{"product_id":"the-illness-lesson-9780525565475","title":"The Illness Lesson","description":"\u003cb\u003eONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR\u003cbr\u003eESQUIRE - ELECTRIC LITERATURE \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Astoundingly original.\" --\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom the author of the award-winning debut story collection \u003ci\u003eWe Show What We Have Learned\u003c\/i\u003e, a vivid work of historical fiction with shocking and eerie connections to our own time. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAt their newly founded school, Samuel Hood and his daughter, Caroline, promise a groundbreaking education for young women. But Caroline has grave misgivings. After all, her own unconventional education has left her unmarriageable and isolated, unsuited to the narrow roles afforded women in nineteenth-century New England. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhen a mysterious flock of red birds descends on the town, Caroline alone seems to find them unsettling. But it's not long before the assembled students begin to manifest bizarre symptoms: rashes, seizures, headaches, verbal tics, night wanderings. One by one, they sicken. Fearing ruin for the school, Samuel overrules Caroline's pleas to inform the girls' parents and turns instead to a noted physician, a man whose sinister ministrations--based on a shocking historic treatment--horrify Caroline. As the men around her continue to dictate, disastrously, all terms of the girls' experience, Caroline's own body begins to betray her. To save herself and her young charges, she will have to defy every rule that has governed her life, her mind, her body, and her world. Precisely observed, hauntingly atmospheric, as fiercely defiant as it is triumphant, \u003ci\u003eThe Illness Lesson\u003c\/i\u003e is a spellbinding piece of storytelling.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Anchor Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/09\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780525565475\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 288","brand":"Clare Beams","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":38472018264245,"sku":"9780525565475","price":18.7,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_0701899a-fb00-4dee-882d-dce3614dcea9.jpg?v=1612933391","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-illness-lesson-9780525565475","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}