{"product_id":"the-catacombs","title":"The Catacombs","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn expat in Rome makes his way as a writer in this gripping and genre-defying novel, first published in 1965 by a rediscovered great of Black American literature. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"One of the great novelists of the last 100 years.\" --Ishmael Reed, author of \u003ci\u003eMumbo Jumbo\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this masterpiece of metafiction set in the Rome of the tumultuous 1960s, Black American expatriate Bill Demby narrates his attempts to write a novel about his friend Doris, another Black American working as one of Elizabeth Taylor's handmaidens in the filming of \u003ci\u003eCleopatra\u003c\/i\u003e. Utterly dependent upon Doris for the development of his novel, Demby is both a participant in and observer of her life as she begins an affair with an Italian count. Demby's growing emotional and artistic involvement in the tumultuous affair of his character-friend leads him on an existential quest for the meaning of truth and fiction, both lived and created, in a world torn by the social upheaval of the early sixties.","brand":"Vintage","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48515331293433,"sku":"9798217007332","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/1811\/7625\/files\/imageloader_d219fde4-9e06-4a33-9333-9cf3bcf56fdf.jpg?v=1781207578","url":"https:\/\/hookeandplotte.com\/products\/the-catacombs","provider":"Hooke and Plotte Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}