{"product_id":"the-modigliani-scandal-isbn-9780143133353","title":"The Modigliani Scandal","description":"\u003cb\u003eA high-speed, high-stakes thriller from Ken Follett, the grand master of international action and suspense.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA fabulous \"lost masterpiece\" becomes the ultimate prize—for an art historian whose ambition consumes everyone around her, an angry young painter with a plan for revenge on the art establishment, and a desperate gallery owner who may have double-crossed his own life away. Behind the elegance and glamour of the art world, anything goes—theft, forgery, betrayal, and maybe even murder. . . .\u003cb\u003ePraise for the novels of Ken Follett\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Great entertainment.\" \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Baltimore Sun\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Gripping.\"\u003cb\u003e —\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Follett really knows how to tell a story.\" \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Follett is a master of crafty plot and incredible detail.\" \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eTime\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"The man tells a story so well. . . . Follett can make things glow with some beautifully written episodes.\" \u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eSt. Louis Post-Dispatch\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Follett is a master.\" —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Few authors deliver as consistently as Follett.\" —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePittsburgh Press\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A major talent.\" \u003ci\u003e—\u003cb\u003eBooklist\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eKen Follett\u003c\/b\u003e is one of the world's best-loved authors, selling more than 188 million copies of his thirty-six books. Follett’s first bestseller was \u003ci\u003eEye of the Needle\u003c\/i\u003e, a spy story set in the Second World War. In 1989, \u003ci\u003eThe Pillars of the Earth\u003c\/i\u003e was published and has since become Follett's most popular novel. It reached number one on bestseller lists around the world and was an Oprah’s Book Club pick. Its sequels, \u003ci\u003eWorld Without End\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eA Column of Fire\u003c\/i\u003e, and prequel \u003ci\u003eThe Evening and the Morning,\u003c\/i\u003e proved equally popular, and the Kingsbridge series has sold more than fifty million copies worldwide. Follett lives in Hertfordshire, England, with his wife, Barbara. Between them they have five children, six grandchildren, and three Labradors.\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eINTRODUCTION\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIN A MODERN THRILLER the hero generally saves the world. Traditional adventure stories are more modest: The central character merely saves his own life, and perhaps the life of a faithful friend or a plucky girl. In less sensational novels—the middlebrow, well-told narratives that have been the staple diet of readers for more than a century—there is less at stake, but still a character′s efforts, struggles, and choices determine his destiny in a dramatic fashion.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI don′t actually believe that life is like that. In reality, circumstances quite beyond our control usually determine whether we live or die, become happy or miserable, strike it rich or lose everything. For example: Most rich people inherit their money. Most well-fed people simply had the luck to be bom in an af fluent country. Most happy people were born into loving families, and most miserable people had crazy parents.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI′m not a fatalist, nor do I believe that everything in life is blind chance. We do not control our lives  the way a chess player controls his pieces, but life is not roulette either. As usual, the truth is complicated. Mechanisms beyond our control—and sometimes beyond our understanding—debermine a person′s fate, yet the choices he makes have consequences, if not the consequences he anticipated.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46299905589477,"sku":"NP9780143133353","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780143133353.jpg?v=1767740545","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-modigliani-scandal-isbn-9780143133353","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}