{"product_id":"the-most-precious-substance-on-earth-paperback","title":"The Most Precious Substance on Earth - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eShashi Bhat\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJourney Prize winner Shashi Bhat's \"powerful, surprising and terrifying\" (Rufi Thorpe) story about a high school student's traumatic experience and how it irrevocably alters her life, for fans of \u003ci\u003e13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl, Girlhood, \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e Pen15\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Bright, hilarious, and sensitive fourteen-year-old Nina spends her spare time reading Beowulf and flirting with an internet predator. She has a vicious crush on her English teacher, and her best friend Amy is slowly drifting away. Meanwhile, Nina's mother tries to match her up with local Indian boys unfamiliar with her \u003ci\u003eSaved by the Bell\u003c\/i\u003e references, and Nina's worried father has started reciting Hindu prayers outside her bedroom door. Beginning with a disturbing incident at her high school, \u003ci\u003eThe Most Precious Substance on Earth\u003c\/i\u003e tells stories of Nina's life from the '90s to present day, when she returns to the classroom as a high school teacher with a haunting secret and discovers that the past is never far behind her. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Darkly funny, deeply affecting, unsettling, and at times even shocking, Shashi Bhat's irresistible novel-in-stories examines the relationships between those who take and those who have something taken. \u003ci\u003eThe Most Precious Substance on Earth\u003c\/i\u003e is a sharp-edged and devastating look at how women are conditioned to hide their trauma and suppress their fear, loneliness, and anger, and an unforgettable portrait of how silence can shape a life.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eShashi Bhat\u003c\/b\u003e's fiction has won the Writers' Trust \/ McClelland \u0026amp; Stewart Journey Prize and been shortlisted for a National Magazine Award and the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers. Her stories have appeared in such publications as \u003ci\u003eThe Threepenny Review, The Missouri Review, The Fiddlehead, The Malahat Review, The New Quarterly, subTerrain, Best Canadian Stories 2018\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003e2019\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Journey Prize Stories 24\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003e30\u003c\/i\u003e. Her debut novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Family Took Shape\u003c\/i\u003e, was a finalist for the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award. Shashi holds an MFA in fiction from the Johns Hopkins University. She lives in New Westminster, BC, where she is the editor-in-chief of \u003ci\u003eEVENT \u003c\/i\u003emagazine and teaches creative writing at Douglas College.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 272\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.8 x 8.2 x 5.4 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e June 27, 2023\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51765214216480,"sku":"9781538707920","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/467df53ef1c860b09923e672d3fc798e.webp?v=1780263976","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/the-most-precious-substance-on-earth-paperback","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}