{"product_id":"2026200017053-secondhand-the-public-image","title":"The Public Image","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good\u003cbr\u003eJacket: No dust jacket\u003cbr\u003ePages: Good\u003cbr\u003eMarkings: Previous owner\u003cbr\u003eCondition remarks: Condition as shown in image\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBehind the glamour of Rome's film world lies a carefully constructed lie — and in The Public Image, Muriel Spark chronicles the unravelling of Annabel Christopher, a British actress whose carefully manufactured celebrity persona begins to crumble when her husband's suicide is staged to destroy her reputation. Set against the sun-drenched yet sinister backdrop of 1960s Rome, this razor-sharp novel presents the brutal machinery of fame and the violent gap between a woman's true self and the image the world consumes.\n\nSpark, one of the twentieth century's most precise and devastating stylists, constructs her narrative with surgical economy — not a word is wasted, not a scene misplaced. The Public Image dissects the performative nature of identity, the cruelty of public perception, and the impossible standards imposed upon women in the spotlight. At just over a hundred pages, it strikes with the force of a much longer work, leaving the reader to question what, if anything, remains of a person once the world has finished defining them.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49269355741403,"sku":"2026200017053-SECONDHAND","price":10.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/966b0dc5-87bf-47cd-b7cc-dd847b58e0b1.png?v=1788999349","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026200017053-secondhand-the-public-image","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}