The English Experience: A Novel The Dear Committee Trilogy by Julie Schumacher

• Beleaguered Professor Jason Fitger chaperones Payne University’s annual “Experience: Abroad” to London & beyond, with eleven undergrads in tow 

• The bestselling author of Dear Committee Members & The Shakespeare Requirement completes her hilarious trilogy of academic mishap

“Wise & hilarious & heartbreaking.”—Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls

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Jason Fitger may be the last faculty member the dean wants for the job, but he’s the only professor available to chaperone Payne University’s annual “Experience: Abroad” (he has long been on the record objecting to the absurd & gratuitous colon between the words) occurring during the three weeks of winter term. Among his charges are a claustrophobe with a juvenile detention record, a student who erroneously believes he is headed for the Caribbean, a pair of unreconciled lovers, a set of undifferentiated twins, and one young woman who has never been away from her cat before.

Through a sea of troubles—personal, institutional, & international—the gimlet-eyed, acid-tongued Fitger strives to navigate safe passage for all concerned, revealing much about the essential need for human connection & the sometimes surprising places in which it is found.

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Julie Schumacher grew up in Wilmington, Delaware, & graduated from Oberlin College & Cornell University. Her first novel, The Body Is Water, was published by Soho Press in 1995 & was an ALA Notable Book of the Year & a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award & the Minnesota Book Award. Her other books include the novel Dear Committee Members, a short story collection, An Explanation for Chaos, & five books for younger readers. She lives in St. Paul & is a faculty member in the Creative Writing Program & the Department of English at the University of Minnesota.