The Gulf, Belle Boggs
The Gulf, Belle Boggs
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

The Gulf
A Novel

Author: Belle Boggs

Narrator: Amanda Dolan

Unabridged: 12 hr 13 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/02/2019


Synopsis

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.


About Belle Boggs

Belle Boggs is the author of The Art of Waiting: On Fertility, Medicine, and Motherhood and Mattaponi Queen. Her stories and essays have appeared in the Paris Review, Harper's Magazine, Slate, and elsewhere. She teaches at North Carolina State University.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jill on May 14, 2019

This is literally a DIVINE read – a take-no-prisoners look at the huge gulf between the Evangelists and those of little faith, playing out in the newly launched Genesis Inspirational Writing Ranch. Marianne, a poet, never believed that she’d ever manage a writing retreat for Christians, but due to he......more

Goodreads review by Kim on April 16, 2019

A very interesting group of characters in a very unusual plotline. I had time thankfully to finish this in one day and I was happy i did because I wanted to see where the story went.Whether or not it was intended ...the book had a lot to say about acceptance .....of yourself,your circumstances,of ot......more

Goodreads review by Marc on May 31, 2019

No matter what your politics or religion may be, take a chance and read this novel. It gave me hope and made me rethink how I view people who I may disagree with on many things. A nice surprise and highly recommended.......more

Goodreads review by Alyson on June 04, 2019

I’m still absorbing the many subtleties and delights of this novel. Its send up of writing programs and for-profit educational institutions is wickedly funny. I laughed and laughed. Yet the book is generous on the topics of faith, family and friendship. Boggs doesn’t take short cuts with her charact......more

Goodreads review by Brandi on May 09, 2019

It's interesting, not my usual genre, but definitely interesting. It's unlike anything I have ever read, and that made it quite enjoyable. I am a big fan of originality and The Gulf by Belle Boggs has it in spades. My copy of this book was obtained from a Goodreads giveaway and I appreciate the oppor......more