{"product_id":"my-first-wife","title":"My First Wife","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMy First Wife\u003c\/i\u003e is Jakob Wassermann's intense, powerful account of a marriage - and its ruinous collapse - translated by the award-winning translator of \u003ci\u003eAlone in Berlin\u003c\/i\u003e, Michael Hofmann. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eIt is the story of Alexander Herzog, a young writer, who goes to Vienna to escape his debts and a failed love affair. There he is pursued by book-loving Ganna: giddy, girlish, clumsy, eccentric and wild. Dazzled and unnerved by her devotion to him, and attracted to the large dowry offered by her wealthy father, he thinks he can mould Ganna into what he wants. But no-one can control her troubling passions. As their marriage starts to self-destruct, Herzog will discover that Ganna has resources and determination of which he had no idea - and that he can never escape her.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePosthumously published in 1934 and based on the author Jakob Wassermann's own ruinous marriage, \u003ci\u003eMy First Wife\u003c\/i\u003e bears the unmistakable aura of true and bitter experience. It is a tragic masterpiece that unfolds in shocking detail. Now this story of rare intensity and drama is brought to English readers in a powerful new translation by Michael Hofmann.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReviews:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Like something out of Chekhov - it's all there, the ennui, the preening etiquette, the intellectual posturing ... painfully heartfelt ... \u003ci\u003eMy First Wife\u003c\/i\u003e is a devastating indictment of the choices we make out of convenience against our hearts and instincts, and the tragedies that ensue'\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e Independent\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'You won't find a more agonising, fascinating literary account of a marriage hitting the rocks' \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMail Online\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":32090386169939,"sku":"","price":18.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9780141391809_2992194c-5854-4fa4-a1fd-9f342dc70476.jpg?v=1769485538","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/my-first-wife","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}