{"product_id":"the-girls-john-bowen-9781529970982","title":"The Girls","description":"\u003cp\u003eMacabre comedy, crime thriller, cosy romance: The Girls is a weird and wonderful tale of two women murderously desperate to stay together\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn summer, and particularly when the wind blows south-west across the lawn, the sceptic tank gives out a strong stench... 'Oh, it is a body,' the girls say. 'We have a body in there. No one you know. It decomposes, of course, but so slowly one quite despairs.'\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn their lovely, quiet Cotswolds village, Janet and Susan are known to the villagers simply as 'the girls'. Partners in love and work, co-proprietors of a picturesque shop, they lead an enviable, enviably settled life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut when a moment of small, surprising passion intrudes into the equilibrium of their world, the girls' lives take a deeply unsettling turn. First comes motherhood. Then comes murder.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePart-macabre comedy, part-crime thriller, part-cosy romance, John Bowen's The Girls is a novel like none other. Told with warmth, affection and fun, yet laced with darkness and unease, 'the girls' will ensure you never look on Middle England quite so quaintly again.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Absolutely wicked' Armistead Maupin\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Startlingly offbeat' Gore Vidal\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e' For  people who like Myra Breckinridge as well as Miss Marple; fans of Beryl Bainbridge, Russell Greenan and Patricia Highsmith; those who feel Barbara Pym-ish on some days and Stephen King-ish on others . . . The Girls charms us as only certain tales 'of village life' can' Washington Post\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"John Bowen","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":68485538840819,"sku":"9781529970982","price":24.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0634\/4284\/5939\/files\/9781529970982.jpg?v=1793991800","url":"https:\/\/www.harryhartog.com.au\/products\/the-girls-john-bowen-9781529970982","provider":"Harry Hartog Bookseller","version":"1.0","type":"link"}