{"product_id":"hestia-strikes-a-match-9781250321817","title":"Hestia Strikes a Match","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Best Book of the Year at NPR\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Must-Read at \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eOprah Daily\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Orange County Register\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Steamy, smart, and hilarious.\" \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eOprah Daily\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Effervescent . . . Acerbically funny and tender . . . [A] supremely layered, emotionally and intellectually resonant novel for our time.\" --Lauren LeBlanc, \u003ci\u003e The Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eChristine Grillo's \u003ci\u003eHestia Strikes a Match \u003c\/i\u003eis t\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ehe slyly funny story of a woman looking for love and friendship in the midst of a new American civil war.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe year is 2023, and things are bad--bad, but still not as bad as they could be. Hestia Harris is forty-two, abandoned by her husband (he left to fight for the Union cause), and estranged from her parents (they're leaving for the Confederacy). Yes, the United States has collapsed into a second civil war and again it's Unionists against Confederates, children against parents, friends against friends. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHestia has left journalism (too much war reporting) for a job at a Baltimore retirement village on the Inner Harbor (lots of security). She's single and adrift, save for her coworkers and Mildred, an eighty-four-year-old, thrice-happily-married resident who gleefully supports Hestia's half-hearted but hopeful attempts to find love again in a time of chaos and disunion. She reckons with the big questions (\u003ci\u003eHow do we live in the midst of political collapse? How do we love people who believe terrible things?\u003c\/i\u003e) and the little ones (\u003ci\u003eHow do I decorate a nonworking fireplace? Can I hook up with a mime?\u003c\/i\u003e), all while wrestling with that simmering, roiling, occasionally boiling feeling that things are decidedly not okay, but we have to keep going, one foot in front of the other, because maybe, just maybe, we can still find the kinds of relationships that sustain a person through anything. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eChristine Grillo's \u003ci\u003eHestia Strikes a Match \u003c\/i\u003eis an irreverent, incisive, laugh-out-loud interrogation of modern love of all kinds, in all its messy beauty. Equal parts wise and hilarious, it fills the heart, fortifies the spirit, and will surely help to fend off despair. In the face of the everyday wildness of our times, it asks and answers that newly constant question: How do we make a full, wonderfully ordinary life when the whole mad world is clattering down around us?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChristine Grillo \u003c\/b\u003eis a writer and an editor whose short fiction has appeared in \u003ci\u003eStoryQuarterly\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Southern Review\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eLIT\u003c\/i\u003e. Her nonfiction covers science, public health, food systems, agriculture, and climate change, and has been published in outlets such as \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic: CityLab\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eAudubon\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNextTribe\u003c\/i\u003e, and\u003ci\u003e Real Simple\u003c\/i\u003e. Grillo earned degrees at Columbia University and The Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland. \u003ci\u003eHestia Strikes a Match\u003c\/i\u003e is her debut novel.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Picador USA","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50612894335250,"sku":"9781250321817","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_b086b7ef-21bc-485d-a2c7-2f7df2bde765.jpg?v=1774449590","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/hestia-strikes-a-match-9781250321817","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}