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ISBN: 9781771668071

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Places Like These

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A widow visits a spiritualist community to attempt to contact her late husband. A grieving teenager confronts the unfairness of his small-town world and the oncoming ecological disaster. A sexual assault survivor navigates her boyfriend’s tricky family and her own confusing desires. A mother examines unresolved guilt while seeking her missing daughter in a city slum. A lover exploits his girlfriend’s secrets for his own purposes. Whether in Ecuador or San Francisco, rural Ontario or northern Manitoba, the landscape in each of Carter’s poignant short stories reflects each character’s journey.

Psychologically complex and astute, Places Like These plumbs the vast range of human reactions to those things which make us human—love, grief, friendship, betrayal, and the intertwined yet contrasting longing for connection and independence.

Contributors

Lauren Carter

Lauren Carter is the author of four previous books of fiction and poetry, including This Has Nothing to Do with You, winner of the 2020 Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction. She has also received the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer. Her debut novel, Swarm, was longlisted for CBC’s Canada Reads. Carter’s stories and poems have been published widely in journals and longlisted multiple times for the CBC Literary Prizes. Her short story “Rhubarb” won the Prairie Fire Fiction Award and was subsequently included in Best Canadian Stories in 2015. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. An Ontarian transplanted to Manitoba in 2013, Carter lives on Treaty One territory, within the homeland of the Métis Nation, just outside of Winnipeg, where she writes, teaches writing, and mentors other writers.
Chapter Title Contents Contributors Pages Year Price

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 A couple attends a Hawaiian supper as the narrator navigates life in Northern Canada separated from her family. 15 $1.50

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 Ruth travels to Tucumán, attempting to escape her life in Toronto. 12 $1.20

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 A widow grapples with the grief of losing her husband by speaking to a medium. 12 $1.20

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 The narrator, a grieving teenager, grapples with his frustration living in a rural town. 12 $1.20

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 Lonnie, a sexual assault survivor, meets her boyfriend’s family while dealing with trauma from her past. 18 $1.80

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 The narrator defends her partner to her friend and her community, a religious cult. 12 $1.20

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 Sarah takes a press trip to Phoenix and reflects on her marriage with Martin. 20 $2.00

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 A couple, Nate and Tess go to the beach attempting to grieve their unborn child. 12 $1.20

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 The narrator encounters a close and long-lost childhood friend bringing back memories from their past. 12 $1.20

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 Two sisters, with a complicated relationship, grieve the death of their father. 16 $1.60

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 Two friends travel together to South America. 12 $1.20

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 Carol looks for Chloe, her missing daughter, after she receives a cryptic email. 16 $1.60

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 The narrator reflects on her toxic relationships. 6 $0.60

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 The narrator working at a theatre with her mother’s ex-boyfriend, is broken up with. 18 $1.80

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 The narrator spends an evening with their high school friend, Josie, stealing a rhubarb bush. 13 $1.30

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 The narrator reflects on her high school friend Lara and hitchhiking on the Trans-Canada highway. 16 $1.60

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 The narrator reads a short story written by her husband, resembling scenes from her real life. 10 $1.00