{"product_id":"elephant-in-the-van","title":"Elephant in the Van","description":"\u003cp\u003eA RESCUE THAT WORKS. A PERSON WHO CANNOT BE IMPROVED.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIrina weighs a hundred and seventy-nine kilos and can no longer walk the eighty meters from the shopping center to her apartment building without stopping. One Sunday in January, three men with a stretcher pull up beside her. It looks like an emergency. It is a contract, and her daughter has signed it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eZhenia is thirty-four, lives three hundred and fifty kilometers away, and for years has known her mother only as a voice on the phone asking for money. She hasn't paid. She has given something else.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn a disused natural history museum, Irina sleeps for eight months. A doctor without a license keeps records. An unlicensed therapist puts her memories in order: Tiraspol, Moscow in the Soviet Union's last winter, a man with beautiful hands, a child who watched. The readings improve. The woman gets lighter. Only the life she brought with her refuses to shrink.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen she wakes, she has a different body and is the same person. And her daughter has to face her.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHow far can a rescue go when the person being saved never agreed to it?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBERND BEST\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewrites about people who cannot be saved and systems that try anyway. His stories combine psychological suspense, black humor, and the grotesque workings of modern institutions.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"globaltalents independent publishing","offers":[{"title":"Perfect Bound","offer_id":68250215121200,"sku":"9669534000026","price":15.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0262\/2357\/5085\/files\/9669534000026.jpg?v=1793726799","url":"https:\/\/www.thegreatbritishbookshop.co.uk\/products\/elephant-in-the-van","provider":"The Great British Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}