{"product_id":"wonder-and-shame","title":"Wonder and Shame","description":"\u003cp\u003e\n    \u003ci\u003eCould you throw yourself away?\u003c\/i\u003e Frank Matter asks himself, as he boards a one-way flight to Syria. He might as well ask: \u003ci\u003eCan you find your life by losing it?\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n    In spring 2016, after a run of personal sorrows, Frank, a lapsed Catholic clinging to one last scrap of faith, undertakes a dangerous journey to his family’s village of origin outside Damascus on a two-pronged rescue mission. He hopes to scoop up his deaf cousin Dayzi, whom he has loved since they were young, and escape with the beautiful seamstress to America, but their progress is halted by the terror and upheaval of the Syrian Civil War.\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n    In the refugee camp of half a million people where they find themselves, Frank takes on another quixotic mission: to teach a deeply traumatized collection of orphans the game of American baseball. Everything and everyone resists it. Frank’s obsession will not only test his resolve and bedrock sense of reality. It will risk his life and the lives of everyone he is trying to help. It will transform them. He and his adopted family will wonder: How do you hold on to fair play, honesty, and respect for common ground in an increasingly cynical, callous, and power-driven world? Can healing happen—for an individual, a community, a country—in the face of abysmal violence, and if so, how?\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n    Pope Francis said, “Go to the peripheries.” The gift of this book does just that. It stands against the troubling drift toward a “post-truth” society, where few know what is real anymore. Confronting the death of truth, this original, heartrending, finally triumphant story rings true.\n\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Word on Fire","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44649257369657,"sku":"WF-924","price":23.96,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0005\/3195\/5769\/files\/Wonder_Shame_FRONT_Shopify_1.png?v=1780518308","url":"https:\/\/bookstore.wordonfire.org\/products\/wonder-and-shame","provider":"Word on Fire","version":"1.0","type":"link"}