A young woman discovers what lurks beneath the system that anointed her among the best and brightest of her generation

"A smart, razor-sharp exploration of the precarious island of academic life and the cold unforgiving waters that surround it." —Jenny Offill, author of Dept. of Speculation and Weather

Laura, a student from a modest background, escapes her small town to join the ranks of the academic elite on a Weatherfield fellowship to study at Oxford University. She enthusiastically throws herself into her coursework, yet she is never able to escape a feeling of unease and dislocation among her fellow chosen "students of promise and ambition."

Years later, back in the United States with a PhD and dissertation on Henry James, she loses her job as an adjunct professor and reconnects with the Weatherfield Foundation. Commissioned to write a history for its centennial, she becomes obsessed by the Gilded Age origins of...]]> Sun, 22 May 2022 10:10:39 +0300