{"product_id":"the-half-life-of-guilt-9780826368997","title":"The Half-Life of Guilt","description":"\u003cb\u003eA tour de force work of fiction with interweaving themes of environmentalism, past trauma, and redemption. Here is a novel that explores the manner in which Clair and Mason take on guilt where none is warranted and its lasting impact on how they navigate their lives.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLynn Stegner's acclaimed novels and story collections have drawn comparisons to the works of Margaret Atwood, Barbara Kingsolver, Alice Munro, and John Updike. Now in her new novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Half-Life of Guilt\u003c\/i\u003e, Stegner tells the story of Clair Bugato and Mason Comstock. Together they journey to the world's largest saltworks in Baja California, where a proposed expansion threatens the California gray whale population, recently come back from the brink of extinction. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the midst of a conservation battle, they meet a mysterious son of Mexico, Rubio Cantú, who leads them to the powers that be. Their two-week journey sends Clair deep into the past, where she reviews the divergent paths she and her near-identical twin sister have taken away from a childhood tragedy. At the same time, Mason confronts his own unhappy past in Cornwall, England, with a father whose hate was stronger than his love. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eNo other work of fiction patterns the warp and weft of human guilt, the homesickness only love can cure, environmental crises, the intrinsic conflict between international commerce and planetary health, and the necessity of forgiveness. \u003ci\u003eThe Half-Life of Guilt\u003c\/i\u003e is woven from these themes, delivering to the reader an engrossing and transformative literary experience.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLynn Stegner\u003c\/b\u003e's books include the novels \u003ci\u003eUndertow\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e Fata Morgana\u003c\/i\u003e, and\u003ci\u003e Because a Fire Was in My Head\u003c\/i\u003e, which won the Faulkner Award for Best Novel and was a New York Times Editors' Choice\u003ci\u003e.\u003c\/i\u003e Her novella triptych, \u003ci\u003ePipers at the Gates of Dawn\u003c\/i\u003e, was awarded a Faulkner Society's Gold Medal. She divides her time between San Francisco and northern Vermont.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"High Road Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51749422530834,"sku":"9780826368997","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_cbdd4b93-8fb4-4120-81a0-c38bba490028.jpg?v=1764084497","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-half-life-of-guilt-9780826368997","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}