{"title":"Persephone Titles","description":"\u003cp\u003eA curated selection of titles from Persephone Books — beautifully produced editions of neglected fiction and non-fiction by women. I absolutely love the titles Persephone have reprinted - they have helped me discover so many fantastic forgotten titles. And the books are just so beautiful with their sleek grey covers and wonderfully appropriate end papers. Beautiful to look at and beautiful to read. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll the titles listed here are in stock and on our shelves in New Zealand. So you won't be waiting around for overseas mail. \u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"crooked-cross-new","title":"Crooked Cross","description":"\u003cp\u003eby Sally Carson\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a book to keep. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWritten in the early 1930s it opens with the Kluger family, mother, father and their three adult children, coming home from church on Christmas Eve. It's an idyllic scene as they chat to friends and catch up with neighbours.  Daughter, Lexa, is engaged to be married to Moritz, who is treated as one of the family. But, beneath the happiness is a frustration at the economic situation and the lack of employment. Adult sons Helmy and Erich struggle to find permanent work until they are employed with the 'party' and meanwhile Lexa realises that her fiance is no longer so popular with the family because of the changing attitudes to Jewish people. Stormtroopers start to march the streets, Jewish people are dragged from their homes and people just get on with their lives as awful things unfold around them. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eConsidering this novel was written before WWII, it's incredibly prescient, and for us as readers, knowing how events played out - it's a tense read. But Carson was a superb writer, although little has been heard about her and she shows perfectly how politics is personal and the personal is political. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOriginally published in 1934, this is a beautiful soft cover version republished in 2025. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Retro Reads","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52662889742636,"sku":null,"price":45.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0921\/2677\/3548\/files\/crookedcross.jpg?v=1771145025"},{"product_id":"the-exiles-return","title":"The Exiles Return","description":"\u003cp\u003eSet in post war Vienna in the 1950s, this wonderful novel follows three very different characters returning to the city after the war. It's beautifully written, full of insight and thought on the challenges of returning to the city they once knew. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor Elizabeth de Waal was born in Vienna in 1899, the eldest child of a well-known banking family at the time. She was educated at home and at a leading boys' school and she studied philosophy at the university in Vienna. In 1939, she went to live, with her husband, in England. So, when she wrote about Vienna - she really knew the world she was writing about and it shows. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI loved this book - utterly thought provoking. Interesting characters and a story that makes you want to read on. Buy it, read it. It's great. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Retro Reads","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52675340828972,"sku":null,"price":40.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0921\/2677\/3548\/files\/rn-image_picker_lib_temp_2b18e2b1-31dc-40ff-8705-93dde90987d0.jpg?v=1771490502"},{"product_id":"because-of-the-lockwoods","title":"Because of The Lockwoods","description":"\u003cp\u003eBy Dorothy Whipple\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst published in 1949, this is a story of two families in a northern English town. Th\u003cspan\u003ee Lockwoods are wealthy and powerful and the Hunters are not - they have been left fatherless with a weak, ineffectual mother. It's a wonderfully engrossing story of character and society. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Retro Reads","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53156609917228,"sku":null,"price":45.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0921\/2677\/3548\/files\/rn-image_picker_lib_temp_6765c4a9-6cc0-4aeb-875c-06116e19abab.jpg?v=1777794224"},{"product_id":"still-missing","title":"Still Missing","description":"\u003cp\u003eby Beth Gutcheon\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst published in 1981 (is that really nearly 50 years ago?!) - this is the story of a young boy, Alex Selky, nearly 7, who goes missing. He leaves his Boston home one morning, after kissing his mother goodbye, and walks to school. But he never arrives. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA gripping page turner bursting with emotions. It will leave you thinking long after you put it down. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Retro Reads","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53156610015532,"sku":null,"price":40.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0921\/2677\/3548\/files\/rn-image_picker_lib_temp_dfde5bb1-9c4f-4ef7-894c-aa64cd264b4f.jpg?v=1777794318"},{"product_id":"the-prisoner","title":"The Prisoner","description":"\u003cp\u003eBy Sally Carson\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOriginally published in 1936, this is the sequel to Crooked Cross, and continues the story of the Kluger family as the Nazi party takes over life in Germany. \u003cspan\u003eSet mostly in Munich, it sees Erich's commitment to the Party grow, while his younger brother, Helmy, struggles to accept some of its strictures.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSally Carson was an English novelist but a frequent visitor to Germany at the time\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003eThis is a new book. Reprinted by Persephone 2026. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Retro Reads","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53156629446956,"sku":null,"price":45.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0921\/2677\/3548\/files\/rn-image_picker_lib_temp_b280b4b6-58c1-4479-85f3-8de0c25de037.jpg?v=1777795298"},{"product_id":"hostages-to-fortune","title":"Hostages To Fortune","description":"\u003cp\u003eby Elizabeth Cambridge\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst published in 1933, this autobiographical novel is the story of a woman, Catherine. It follows her life as she has her first baby, her husband is invalided out of the army and buys a doctor's practice in a small village. The couple bring up their children and become immersed in life in the village.  There are no big plot twists, no page turning incidents. It's just a regular life, the human experience - and it's a fantastic book. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Everybody's life looks a little dull to outsiders...But it's interesting when you are living it...\" says Catherine when her daughter questions her. Quite. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Retro Reads","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53163694555436,"sku":null,"price":40.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0921\/2677\/3548\/files\/rn-image_picker_lib_temp_56a37fa9-f467-438a-9b5d-836e48ecb967.jpg?v=1777884999"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0921\/2677\/3548\/collections\/persephone.jpg?v=1777886378","url":"https:\/\/www.retroreads.co.nz\/collections\/persephone-titles.oembed","provider":"Retro Reads","version":"1.0","type":"link"}