The Illness Lesson

Placeholder author icon
By Clare Beams ’04

Published Aug. 13, 2020

In her novel The Illness Lesson (Doubleday), Clare Beams ’04 writes the suspenseful story of a 19th-century school for women in New England where mysterious ailments start to cripple the student body and the school’s co-founder, Caroline, must choose to defy her family and social norms to protect her students from increasingly harmful male influence.

Paw in print

Image
The September 2026 cover of PAW, featuring the headline "Minds at Play" written in game pieces — crossword, Scrabble, and Rubics Cube.
The Latest Issue

September 2026

Princetonians who puzzle; inside ORFE’s rise; how 9/11 changed lives.