{"product_id":"state-champ-9781639735433","title":"State Champ","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Ferocious, hilarious, slippery, and wise\" (Leni Zumas)-a protest novel for our times.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA high-school state champion runner turned college dropout, Angela is working as a receptionist at an abortion clinic when a \"heartbeat law\" criminalizes most abortions statewide. In the ensuing upheaval, her boss is arrested for providing illegal procedures and the clinic is shut down. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAngela has never been either an activist or a model employee. But she gets why her boss didn't follow the rules. She decides to go on a hunger strike in the boarded-up clinic, to protest her boss's arrest and everything that's been lost. She'll draw on her skillset: the masochistic discipline of a runner, a history of self-destructive behavior, and a willingness to sleep on exam room tables (whose hygienic paper she uses as her diary). \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAngela's protest is solitary, enraged, and a little messy, but it mobilizes a group of people around her-an ex who's a local journalist looking for a good story, the everyday people the clinic once served, and most especially a formidable anti-abortion activist named Janine. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLucid, strange, and deeply metal, \u003ci\u003e State Champ\u003c\/i\u003e cuts through the political rhetoric to explore the relationship between bodily autonomy and real freedom. Angela's story is about what abortion access means day-to-day and how much we are-in ways that can transform us-responsible for one another.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eHilary Plum\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of five books, including the poetry collection\u003ci\u003e Excisions\u003c\/i\u003e, the essay collection \u003ci\u003eHole Studies\u003c\/i\u003e, and the Fence Modern Prize in Prose-winning novel \u003ci\u003eStrawberry Fields\u003c\/i\u003e. She teaches at Cleveland State University and in the NEOMFA program, and she serves as associate director of the CSU Poetry Center. Her work has appeared in \u003ci\u003eGranta\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eAstra\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Rupture\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eCleveland Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e, and elsewhere. She lives in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51260335718674,"sku":"9781639735433","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_7659d6ae-54f3-4467-aad2-c9e101a1937f.jpg?v=1746642916","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/state-champ-9781639735433","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}