{"product_id":"9781771669849","title":"The Disappearing Act","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the renowned Russian author of \u003cem\u003eIn Memory of Memory\u003c\/em\u003e comes a haunting meditation on identity, exile, language, art,\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eand the fragile desire to disappear.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe writer M has been living in exile in the city of B since her homeland declared war on a neighbouring state. Wracked by shame and despair, and severed from her language, M finds herself unable to write, unmoored in a present where the future feels unknowable. When she is invited to give a reading at a literary festival in a nearby country, a strange turn of events occurs. After a series of missed connections and mishaps during her trip, including losing her phone, she finds herself stranded and untraceable in an unfamiliar coastal town.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eCut off from everyone she knows, M feels a sense of freedom and the possibility of starting over, but memories of childhood, books, films, and tarot cards pull her back, the last fragments of a vanishing world. Then she meets a troupe of circus performers who invite her to join them, and reinvention feels within reach. \u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn this brief interlude, it seems as if M may finally escape from herself, her past, and her nationality. Written in rich and hypnotic prose, \u003cem\u003eThe Disappearing Act\u003c\/em\u003e oscillates between reality and dream, between an oppressive present and a lost past, between life and literature.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Maria Stepanova","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback Trade paperback (US)","offer_id":50278811107685,"sku":"9781771669849","price":24.95,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0851\/2651\/2997\/files\/BNCImageAPI_7d7c097d-8a99-451f-ade3-386b04b71f7b.jpg?v=1783445399","url":"https:\/\/www.commonplaceingersoll.ca\/products\/9781771669849","provider":"Commonplace Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}