{"product_id":"illness-lesson-book-clare-beams-9780857526328","title":"The Illness Lesson","description":"\"Feels like both a classical ghost story and like a modern (and very timely) scream of female outrage. A masterpiece\" ELIZABETH GILBERT  \"You want to know how horrifying things happened while decent people looked on and did nothing? Read this novel\" MARY BETH KEANE  \"Stunningly good . . . Gorgeous and frightening in equal measure. It dazzled me\" LENI ZUMAS   It is 1871. At the farm of Samuel Hood and his daughter, Caroline, a mysterious flock of red birds has descended. Samuel, whose fame as a philosopher is waning, takes the birds’ appearance as an omen that the time is ripe for his newest venture. He will start a school for young women, guiding their intellectual development as he has so carefully guided his daughter’s. Despite Caroline’s misgivings, Samuel’s vision – revolutionary, as always; noble, as always; full of holes, as always – takes shape.  It’s not long before the students begin to manifest bizarre symptoms: rashes, seizures, verbal tics, night wanderings. In desperate, the school turns to the ministering of a sinister physician – just as Caroline’s body, too, begins its betrayal. As the girls’ condition worsens, Caroline must confront the all-male, all-knowing authorities of her world, the ones who insist the voices of the sufferers are unreliable.   Written in intensely vivid prose and brimming with insight, The Illness Lesson is a powerful exploration of women’s bodies, women’s minds and the time-honoured tradition of doubting both.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49540690805009,"sku":"GOR012181462","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49609682125073,"sku":"GOR012535239","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0857526324.jpg?v=1751077021","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/products\/illness-lesson-book-clare-beams-9780857526328","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}