{"product_id":"mildred-pierce-isbn-9780679723219","title":"Mildred Pierce","description":"In \u003ci\u003eMildred Pierce\u003c\/i\u003e, noir master James M. Cain creates a novel of acute social observation and devasting emotional violence, with a heroine whose ambitions and sufferings are never less than recognizable. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMildred Pierce had gorgeous legs, a way with a skillet, and a bone-deep core of toughness. She used those attributes to survive a divorce and poverty and to claw her way out of the lower middle class. But Mildred also had two weaknesses: a yen for shiftless men, and an unreasoning devotion to a monstrous daughter.James Mallahan Cain (1892-1977) was a first-rate writer of American hard-boiled   crime fiction. Born in Baltimore, the son of the president of Washington College,   Cain began his career as a reporter, serving in the American Expeditionary Force   in World War I and writing for \u003ci\u003eThe Cross of Lorraine\u003c\/i\u003e, the newspaper of the 79th Division.   He returned from the war to embark on a literay career that included a professorship   at St. John’s College in Annapolis and a stint at \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e as managing editor   before he went to Hollywood as a script writer. Cain’s famous first novel, \u003cb\u003eThe Postman   Always Rings Twice\u003c\/b\u003e, was published in 1934 when he was forty-two, and became an instant   sensation. It was tried for obscenity in Boston and was said by Albert Camus to have   inspired his own book, \u003cb\u003eThe Stranger\u003c\/b\u003e. The infamous novel was staged in 1936, and filmed   in 1946 and 1981. The story of a young hobo who has an affair with a married woman   and plots with her to murder her husband and collect his insurance, \u003cb\u003eThe Postman Always   Rings Twice\u003c\/b\u003e is a benchmark of classic crime fiction and film noir. Two of Cain’s   other novels, \u003cb\u003eMildred Pierce\u003c\/b\u003e (1941) and \u003cb\u003eDouble Indemnity\u003c\/b\u003e (1943), were also made into   film noir classics. In 1974, James M. Cain was awarded the Grand Master Award by   the Mystery Writers of America. Cain published eighteen books in all and was working   on his autobiography at the time of his death.","brand":"Vintage Crime\/Black Lizard","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46301806624997,"sku":"NP9780679723219","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780679723219.jpg?v=1767732689","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/mildred-pierce-isbn-9780679723219","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}