{"product_id":"stone-the-crows-vaughan-humphries-9798254546405","title":"Stone the Crows: The Tethered Man","description":"\u003cb\u003eSome towns don't hide secrets.\u003cbr\u003eThey make room for them.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTom Harding is not ambitious. He is competent, observant, and quietly reliable - the sort of man institutions notice precisely because he does not push back. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhen his life in London begins to thin - a relationship stretched across hemispheres, a career drifting into procedural grey - Tom accepts a small, vaguely defined role in a government outreach programme that prides itself on not asking questions too loudly. It requires nothing dramatic. Just presence. Just observation. Just being there. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThat \"there\" is Thame: a market town that functions perfectly well without explanation. Its pubs remember more than they admit. Its committees speak in careful phrases. Its silences feel organised. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs Tom moves between commuter trains, briefing rooms, civic dinners, and rented rooms above shops, he begins to sense that usefulness is not neutrality. That being unremarkable can be a form of access. And that once you are quietly relied upon, it becomes very difficult to step away. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eStone the Crows: Movement I\u003c\/i\u003e is a tightly observed, darkly comic novella about institutions that never quite declare themselves, towns that absorb rather than resist, and the subtle danger of being the person who makes things easier for everyone else. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eNothing explodes.\u003cbr\u003eNothing confesses.\u003cbr\u003eBut something has already begun.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Vaughan Humphries\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798254546405\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/02\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 344\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.01lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.72d","brand":"Vaughan Humphries","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":49172413186303,"sku":"9798254546405","price":15.83,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/stone-the-crows-vaughan-humphries-9798254546405","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}