{"product_id":"2026100011250-secondhand-the-life-of-the-party","title":"The Life Of The Party","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good\u003cbr\u003eJacket: Worn\/faded, no tears\u003cbr\u003ePages: Yellowed\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSet against the sun-drenched, politically charged backdrop of 1970s Istanbul, The Life of the Party pulls readers into the expatriate world of the Wakefield family, whose comfortable American existence is slowly unravelled by the turbulent social and political upheavals swirling around them. Maureen Freely chronicles the story through the sharp, perceptive eyes of a teenage daughter, who watches as her parents' idealism collides with the grim realities of a city on the brink, weaving a narrative rich with dark humour, cultural dislocation, and the peculiar myopia of those who believe they are exempt from history.\n\nFreely, herself raised in Istanbul as the daughter of an American academic, draws on vivid autobiographical experience to craft a novel that is at once an incisive satire of liberal expatriate complacency and a deeply moving portrait of a family coming apart at the seams. Her prose is sharp and unsentimental, balancing wry social comedy with genuine emotional weight, and her insider's knowledge of Turkey lends the novel an authenticity that few Western writers could achieve. The Life of the Party stands as a quietly brilliant work that asks whether good intentions are ever enough — and leaves the reader with the uncomfortable suspicion that they are not.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50573119324379,"sku":"2026100011250-SECONDHAND","price":25.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/df334bf2-5eb0-44ff-8e4c-3167ffcc7482.png?v=1791167746","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026100011250-secondhand-the-life-of-the-party","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}