{"product_id":"the-stepdaughter","title":"The Stepdaughter","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA lavish Upper West Side apartment is the site of a familial cold war about to enter a phase of dangerous escalation. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJ is a lonely woman without the luxury of being alone. Her husband has fled to Paris with his latest flame, leaving J with not only their own four-year-old daughter, Sally Ann, but the sulky, cake-mix addicted, thirteen-year-old Renata, a leftover from his previous marriage.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWriting letters in her head to imaginary friends, J delights in dwelling on the hapless Renata, who 'invites a kind of cruelty'. This is an invitation J fully intends to take up - and like so many stepmothers before her, she will find that wickedness, once indulged, is a difficult habit to kick. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA mordant black splinter of a book, Caroline Blackwood's first novel is a testament to her razor-sharp mastery - and mockery - of the darkest depths of human feeling.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Caroline Blackwood","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56220689695107,"sku":"9780349019468","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0573\/8600\/8738\/files\/SIMPLEWEBSITEPRODUCTIMAGE-2025-08-12T131619.953.png?v=1755000990","url":"https:\/\/rarebirdsbooks.pro\/products\/the-stepdaughter","provider":"Rare Birds Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}