{"product_id":"the-adjunct","title":"The Adjunct","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom the author of \u003ci\u003eHow to Be Eaten\u003c\/i\u003e, a \"darkly funny, deeply incisive\" (\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e) take on the campus novel that follows a woman on the edge gigging her way through academia's poor job market when she crosses paths with her old PhD adviser, whose new novel might be about her.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eLitHub \u003c\/i\u003eMost Anticipated Book of 2026 * \"Tense...Witty...Impeccably written.\" --\u003ci\u003eGlamour\u003c\/i\u003e, Best Books for Book Clubs 2026 * \"A unicorn...Truly thought-provoking.\" --\u003ci\u003eBustle\u003c\/i\u003e, Best New Books of March\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSam, an adjunct professor at a public university in Baltimore, takes a last-minute position at the private liberal arts college down the road. Overworked and underpaid, she lives in a blur of back-to-back classes, side hustles, and job applications for an ever-dwindling number of tenure-track jobs. Her already precarious existence is thrown into disarray when she runs into her former grad school adviser, Dr. Tom Sternberg, on campus. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTom and Sam have a complicated history, and it's the last thing she wants to think about as she navigates academic politics, institutional hurdles, and romantic entanglements with men and women that further complicate a sexuality not even she can define. Then she learns that Tom left his old job for undisclosed reasons--and his long-awaited second novel is about a professor reckoning with his checkered past. As rumors spread that Sam is the inspiration behind a central character, she fights to regain control of the story. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAn \"entertaining, provocative\" (\u003ci\u003eBrooklyn Rail\u003c\/i\u003e) look at how hustle culture has come to define modern academia, \u003ci\u003eThe Adjunct \u003c\/i\u003eoffers a bold twist on a tangled MeToo story and turns Sam's downward spiral into a searing critique of class and the hollow promises of the American dream.","brand":"Scribner Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53673966731630,"sku":"9781668089972","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0984\/1007\/0382\/files\/imageloader_7c0dc304-e9d1-4cea-9a97-a6aa8bf8e4d6.jpg?v=1777257356","url":"https:\/\/tenderbuttonsbooks.com\/products\/the-adjunct","provider":"Tender Buttons Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}