{"product_id":"the-juniper-tree-paperback","title":"The Juniper Tree - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eBarbara Comyns\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eSadie Stein\u003c\/b\u003e (Introduction by)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA modern reimagining of a classic fairy tale by one of most bewitching, idiosyncratic British writers of the twentieth century.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBella Winter has hit a low. Homeless and jobless, she is the mother of a toddler by a man whose name she didn't quite catch, and her once pretty face is disfigured by the scar she acquired in a car accident. Friendless and without family, she's recently disentangled herself from a selfish and indifferent boyfriend and a cruel and indifferent mother. But she shares a quality common to Barbara Comyns's other heroines: a bracingly unsentimental ability to carry on. Before too long, Bella has found not only a job but a vocation; not only a place to live but a home and a makeshift family. As Comyns's novel progresses, the story echoes and inverts the Brothers Grimm's macabre tale \u003ci\u003eThe Juniper Tree\u003c\/i\u003e. Will Bella's hard-won restoration to life and love come at the cost of the happiness of others?\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eBarbara Comyns \u003c\/b\u003e(1909-1992) was born in Bidfordon-Avon, in the English county of Warwickshire, one of six children of an increasingly unsuccessful Birmingham brewer. Living on the run-down but romantic family estate and receiving her education from governesses, she began to write and illustrate stories at the age of ten. After her father's death, she attended art school in London and married a painter, with whom she had two children she supported by trading antiques and classic cars, modeling, breeding poodles, and renovating apartments. A second marriage, to Richard Comyns Carr, who worked in the Foreign Office, took place during World War II. Comyns wrote her first book, \u003ci\u003eSisters by a River\u003c\/i\u003e (1947), a series of sketches based on her childhood, while living in the country to escape the Blitz, which is also when she made an initial sketch for \u003ci\u003eThe Vet's Daughter\u003c\/i\u003e (1959). This, however, she put aside to complete \u003ci\u003eOur Spoons Came from Woolworths\u003c\/i\u003e (1950) and \u003ci\u003eWho Was Changed and Who Was Dead\u003c\/i\u003e (1954). \u003ci\u003eThe Vet's Daughter\u003c\/i\u003e was published in 1959. Among Comyns's other books are the novels \u003ci\u003eThe Skin Chairs\u003c\/i\u003e (1962) and \u003ci\u003eThe Juniper Tree \u003c\/i\u003e(1985), and \u003ci\u003eOut of the Red into the Blue\u003c\/i\u003e (1960), a work of nonfiction about Spain, where she lived for eighteen years. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e Sadie Stein \u003c\/b\u003eis a writer and critic living in New York.\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 192\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.6 x 8 x 5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e January 23, 2018\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42166045343879,"sku":"9781681371313","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/c305fbdfe55dba0ff59b8f8886e6464e.webp?v=1733318043","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/the-juniper-tree-paperback","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}