{"product_id":"the-well-beloved","title":"La Beneamata","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat if the beauty you love always seems to move to someone else?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJocelyn Pierston can shape beauty in stone, but he cannot hold it in love. In Thomas Hardy's The Well-Beloved, the gifted sculptor believes an ideal beauty passes from woman to woman. His pursuit draws Avice Caro and Marcia Bencomb into a restless life, where a change of heart brings real hurt.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBetween London's art circles and the wind-beaten quarries of the Isle of Slingers, Hardy follows Jocelyn across forty years. Success offers no settled love. With warmth, irony and a sadness edged by comedy, the novel explores how the longing that feeds an artist's work can also wreck his relationships.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhat you'll discover\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBeauty beyond reach\u003c\/strong\u003e – Follow a sculptor whose ideal keeps slipping from one woman's face to another.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAn island of stone\u003c\/strong\u003e – Enter a close island world shaped by quarry work, old customs and a narrow beach.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe cost of longing\u003c\/strong\u003e – Meet Avice Caro and Marcia Bencomb, women caught in Jocelyn's restless pursuit of beauty.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eWarmth edged with irony\u003c\/strong\u003e – See more than Jocelyn sees as Hardy holds comedy and sorrow close together.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eA life shaped by wanting\u003c\/strong\u003e – Explore how one fixed idea follows a man from youth into old age.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003ePerfect for readers who love Hardy's Dorset, short novels built around one bold idea, and stories about art, love and ageing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOpen the first page and meet Jocelyn on the island where his lifelong pursuit begins.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Library of Alexandria Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":59534709227868,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1027\/9442\/8764\/files\/12307_en_ebook-front_c23.jpg?v=1792175117","url":"https:\/\/libraryofalexandria.com\/it\/products\/la-beneamata","provider":"The Library of Alexandria","version":"1.0","type":"link"}