Tara Isabella Burton is the author of the nonfiction books Strange Rites and Self-Made, and the novels Here in Avalon, The World Cannot Give, and Social Creature, which was named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, Vulture, and The Guardian. She has written on religion and secularism for National Geographic, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and more, and holds a doctorate in theology from Oxford. She also co-writes the Substack newsletter "Line of Beauty" with her husband.