GULF

A hilarious send-up of writing workshops, for-profit education, and the gulf between believers and nonbelievers

Marianne is in a slump: barely able to support herself by teaching, not making progress on her poetry, about to lose her Brooklyn apartment. When her novelist ex-fiancé, Eric, and his venture capitalist brother, Mark, offer her a job directing a low-residency school for Christian writers at a motel they’ve inherited on Florida’s Gulf Coast, she can’t come up with a reason to say no.

The Genesis Inspirational Writing Ranch is born, and liberal, atheist Marianne is soon knee-deep in applications from writers whose political and religious beliefs she has always opposed but whose money she’s glad to take. Janine is a schoolteacher whose heartfelt poems explore the final days of Terri Schiavo’s life. Davonte is a former R&B superstar who hopes to reboot his career with a bestselling tale of excess and redemption. Lorraine and Tom, eccentric writers in need of paying jobs, join the Ranch as instructors.

Mark finds an investor in God’s Word God’s World, a business that develops for-profit schools for the Christian market, but the conditions that come along with their support become increasingly problematic, especially as Marianne grows closer to the students. As unsavory allegations mount, a hurricane bears down on the Ranch, and Marianne is faced with the consequences of her decisions.

With sharp humor and deep empathy, The Gulf is a memorable debut novel in which Belle Boggs plumbs the troubled waters dividing America.

O trimitere hilara de ateliere de scriere, educatie cu scop lucrativ si prapastia dintre credinciosi si necredinciosi Marianne se afla intr-o criza: abia capabila sa se sustina predand, nu facand progrese in poezia ei, pe cale sa-si piarda apartamentul din Brooklyn. Cand fostul sau logodnic, Eric, si fratele sau cu capital de risc, Mark, i-au oferit un loc de munca in regia unei scoli cu rezidenta redusa pentru scriitori crestini la un motel pe care l-au mostenit pe coasta Golfului din Florida, ea nu poate veni cu un motiv pentru a spune ca nu. Geneza Inspirational Writing Ranch s-a nascut si Marianne, atea liberala, este in curand pana la genunchi in cererile unor scriitori ale caror credinte politice si religioase s-a opus intotdeauna, dar ai caror bani ii face placere sa ia.