went on to produce ten subsequent works over the course of the next two decades and establishing a new genre of French novel, the néo-polar (distinguished from traditional detective novel, or polar, by its political engagement and social radicalism). NYRB Classics also publishes Manchette's \u003ci\u003eFatale\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Mad and the Bad\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDonald Nicholson-Smith\u003c\/b\u003e was born in Manchester, England and is a longtime resident of New York City. For NYRB Classics he has translated Manchette's \u003ci\u003eFatale\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Mad and the Bad\u003c\/i\u003e and Jean-Paul Clebert's \u003ci\u003eParis Vagabond\u003c\/i\u003e, and for NYR Comics he has translated Yvan Alagbé's \u003ci\u003eYellow Negroes and Other Imaginary Creatures\u003c\/i\u003e and Nicole Claveloux's \u003ci\u003eThe Green Hand and Other Stories\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDoug Headline\u003c\/b\u003e is the son of Jean-Patrick Manchette. For over three decades, he has been active as a journalist, director, and screenwriter while also writing, translating, and publishing comics. In collaboration with the artist Max Cabanes, he has adapted in graphic-novel format three of Manchette’s novels, \u003ci\u003eIvory Pearl\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eFatale\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eNada\u003c\/i\u003e, and is at work on a fourth. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eGary Indiana\u003c\/b\u003e is a critic and novelist. His most recent  books include \u003ci\u003eI Can Give You Anything But Love\u003c\/i\u003e, a memoir, and \u003ci\u003eTiny Fish That Only Want To Kiss\u003c\/i\u003e, a collection of short fiction. His writing has appeared in \u003ci\u003eNew York Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eVice\u003c\/i\u003e, the \u003ci\u003eLondon Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e, and many other publications.","brand":"NYRB Classics","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303061213413,"sku":"NP9781681372105","price":14.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781681372105.jpg?v=1767730286","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/ivory-pearl-isbn-9781681372105","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}