{"product_id":"the-dancing-plague-9781910593981","title":"The Dancing Plague","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Dancing Plague\u003c\/em\u003e tells a true story from 1518, when hundreds of inhabitants of Strasbourg were suddenly seized by the strange and unstoppable compulsion to dance, from the imagined perspective of Mary, one of its witnesses.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eProne to mystic visions as a child, betrayed in the convent to which she flees, then abused by her loutish husband, Mary endures her life as an oppressed and ultimately scapegoated woman with courage, strength, and inspiring beauty.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs difficult to interpret now (as a psychological reaction to social injustice?) as it was then (as a collective demonic possession?), the story of the Dancing Plague finds suitably extraordinary expression in the utterly unique mixed-media style Gareth Brookes has devised to tell it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe pioneering blend of his trademark \"pyrographic\" technique with sumptuously colourful (and literal) embroidery perfectly reflects, in a beautiful work of art, the enduring fragility of our human condition — from \"choreomania\" to coronavirus.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Thames and Hudson (Australia) Pty Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47428240212204,"sku":"9781910593981","price":39.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781910593981.jpg?v=1774766834","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/products\/the-dancing-plague-9781910593981","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}