{"product_id":"alfred-and-emily-isbn-9780060834890","title":"Alfred and Emily","description":"\u003cp\u003eAlfred and Emily is an intimate and revealing book by Doris Lessing, the winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature and author of The Grass is Singing and The Golden Notebook, that explores the lives of her parents, each irrevocably damaged by the Great War.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this profoundly moving book, Nobel Laureate Doris Lessing explores the lives of her parents, each irrevocably damaged by the Great War. In the fictional first half of Alfred and Emily, she imagines the happier lives her parents might have made for themselves had there been no war. This is followed by a piercing examination of their relationship as it actually was in the shadow of the devastating global conflict.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Here I still am,\" says Lessing, \"trying to get out from under that monstrous legacy, trying to get free.\" Triumphantly, with Alfred and Emily, she has done just that.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eA Unique Hybrid of Fiction and Memoir:\u003c\/b\u003e Lessing splits the book into two powerful halves—first imagining the lives her parents might have lived, then confronting the stark reality of what was.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eThe Great War’s Enduring Shadow:\u003c\/b\u003e A searing account of how World War I irrevocably damaged two ordinary people, shaping a family’s destiny for generations.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eAn Alternate History of the Heart:\u003c\/b\u003e What if there had been no war? The book opens with a deeply felt novella that gives her parents the happiness they never had.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eA Nobel Laureate’s Most Personal Work:\u003c\/b\u003e The acclaimed author of \u003ci\u003eThe Golden Notebook\u003c\/i\u003e turns her formidable intellect and insight inward to understand her own origins.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e | \u003cp\u003eIn this profoundly moving book, Nobel Laureate Doris Lessing explores the lives of her parents, each irrevocably damaged by the Great War. In the fictional first half of \u003cem\u003eAlfred and Emily\u003c\/em\u003e, she imagines the happier lives her parents might have made for themselves had there been no war. This is followed by a piercing examination of their relationship as it actually was in the shadow of the devastating global conflict.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Here I still am,\" says Lessing, \"trying to get out from under that monstrous legacy, trying to get free.\" Triumphantly, with \u003cem\u003eAlfred and Emily\u003c\/em\u003e, she has done just that. \u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003e“In its intimacy, incisiveness and literary construct, [Alfred and Emily] is her most powerful book: a bold exorcism of her parents’ traumas in the first world war, and a thorough examination of her relationship with them...a poignant tribute...a final act of compassion.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNewsweek (International Edition)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“...the voices, both Lessing’s and her parents’, are alive, fluid, anxious, believeable.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSeattle Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“In its generosity of spirit, its shaped and contanied fury, Alfred \u0026amp; Emily is also an extraordinary, unconventional addition to Lessing’s autobiography . . . but there isn’t the slightest tone of valediction or summing up here. That’s why she remains so vital: even in old age, she sounds as fierce and passionate as a girl.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Lessing has pushed the boundaries of the memoir form . . . fluidly conversational prose . . . thought-provoking.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“An odd and powerful excursion into lost time. . . . a powerful reminder not only of Lessing’s past but also of how each of us can return to our own and come back with something precious.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“An intriguing work . . . [that] shimmers with precisely remembered details.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMichiko Kakutani, New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Alfred and Emily explores the boundary where reality and imagination meet, through the use of a formally innovative structure. . . . Wonderfully evocative. . . . Glimpses into the creative process of one of the world’s most gifted and socially engaged writers make Alfred and Emily a valuable addition to the Lessing oeuvre.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“An intriguing work...Writing with the incandescent clarity of her 88 years, Ms. Lessing...conveys the appreciation she now feels for the hardship of her parents’ lives, and the anger she often felt as a young girl in rebellion against her mother...shimmers with precisely remembered details.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMichiko Kakutani, New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Alfred and Emily reveals why Lessing deserved literature’s highest honor. There is a remarkable level of courage, honesty, and wisdom in Alfred and Emily. . . . Lessing, nearing 90, continues to surprise.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eUSA Today\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A clever, moving coupling of fiction and nonfiction. ALFRED \u0026amp; EMILY is...a testament to [Lessing’s] ongoing literary vitality.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWashington Post Book World\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A truly intriguing piece of work...the book is also an interesting glimpse of an empire and an era: of how the hazy, golden afternoon of the Edwardian Age faded into the dark of World War I and of the way that disappointed British citizens fueled their postwar dreams by leaving their country.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eChristian Science Monitor\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“She has never displayed her potent imagination to better effect, or her gift for probing realism. The author’s capacity to summon up her feelings so vividly is as effective as it is chilling...a profoundly moving memoir and portrait of a marriage.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“She has never displayed her potent imagination to better effect, or her gift for probing realism . . . a profoundly moving memoir and portrait of a marriage.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Lessing’s taste for discomfiting truths is as evident as ever…as bracing and engaging as anything she has written.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Vivid, turbulent, fresh with raw emotion…Clarity and darkness, honesty and obscurity are tumbled together: the work of a writer who knows that the truths of the heart are hideously complicated” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSunday Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“One of the most remarkable books she has ever written.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Independent\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A clever, moving coupling of fiction and nonfiction. \u003cem\u003eAlfred \u0026amp; Emily\u003c\/em\u003e is a culmination of Lessing’s ongoing interest in formal experimentation and the relationship between reality and imagination. It’s also a testament to her ongoing literary vitality. . . . By allowing her readers this insight into the connection between autobiography and fiction, between form and content, she reaffirms fiction’s powers and possibilities.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWashington Post Book World\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A stirring exploration . . . gently yet deeply moving.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMinneapolis Star Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“The novella is written in an unhurried, old-fashioned manner, and is filled with tender, accurate family scenes... the characters and settings are rich, and the story is touching...Lessing’s memoir of her childhood is insightful and evocative...ALFRED \u0026amp; EMILY is eloquent and incisive on the subject of war.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eRocky Mountain News\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Laced with the subtlest of observations and the wryest of wit, it’s a charming yet cutting story of rapid social change, the resiliency of women, class conflicts, the call to do good, and the confounding dynamics of marriage and parenthood. . . . This unusual marriage of fiction and memoir (and family photographs) results in a book at once spellbinding, rueful, and tragic.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDonna Seaman, Booklist (starred review)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Laced with the subtlest of observations and the wryest of wit...This unusual marriage of fiction and memoir (and family photographs) results in a book at once spellbinding, rueful, and tragic.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist (starred review)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44887699849445,"sku":"NP9780060834890","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780060834890.jpg?v=1730227265","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/alfred-and-emily-isbn-9780060834890","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}