{"product_id":"the-world-cannot-give-9781982170073","title":"The World Cannot Give","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Secret History \u003c\/i\u003emeets \u003ci\u003eThe Price of Salt\u003c\/i\u003e\" (\u003ci\u003eVogue\u003c\/i\u003e) in this \"equal parts dangerous and delicious\" (\u003ci\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e) novel about queer desire, religious zealotry, and the hunger for transcendence among the members of a cultic chapel choir at a Maine boarding school--and the ambitious, terrifyingly charismatic girl that rules over them. \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhen shy, sensitive Laura Stearns arrives at St. Dunstan's Academy in Maine, she dreams that life there will echo her favorite novel, \u003ci\u003eAll Before Them\u003c\/i\u003e, the sole surviving piece of writing by Byronic \"prep school prophet\" (and St. Dunstan's alum) Sebastian Webster, who died at nineteen, fighting in the Spanish Civil War. She soon finds the intensity she is looking for among the insular, Webster-worshipping members of the school's chapel choir, which is presided over by the charismatic, neurotic, overachiever Virginia Strauss. Virginia is as fanatical about her newfound Christian faith as she is about the miles she runs every morning before dawn. She expects nothing short of perfection from herself--and from the member of the choir. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eVirginia inducts the besotted Laura into a world of transcendent music and arcane ritual, illicit cliff-diving and midnight crypt visits: a world that, like Webster's novels, finally seems to Laura to be full of meaning. But when a new school chaplain challenges Virginia's hold on the \"family\" she has created, and Virginia's efforts to wield her power become increasingly dangerous, Laura must decide how far she will let her devotion to Virginia go. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe World Cannot Give \u003c\/i\u003eis a \"hypnotic and intense\" (\u003ci\u003eShondaland\u003c\/i\u003e) meditation on the power, and danger, of wanting more from the world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTara Isabella Burton's debut novel, \u003ci\u003eSocial Creature\u003c\/i\u003e, was named a Best Book of the Year by \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eVulture\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e. She has written on religion, culture, and place for \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e National Geographic\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e The Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eCity Journal\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Economist's 1843, Aeon\u003c\/i\u003e, The BBC, \u003ci\u003e The Atlantic\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e Salon\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e The New Statesman\u003c\/i\u003e, and\u003ci\u003e The Telegraph. \u003c\/i\u003eShe is a columnist at \u003ci\u003eReligion News Service\u003c\/i\u003e, a contributing editor at \u003ci\u003eAmerican Purpose\u003c\/i\u003e, and the former staff religion writer at \u003ci\u003eVox.\u003c\/i\u003e Her fiction has appeared in \u003ci\u003eGranta\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eVolume 1 Brooklyn\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e's Daily Shouts, \u003ci\u003eTor\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ePANK\u003c\/i\u003e, and more. She received a doctorate in theology from Trinity College, Oxford, where she was a Clarendon Scholar, in 2017.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Simon \u0026 Schuster","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50707848528146,"sku":"9781982170073","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_63826489-0ba8-4b21-8935-e9df0aa555b8.jpg?v=1734504344","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-world-cannot-give-9781982170073","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}