{"product_id":"the-door-by-magda-szabo-1","title":"‘The Door’ by Magda Szabó","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Door\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, Hungarian novelist Magda Szabó examines the difficult, destructive relationship between two women: a successful writer and Emerence, the fiercely independent housekeeper she employs. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEmerence is formidable, secretive and governed by a private moral code that refuses the ordinary conventions of intimacy. As the women become increasingly entangled in one another's lives, their relationship develops into something neither friendship nor employment can adequately describe, shaped by affection, resentment, dependence and competing understandings of responsibility.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNarrated retrospectively by the writer, the novel is also an extended confession. What begins as an account of a remarkable woman gradually becomes an examination of the narrator's own failures, particularly the distance between wanting to do good and understanding what goodness demands of another person. Set against the political and historical aftermath of twentieth-century Hungary, Szabó explores privacy, class, loyalty and the violence that can accompany even well-intentioned acts of care. The result is a psychologically exacting novel in which love offers no guarantee of understanding, and the desire to help can become its own form of betrayal.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEdition\/Condition: Vintage Classics, Penguin Random House, 2026 edition. Originally published in Hungarian as \u003cem\u003eAz ajtó\u003c\/em\u003e in 1987; English translation by Len Rix. Paperback in very good condition, with minimal visible shelf wear. Pages appear clean and well maintained.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"bower studio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67943582171219,"sku":null,"price":14.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0689\/0268\/2707\/files\/CopyofCopyofCopyofhowtodestroythefutureinstagramassets_51.png?v=1793152307","url":"https:\/\/bowerbooks.com\/products\/the-door-by-magda-szabo-1","provider":"bower books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}