So Much a Part of You: Stories

By portraying various individuals in their twenties and thirties as they move through formative stages in their lives, the ten linked stories in Dugan's debut collection convincingly capture the human condition. At the heart of these pieces are college friends Anna Riley and Anne Cavenaugh, as well as Peter Herring, who has been involved with them both. Throughout we meet characters who love their pets more than their children, mothers who fade into the background, daughters who manage to find the grace and strength to overcome the crippling effects of their upbringing, and, affectingly, the alcoholic son of an alcoholic father who, when he becomes a father himself, evokes fear and shame in his own daughter. As the narratives explore love, faith, betrayal, joy, friendship, and tragedy, they highlight how choices made by parents influence their offspring so indelibly.