The Adjunct -- Maria Adelmann, Hardcover
From the author of How to Be Eaten, a "darkly funny, deeply incisive" (Booklist) 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. A LitHub Most Anticipated Book of 2026 * "Tense...Witty...Impeccably written." --Glamour, Best Books for Book Clubs 2026 * "A unicorn...Truly thought-provoking." --Bustle, Best New Books of March Sam, 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. Tom 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. An "entertaining, provocative" (Brooklyn Rail) look at how hustle culture has come to define modern academia, The Adjunct offers 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.
Author: Maria Adelmann
Publisher: Scribner Book Company
Published: 3/31/2026
Pages: 352
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.92 lbs
Size: 8.67" H x 6.38" L x 1.2" W
ISBN: 9781668089972
![Geneva Bible 1560 Edition with Apocrypha: [LARGE PRINT] A Detailed Exploration of the Geneva Bible's Texts, Annotations, Historical Context, and Lasti -- Reformed Christians, Paperback](http://flowerburst.co/cdn/shop/files/9798326361752_8a5abf3c-00d9-4a6b-822b-bc7f58e5bddc_400x400_crop_center.jpg?v=1774932488)
![UFO Cow Abduction: Beam Up Your Bovine (with Light and Sound!) [With Battery] -- Matt Smiriglio, Paperback](http://flowerburst.co/cdn/shop/files/9780762493418_899d6350-ed3c-4470-bcfa-93a108830d9e_400x400_crop_center.jpg?v=1774867275)
![Remarkably Bright Creatures [Movie Tie-In] -- Shelby Van Pelt, Paperback](http://flowerburst.co/cdn/shop/files/9780063512955_6cf30baf-8ca6-4bc3-b366-5db92c32c73f_400x400_crop_center.jpg?v=1783081911)