{"product_id":"last-landlady","title":"Last Landlady","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eShortlisted for Harper''s Bazaar Book of the Year 2019\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Guardian, Spectator and Mail on Sunday Book of the Year 2018\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A lyrical portrait of a fast-vanishing way of life . . . Thompson is a terrific writer.\" — New Statesman\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLaura Thompson’s grandmother Violet was one of the great landladies. Born in a London pub, she became the first woman to be given a publican’s licence in her own name and, just as pubs defined her life, she seemed in many ways to embody their essence.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLaura spent part of her childhood in Violet’s Home Counties establishment, mesmerised by her gift for cultivating the mix of cosiness and glamour that defined the pub’s atmosphere, making it a unique reflection of the national character. Her memories of this time are just as intoxicating: beer and ash on the carpets in the morning, the deepening rhythms of mirth at night, the magical brightness of glass behind the bar…\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThrough them Laura traces the story of the English pub, asking why it has occupied such a treasured position in our culture. But even Violet, as she grew older, recognised that places like hers were a dying breed, and Laura also considers the precarious future they face. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePart memoir, part social history, part elegy, \u003ci\u003eThe Last Landlady\u003c\/i\u003e pays tribute to an extraordinary woman and the world she epitomised.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57316392305022,"sku":"NW9781783528455","price":9.72,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9781783528455.jpg?v=1778688427","url":"https:\/\/mediaplace.com\/products\/last-landlady","provider":"MediaPlace","version":"1.0","type":"link"}