{"product_id":"useless-beauty","title":"Useless Beauty","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat if beauty is a gift that gives you nothing you need?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn Useless Beauty, Guy de Maupassant takes you into wealthy drawing rooms and onto country roads, where people want more than they admit. They seek a person, a position, or a little more money. Beneath their manners lies a harder question: how does society treat the people within it, especially women?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe title story, Inutile beauté, asks what beauty is for when the world has no use for it. Across this collection of French short stories, Maupassant explores desire and the cruelty hidden in custom. Each brief story gathers around a sharp situation, letting a single scene reveal what respectable appearances can conceal.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eInside this book\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBeauty as a burden\u003c\/strong\u003e – Explore the title story’s unsettling question about a gift that may serve no real need.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eWants left unspoken\u003c\/strong\u003e – Meet people whose hunger for love, position, or money stays hidden beneath what they say.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCruelty in good manners\u003c\/strong\u003e – Look beneath respectable customs to see the harsh expectations they place on people.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDrawing rooms and roads\u003c\/strong\u003e – Move between wealthy interiors and country roads, following people who conceal how much they want.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eA scene that stays\u003c\/strong\u003e – Discover how a brief, precise story lets one situation carry a sharp and lasting point.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003ePerfect for readers who love short, precise fiction, want a first taste of Maupassant, or enjoy stories about money, marriage, and manners.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOpen the first page now and look beneath the manners with Maupassant.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Library of Alexandria Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":59534733214044,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1027\/9442\/8764\/files\/11788_en_ebook-front_c06.jpg?v=1792175150","url":"https:\/\/libraryofalexandria.com\/products\/useless-beauty","provider":"The Library of Alexandria","version":"1.0","type":"link"}