{"product_id":"the-elegance-of-the-hedgehog","title":"The Elegance of the Hedgehog","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe enthralling international bestseller.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe are in the center of Paris, in an elegant apartment building inhabited by bourgeois families. Renée, the concierge, is witness to the lavish but vacuous lives of her numerous employers. Outwardly she conforms to every stereotype of the concierge: fat, cantankerous, addicted to television. Yet, unbeknownst to her employers, Renée is a cultured autodidact who adores art, philosophy, music, and Japanese culture. With humor and intelligence she scrutinizes the lives of the building’s tenants, who for their part are barely aware of her existence. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen there’s Paloma, a twelve-year-old genius. She is the daughter of a tedious parliamentarian, a talented and startlingly lucid child who has decided to end her life on the sixteenth of June, her thirteenth birthday. Until then she will continue behaving as everyone expects her to behave: a mediocre pre-teen high on adolescent subculture, a good but not an outstanding student, an obedient if obstinate daughter. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePaloma and Renée hide both their true talents and their finest qualities from a world they suspect cannot or will not appreciate them. They discover their kindred souls when a wealthy Japanese man named Ozu arrives in the building. Only he is able to gain Paloma’s trust and to see through Renée’s timeworn disguise to the secret that haunts her. This is a moving, funny, triumphant novel that exalts the quiet victories of the inconspicuous among us.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"sb-details\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/muriel-barbery-books\"\u003eMuriel Barbery\u003c\/a\u003e (all their books in stock)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2008\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 325\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e Europa Editions\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9781933372600\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Muriel Barbery","offers":[{"title":"Poor Condition — £1.33","offer_id":47982132199601,"sku":"SB-1933372605-C4","price":1.33,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0618\/2669\/5345\/files\/1933372605.jpg?v=1790459530","url":"https:\/\/sellbooks.co.uk\/products\/the-elegance-of-the-hedgehog","provider":"Sell Books .co.uk","version":"1.0","type":"link"}