{"title":"Tara Isabella Burton","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTara Isabella Burton\u003c\/strong\u003e crafts narratives that weave together the tangible and the transcendent, exploring the undercurrents of belief and the intersections of faith in modern life. Her work often traverses the blurred lines between the spiritual and the secular, inviting readers into worlds where ritual and personal transformation unfold with quiet intensity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBlending elements of \u003cem\u003egeneral fiction\u003c\/em\u003e with profound reflections on religion and spirituality, Burton's stories offer a nuanced meditation on identity, longing, and the unseen forces shaping human experience. Her distinctive voice challenges conventional boundaries, making her a compelling presence for readers drawn to thoughtful, evocative storytelling.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-world-cannot-give-by-tara-isabella-burton-9781982170073","title":"The World Cannot Give","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Secret History\u003c\/i\u003e meets \u003ci\u003eThe Price of Salt\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\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\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhen shy, sensitive Laura Stearns arrives at St. Dunstan’s Academy in Maine, she dreams that life there will echo her favourite 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, presided over by the charismatic, neurotic, overachiever Virginia Strauss.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eVirginia 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 members of the choir.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe World Cannot Give\u003c\/i\u003e is a “hypnotic and intense” (\u003ci\u003eShondaland\u003c\/i\u003e) meditation on the power, and danger, of wanting more from the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Arotahi Agency","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46534092947692,"sku":"9781982170073","price":51.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/20310263482893.jpg?v=1749410177"},{"product_id":"here-in-avalon-by-tara-isabella-burton-9781982170103","title":"Here in Avalon","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn “enchanting” (Caroline Kepnes, author of \u003ci\u003eYou\u003c\/i\u003e) “fairy-tale-inflected thriller” (\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e) about two sisters who encounter a captivating yet possibly dangerous underworld cult that challenges their perception of reality.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e Best Book of 2024\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eHere in Avalon\u003c\/i\u003e tells the story of two sisters, Rose and Cecilia, whose lives are as different as night and day. Raised—and often neglected—by a wayward mother in New York City’s chaotic bohemia, Rose has built the stable life she always dreamed of: a good job at a self-help startup, a clean apartment, and an engagement to a stable, if self-satisfied, tech CEO who shares her belief in human potential, hard work, and the sacrifice of childish dreams.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRose’s sister, Cecilia, is quite the opposite. Irresponsible and impetuous, Cecilia flutters between aspirations, from a European monastery one month to a falcon rescue the next. She is perpetually in search of fairy-tale narratives of transcendence and true love—grand ideas that Rose insists never materialise in the real world. When Cecilia announces she’s returning to New York for good after the collapse of her whirlwind marriage, Rose hopes her sister might finally face adulthood and all its compromises.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHowever, soon after her return, Cecilia becomes entangled with Avalon: a mysterious cabaret troupe that performs only at night aboard a boat traversing New York's waterways and then disappears as quickly as it came. The only way for Rose to find Cecilia is to track down Avalon herself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs Rose delves into the mystery of her sister's disappearance, Avalon begins to weave its enchantment on her, too. With each step deeper into this beguiling underworld, Rose starts to question her beliefs about her own life and whether she might be ready to abandon the real world entirely.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Arotahi Agency","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46545949360364,"sku":"9781982170103","price":53.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/20310563482893.jpg?v=1749822828"},{"product_id":"strange-rites-by-tara-isabella-burton-9781541762527","title":"Strange Rites","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eStrange Rites\u003c\/i\u003e, Tara Isabella Burton takes a tour through contemporary American religiosity. As the once dominant totems of civic connection and civil discourse—traditional churches—continue to sink into obsolescence, people are looking elsewhere for the intensity and unity that religion once provided. We're making our own personal faiths—theistic or not—mixing and matching our spiritual, ritualistic, personal, and political practices in order to create our own bespoke religious selves. We're not just building new religions in 2019, we're \u003ci\u003ebuying\u003c\/i\u003e them, from Gwyneth Paltrow's gospel of Goop, to the brilliantly cultish SoulCycle, to those who believe in their special destiny on Mars.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn so doing, we're carrying on a longstanding American tradition of religious eclecticism, DIY-innovation, and \"unchurched\" piety (and highly effective capitalism). Our era is not the dawn of American secularism, but rather a brand-bolstered resurgence of American pluralism, revved into overdrive by commerce and personalised algorithms, all to the tune of \"Hallellujah\"—America's most popular and spectacularly misunderstood wedding song.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47432667070700,"sku":"9781541762527","price":34.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781541762527.jpg?v=1774556767"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/collections\/tara-isabella-burton.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}