You Can't Stay Here Forever

Abstract

YOU CAN'T STAY HERE FOREVER is a literary mystery set at an elite New England liberal arts college in the age of climate breakdown and societal upheaval. The novel follows Sofia, the campus's part-time Buddhist chaplain, as she navigates spiritual doubt, a side-hustle as a bartender, and a budding romance with Danny, a nonbinary professor who's cagey about his past. When an intense undergrad named Billy disappears from campus after an emotional meeting during office hours, Sofia sets off to find her in a quest involving confusing academic hierarchies, a secret lesbian-separatist botanical farm, and a remote island in Maine--as well as Sofia's own rocky internal landscape. Ultimately, Sofia finds clues to Billy's disappearance when she learns about Danny's childhood in a militant, clandestine leftist milieu redolent of the Weather Underground.