{
    "id": 369502,
    "slug": "how-beautiful-we-were",
    "nstc": null,
    "title": "How Beautiful We Were",
    "subtitle": "A Novel",
    "collection_title": null,
    "collection_part_number": null,
    "annotation": null,
    "description": "<p><span>Set in the fictional African village of Kosawa, How Beautiful We Were tells the story of a people living in fear amidst environmental degradation wrought by an American oil company. Pipeline spills have rendered farmlands infertile. Children are dying from drinking toxic water. Promises of clean-up and financial reparations are made &ndash; and ignored. The country&rsquo;s government, led by a brazen dictator, exists to serve its own interest only. Left with few choices, the people of Kosawa decide to fight back. But their fight will come at a steep price . . . one which generation after generation will have to pay.</span><br /><br /><span>Told through the perspective of a generation of children and the family of a girl named Thula, How Beautiful We Were is a masterful exploration of what happens when the reckless drive for profit, coupled with the ghost of colonialism, comes up against one community&rsquo;s determination to hold onto its ancestral land and a young woman&rsquo;s willingness to sacrifice everything for the sake of her people&rsquo;s freedom.</span></p>",
    "additional_content": null,
    "bestseller_60": null,
    "imprint": null,
    "language_code": "eng",
    "original_language_code": null,
    "page_count": 384,
    "duration_seconds": null,
    "publication_date_first": "2021-03-09",
    "publication_date_latest": "2021-03-09",
    "cover_url": null,
    "editions": [
        {
            "isbn": "9780593132449",
            "product_form": "BC"
        },
        {
            "isbn": "9780593229163",
            "product_form": "BC"
        }
    ],
    "ratings_count": 0,
    "read_count": 0,
    "review_count": 0,
    "favorite_count": 0,
    "reading_status_read_count": 0,
    "reading_status_reading_count": 0,
    "reading_status_want_to_read_count": 0,
    "rating_average": null,
    "ratings_distribution": {
        "1": 0,
        "2": 0,
        "3": 0,
        "4": 0,
        "5": 0
    },
    "created_at": "2025-09-19T13:31:30+00:00",
    "updated_at": "2025-11-05T00:31:26+00:00",
    "publisher": {
        "id": 4108,
        "slug": "random-house-us",
        "name": "Random House US",
        "created_at": "2025-09-19T13:07:56+00:00",
        "updated_at": "2025-09-19T15:10:09+00:00"
    },
    "contributors": [
        {
            "id": 225630,
            "slug": "imbolo-mbue-2",
            "key_names": "Mbue",
            "names_before_key": "Imbolo",
            "prefix_to_key": null,
            "contributor_role": "A01",
            "readable_contributor_role": "Author"
        }
    ],
    "genres": [],
    "subjects": [
        {
            "scheme_identifier": "32",
            "scheme_version": null,
            "main_subject": false,
            "subject_code": "300",
            "created_at": "2025-09-19T13:31:30+00:00",
            "updated_at": "2025-09-19T13:31:30+00:00"
        }
    ],
    "campaigns": []
}