{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20260418T080002Z-pairingsrefresh","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0231218508?tag=bookfrontier-20","asin":"0231218508","authors":["Emily Hodgson Anderson"],"book_id":"9780231218504","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/shadow-work-0231218508","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780231218504.jpg?v=20260418T080002Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-18T08%3A00%3A02Z","description":"How is it that reading and writing can at once isolate us and bring us closer to others? Blending personal narrative with literary criticism, Emily Hodgson Anderson considers what a life spent with books has taught her about loneliness and human connection. She delves into the unseen labor of women, authors, and mothers, and she argues that we can reimagine intimacy through books. Herself a book lover and writer, a teacher of literature, and a single mom, Anderson reflects on the loneliness—and the strength—that can come from living, writing, and parenting alone. Shadow Work puts writers such as Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, Laurence Sterne, and Shakespeare into unexpected conversations with authors of children’s literature and contemporary fiction, among them Roald Dahl, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Zadie Smith, and Lewis Carroll. Elegantly and poignantly written, this book examines what it means to revisit longtime literary companions and how literature can help us better understand what we show and hide about ourselves.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780231218504","publication_date":"20250304","publisher":"Columbia University Press","slug":"shadow-work","subtitle":"Loneliness and the Literary Life","title":"Shadow Work"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"LIT025050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Women in Literature","score":0.7807,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LIT004290","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Women Authors Criticism","score":0.77,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LIT004020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"American Lit Crit","score":0.7457,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"LIT025050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Women in Literature","score":0.7807,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LIT004290","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Women Authors Criticism","score":0.77,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LIT004020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"American Lit Crit","score":0.7457,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"LIT003000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Feminist Lit Crit","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"LIT004020","confidence_band":"high","label":"American Lit Crit","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"LIT004120","confidence_band":"high","label":"British & Irish Literary Criticism","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"LIT007000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Books & Reading","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"LIT025050","confidence_band":"high","label":"Women in Literature","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Women in Literature","score":0.7807,"slug":"women-in-literature"},{"label":"Women Authors Criticism","score":0.77,"slug":"women-authors-criticism"},{"label":"American Lit Crit","score":0.7457,"slug":"american-lit-crit"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers who enjoy Women in Literature","Good for fans of Literary Criticism","Good for readers who enjoy Women in Literature and Women Authors Criticism."],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Erin Blakemore"],"book_id":"9780061958762","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780061958762.jpg?v=20260418T080002Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-18T08%3A00%3A02Z","score":9.2612,"title":"The Heroine's Bookshelf","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780061958762"},{"authors":["Sophie Franklin"],"book_id":"9781912235247","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781912235247.jpg?v=20260418T080002Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-18T08%3A00%3A02Z","score":8.7958,"title":"Charlotte Brontë Revisited","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781912235247"},{"authors":["Tania Modleski"],"book_id":"9780415974516","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780415974516.jpg?v=20260418T080002Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-18T08%3A00%3A02Z","score":8.7793,"title":"Loving With a Vengeance","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780415974516"}],"topics":[],"what_you_get":["Reading lane: Women in Literature and Women Authors Criticism.","Publisher: Columbia University Press."]},"llm_signals":null,"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":false,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":0,"goodreads_ratings_count":7,"goodreads_reviews_count":5,"quality_score":0.8369}}