{"product_id":"9798896365723","title":"Place Called Arden: A Memoir of Art and Belonging","description":"\u003cb\u003eFor readers of \u003ci\u003eUnder the Tuscan Sun\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Art of Gathering\u003c\/i\u003e, a memoir of moving into a century-old arts village and discovering that community isn't found, it's built.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen painter Jill Althouse-Wood encounters the intentional arts village of Arden, Delaware, she resolves to live there. It isn’t just the wooded setting, winding paths, or storybook cottages. She is drawn to its culture—where artists fling open their studio doors, Shakespeare defines summer, international musicians perform, and the village gathers weekly for savory repasts cooked by neighbors in turn.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eBut after buying a home in Arden, Jill discovers that community is far more demanding than it appears from the outside. Belonging is not bestowed upon newcomers like a welcome basket. Jill must earn her place—through heated town meetings, forest clean-ups, difficult conversations, and, eventually, her own turn cooking dinner for 120 neighbors in the village hall kitchen.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eAs the seasons turn, Arden works a deeper kind of enchantment—becoming a living experiment in what happens when people repeatedly choose participation over convenience and presence over isolation. Arden stretches Jill past the edges of her comfort and, in the process, transforms both woman and village. Part memoir, part antidote to modern loneliness, \u003ci\u003eA Place Called Arden\u003c\/i\u003e explores how communities shape us—and how we, in turn, help shape them.","brand":"Simon and Schuster","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":60378537787678,"sku":"9798896365723","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0741\/8436\/0222\/files\/9798896365723.jpg?v=1792445671","url":"https:\/\/shop.simonandschuster.com\/products\/9798896365723","provider":"Simon and Schuster","version":"1.0","type":"link"}