{"product_id":"9781250169488","title":"The Only Harmless Great Thing","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eThe Only Harmless Great Thing\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Brooke Bolander\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWinner of the Nebula Award for Best Novelette\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFinalist for the Hugo, Locus, Shirley Jackson, and Sturgeon Awards\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Only Harmless Great Thing\u003c\/i\u003e is a heart-wrenching alternative history by Brooke Bolander that imagines an intersection between the Radium Girls and noble, sentient elephants.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the early years of the 20th century, a group of female factory workers in Newark, New Jersey slowly died of radiation poisoning. Around the same time, an Indian elephant was deliberately put to death by electricity in Coney Island. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThese are the facts.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow these two tragedies are intertwined in a dark alternate history of rage, radioactivity, and injustice crying out to be righted. Prepare yourself for a wrenching journey that crosses eras, chronicling histories of cruelty both grand and petty in search of meaning and justice.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Devastatingly powerful. \u003ci\u003eThe Only Harmless Great Thing\u003c\/i\u003e is a searing meditation on myth, history, and the persistence of poison in all its terrible forms. Bolander gives voice to the voiceless with such controlled and perfect fury the pages seem to char and burn as you read. It feels like an alternate Just So Story revealed to us by an ecstatic punk oracle. I can’t stop thinking about it. Nor will you.” —Helen Macdonald, author of \u003ci\u003eH is for Hawk\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Bolander shares literary DNA with Le Guin, and shows it in this tragic and triumphant novella.” —John Scalzi, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author of \u003ci\u003eOld Man's War\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Bolander's skilled prose always leaves me agog, but days after finishing \u003ci\u003eThe Only Harmless Great Thing\u003c\/i\u003e, I'm still swimming around in its depths with a sense of wonder. It's beautiful and sad and relatable and unremittingly, crucially defiant.” —Kevin Hearne, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of the Iron Druid Chronicles\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A brutal story beautifully told. [Bolander's] prose sings like music.... Read this.” —Chuck Wendig, author of \u003ci\u003eStar Wars: Aftermath\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"Characteristically poetic prose . . . poignant.\" —\u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This handcrafted arrow of a novella becomes more absorbing with each read.” —\u003ci\u003eKirkus\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The most beautiful and heart-breaking piece of work Bolander’s written to date.” —Amal El-Mohtar, \u003ci\u003eLightspeed Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Elephants have infrasound and memory and majesty; we have Brooke Bolander.” —Lawrence M. Schoen, author of \u003ci\u003eBarsk: The Elephant's Graveyard\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A fierce and visionary \u003ci\u003eJumbo Agonistes\u003c\/i\u003e aimed straight at the present day—mango-pulping, temple-smashing, exploding out of history with the all the grand power and folly of story.” —Max Gladstone, author of The Craft Sequence\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe Only Harmless Great Thing\u003c\/i\u003e is Southern Gothic come to the big Northern City, where it settles in and begins to glow, dangerously, and to sing, mightily, and to break out and trample reality into a new shape. This book is transformative. I can hear echoing long after I've set it down.” —Fran Wilde, author of \u003ci\u003eUpdraft\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eCloudbound\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eHorizon\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Fork-suckingly, plate-lickingly good.” —Nat Cassidy, author of \u003ci\u003eSteal the Stars\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“As succinct as it is beautiful: a snippet of times and of characters who struggle with unthinkable injustice.” —\u003ci\u003eThe Book Smugglers\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWinner Locus Awards - Winner (2019), Winner Nebula Awards - Winner (2018), Short-listed Nebula Awards - Nominee (2018), Short-listed World Fantasy Award - Finalist (2019), Long-listed Amazon.com Best Books of the Year (2018), Short-listed Hugo Award - Nominee (2019), Short-listed Locus Awards - Nominee (2019)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9781250169488\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Tordotcom","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":40673435222222,"sku":"9781250169488","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/getimage_57c51425-023d-4848-b29f-25556a54e441.jpg?v=1639883384","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9781250169488","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}