The Devil and Webster

Webster College: an elite New England campus and a world of learning where creativity and inclusiveness are the presiding principles. Naomi Roth, a feminist scholar, is named to the coveted position of Webster's president. When a student protest materializes, Naomi initially supports the movement, feeling proud and protective of the protesters, her own daughter Hannah among them. But the protest begins to fester, attracting students from other institutions and media. Attention begins to focus on one charismatic student, a Palestinian immigrant named Omar, and both the tension on campus and the essential conflicts in Naomi's personal life begin to overwhelm her until she finds herself facing an impossible and ultimately tragic conflict. The Devil and Webster is shot through with caustic comedy, and yet the Faustian notes are a persistent reminder that the possibility of corruption - personal or institutional - remains our persistent companion, however good our intentions might be.

Jean Hanff Korelitz was born and raised in New York City and graduated from Dartmouth College and Clare College, Cambridge. She is the bestselling author of the novels A Jury Of Her Peers, The Sabbathday River, The White Rose, Admission, and most recently the New York Times bestseller You Should Have Known, as well as Interference Powder, a novel for middle grade readers, and The Properties of Breath, a collection of poetry. A film version of Admission starring Tina Fey, Paul Rudd and Lily Tomlin was released in 2013. www.jeanhanffkorelitz.com, Jean Hanff Korelitz was born and raised in New York City and educated at Dartmouth College and Clare College, Cambridge. She is the author of seven novels, including The Devil and Webster, You Should Have Known (adapted as the 2020 HBO series The Undoing, starring Nicole Kidman, Hugh Grant and Donald Sutherland), Admission (adapted as the 2013 film of the same name, starring Tina Fey, Lily Tomlin and Paul Rudd), The White Rose, The Sabbathday River and A Jury of Her Peers. With Paul Muldoon she adapted James Joyce's The Dead as an immersive theatrical event, The Dead 1904. She and her husband, poet Paul Muldoon, are the parents of two children and live in New York City. A new novel, The Latecomer, will be published in 2022.