This Must Be the Place

by Susan Jackson Rodgers

Overview

It's the summer of 1983. Ronald Reagan is in the White House, Princess Leia is on magazine covers, and Thea Knox is on the road. Fresh out of college, Thea is driving solo from California to New York. Her plan is to house-sit for her parents for the summer, but they sell her childhood home on a whim, leaving Thea (once again) to her own devices. She takes a detour to visit her Aunt Wendy in Merdale, a college town nestled in the Kansas prairie. Unlike Dorothy, Thea's adventure begins when she arrives in Kansas. Thea is immediately surrounded by her aunt's group of friends, including Julie, a bookstore owner; Nick, Julie's carpenter boyfriend; Bob, a stoner wildlife rehabilitator; and Amira, a lawyer who works with runaway girls. When she finds herself in love at first sight with Jimmy Ward, a local with a hazy past, Thea decides to extend her stay. Not everyone welcomes her into the fold, however, and Thea's own past—including her distant best friend and erstwhile boyfriends on either coast—is nipping at her heels. When she discovers a terrible secret that could upend Jimmy's world, the spell of happiness she has woven in this unlikely place threatens to break. This compelling coming-of-age novel explores the search for identity, love, friendship, and home, and celebrates the magic and mystery that exist in even the most ordinary places.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781609092276
Publisher:	Northern Illinois University Press
Publication date:	08/22/2017
Series:	Switchgrass Books
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	180
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Susan Jackson Rodgers is the author of the short-story collections The Trouble with You Is and Ex-Boyfriend on Aisle Six. Her stories have appeared in Glimmer Train, New England Review, Prairie Schooner, North American Review, and Colorado Review. She teaches creative writing at Oregon State University.

What People are Saying About This

John McNally

One of the strengths of This Must Be the Place is the carefully constructed voice of the narrator. Engaging and vulnerable, it made me want to go along on this journey with her.

Trudy Lewis

This tough-talking novel beguiles the reader with its forthright sexuality, its prickly characters, and its surprising representation of the Midwest. Many show-stopping paragraphs and a twister of a plot! I was delighted to spend time with Susan Jackson Rodgers, who exudes passion, poetry, humor, hard-won wisdom, resilience, and grit.

Daniel A. Hoyt

Susan Jackson Rodgers's Kansas novel This Must Be the Place alludes to The Wizard of Oz, but its true Midwestern forebear is Winesburg, Ohio in the way it uncovers secrets-the deep, hidden bones that prop up people and sometimes even communities. Rodgers's protagonist, Thea, keeps some of the secrets and reveals some, but at its heart this novel is about her desire and her worldview, which is wry and thoughtful and lusty and true.

Jonis Agee

Susan Jackson Rodgers has created an utterly winsome narrator in Thea, plucky, observant, and honest. She's the best guide we could hope for on this journey through the Land of Oz, better known as contemporary America. Rodgers writes with sublime detail and fearless energy-every page crackles with humor, compassion, and derring-do. Thea has enough courage for all of us as she travels cross country, picking up a stray dog who becomes her familiar, and begins to unwind the complicated memories of her past when she arrives at Aunt Wendy's house. This is a must-read for anyone who has wondered how to make sense of the chaos of the current times amidst the unresolved questions of a past that seems blown to pieces by storm winds. What is love? Who are the people who claim to be our parents? How am I to enter the ordinary world after coming back from Oz? Rodgers creates an original cast of characters who are so alive that we believe they must be real people, we come to care so much about them. This is a novel to be read late into the night and then shared with friends and relatives-you'll see what I mean!

Elizabeth Stuckey-French

The place in This Must Be the Place is Merdale, a college town fastened to the Kansas prairie. Susan Jackson Rodgers depicts it so vividly I felt I had been transported there to live again through the summer of 1983. If only I could have handled the Reagan era with as much spunk and intelligence as Rodgers's heroine, Thea Knox. I can't remember when I last met a character as smart and open to the world as Thea. This book is a treat from beginning to end.

Caitlin Horrocks

This well-written novel introduced me to a place and set of characters that felt fresh, interesting, and entertaining. I enjoyed immersing myself in the unexpected community of Merdale.

Editorial Reviews

Well imagined... [an] always-engaging coming-of-age novel.

Booklist

Warm and occasionally edgy, this self-discovery-on-the-road novel evokes meaningful memories.

Foreword Reviews

Rodgers avoids platitudes and easy endings, and this story shines all the brighter against that which is not said. Simple but sharp and perfectly timed for a summer road trip.

-- "Kirkus Reviews"

Warm and occasionally edgy, this self-discovery-on-the-road novel evokes meaningful memories.

-- "Foreword Reviews"

Well imagined... [an] always-engaging coming-of-age novel.

-- "Booklist"

From the Publisher

2017-06-06
A young woman's cross-country drive home takes a three-month detour to a small Kansas town.Thea planned to spend the summer after her college graduation housesitting for her parents and making decisions about her future. After learning her parents have abruptly sold her childhood home, Thea has no clear future plans except to drive her best friend Emily's car from California to New York, where Emily's brother Eddie lives, while Emily works overseas for a year. Thea's been casually involved with Eddie, which the two have kept secret from Emily. When Eddie, during a phone call, suggests marriage, however, Thea realizes that not only has he misconstrued their relationship, but that it could also cost her Emily's friendship. Thea's drive takes her to Kansas to visit her aunt Wendy, who suggests she stay for the summer, a decision that's easy to make after she meets Jimmy, a local college instructor. Thea moves in with Jimmy almost immediately, and even as she tries to hide from her own life, she is drawn deeper into Jimmy's circle of friends and the secrets of the small town. Set in 1983, this is an appealing coming-of-age story anchored by a crisp narrative voice and a strong sense of place. Thea is a richly drawn character: she has flashes of self-awareness but primarily acts impulsively, and yet her assessments of the people around her are strikingly insightful. As such, while the story itself may have a sense of inevitability (given she cannot hide from her parents, Eddie, and Emily forever), Thea gives it life and momentum. Even as Thea questions the relationship between love and home, Rodgers (Ex-Boyfriend on Aisle 6, 2012, etc.) avoids platitudes and easy endings, and this story shines all the brighter against that which is not said. Simple but sharp and perfectly timed for a summer road trip.

Kirkus Reviews