cover image So Much a Part of You

So Much a Part of You

Polly Dugan. Little, Brown, $25 (240p) ISBN 978-0-316-32032-0

Dugan makes a solid debut with this collection of 10 interconnected short stories that involve two women, college friends Anna Riley and Anne Cavenaugh, and Peter Herring, a man in both their lives. The stories begin in the Depression (the first, “The Third Rail,” features Anna’s father as a youngster growing up in New Jersey) and end in the present. While part of the book’s enjoyment comes from figuring out each successive story’s place within the whole, this occasionally makes for a disjointed reading experience. The least well-integrated story is “Blackball,” in which only Anne is tangentially involved, though it works well as a standalone. On the other hand, “Kitten Season”—perhaps the book’s most powerful offering—obliquely ties the first and last stories together. It centers on Lindsay, a longtime animal-care tech at a humane society, who experiences life and death every day. Dugan’s writing flows well and with thoughtfulness as she explores love, loss, and friendship through the three main characters and their families. Their decisions and foibles make for some emotional reading. Agent: Wendy Sherman, Wendy Sherman Associates Inc. (June)