THAT VERY PLACE

$18.95

The characters in THAT VERY PLACE find themselves in settings—both familiar and strange—where they’d rather not be. Each is either chasing or fleeing someone, bound by a connection they cannot break: an unwanted child, an unloving parent, or the haunting echoes of what could have been. Long-avoided troubles resurface, stirring turmoil and compelling them to confront the damage they've inflicted and the pain they've carried for too long.

The characters in THAT VERY PLACE find themselves in settings—both familiar and strange—where they’d rather not be. Each is either chasing or fleeing someone, bound by a connection they cannot break: an unwanted child, an unloving parent, or the haunting echoes of what could have been. Long-avoided troubles resurface, stirring turmoil and compelling them to confront the damage they've inflicted and the pain they've carried for too long.

Praise for THAT VERY PLACE

McGuigan masterfully explores the tender space between connection and estrangement, the cost of words unspoken, and the reverberating legacy of parents who abandon and abuse their children and the children who turn away. McGuigan’s prose is unflinching, precise and dreamlike. 

—Sonja Livingston, author of Ghostbread

That Very Place features a cast of strong women who carry painful regrets, dream of futures just beyond their grasps, and find grace in the smallest things. To read a McGuigan story is to feel the truth of what one character says toward the end of this collection: “Family’s a complicated business.” McGuigan has a keen eye for the compromises and accommodations we make when duty collides with yearning. These are glorious stories.

—Lee Martin, author of the Pulitzer Prize Finalist, The Bright Forever

McGuigan’s stories deftly address dangerous and difficult subjects—physical and emotional abuse, parental abandonment, dementia—all without even a whiff of melodrama. Her characters are utterly compelling and so complex that sometimes they are unwittingly complicit in the traumas inflicted on them and on the people they most love and try to protect. The collection is a deeply moving descent into the human heart and all of its conflicts, mysteries, failures, and triumphs.

—David Jauss, author of Glossolalia: New & Selected Stories

In That Very Place, Mary Ann McGuigan brings to life vivid, unforgettable characters, each facing unexpected upheaval. McGuigan’s stories deftly capture life’s unpredictability, and the simple truth that how we face our troubles determines who we are. Written with compassion and skill, these stories are filled with honesty, sensitivity, and ultimately hope. 

                                                                          —Dinty W. Moore, author of The Mindful Writer

 

About MARY ANN MCGUIGAN

Mary Ann McGuigan’s short fiction appears in The Sun, Massachusetts Review, North American Review, and many other journals. Her collection PIECES includes stories named for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Her creative nonfiction can be found in journals such as Brevity, The Rumpus, X-R-A-Y, and The Citron Review. The Junior Library Guild and the New York Public Library rank Mary Ann’s young-adult novels among the best books for teens, and WHERE YOU BELONG was a finalist for the National Book Award. You can subscribe to her free monthly newsletter, offering links to many of her published stories and essays, on her website: www.maryannmcguigan.com.

 

  • Genre: Fiction (Short stories)

    ISBN: 978-1-963115-46-8

    Publication Date: September 9, 2025

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