Literary Fiction / Short Story Collection
Date Published: 09-16-2025
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
In 1970s and '80s Detroit, the city wrestles with an unending economic
downturn, increasing violence, and white exodus to the suburbs. Amid all of
this is twentysomething Mary who is just trying to grapple with her identity
in a world filled with uncertainty.
In this collection of linked stories, we follow Mary as she seeks to cope with
and withstand hardship and confront her fears of exploitation, abuse, and
death. Along the way, she delves into the complex yet nurturing relationships
with her family and friends who teach her to love better, live fuller, and
question power. The Patron Saint of Lost Girls presents an unflinching tale of
life in the late twentieth-century postindustrial Midwest.
Excerpt
“AUGUST, WHEN the cicadas burned and the lawnmowers sounded like
industrial bees, we couldn’t stop. In the bedroom, on the couch, on the
floor. Afterward we would lie there, reading the paper or letting the
television taunt us like a car salesman. Paul would wiggle his toes against
mine, and we’d look at one another for a long time. His face was like a
catcher’s mitt, warm and beaten. He reminded me of one of those boys who
had moved away when I was little, but Paul had returned a man.”
-“This is Art”
About the Author
Maureen Aitken’s short-story collection, The Patron Saint of Lost
Girls, received a Kirkus star, the Nilsen Prize, and the Foreword Review INDIE
Gold Prize for General Fiction. It will be reissued in September, 2025 by
Wayne State University Press. Her stories have earned a Minnesota State Arts
Board’s Artist Initiative Grant, a Loft Mentor Award, an award from
Ireland’s Fish Short Story Prize, and two Pushcart Prize nominations. It
was also nominated for a Minnesota Book Award. Her stories have been published
in Prairie Schooner and New Letters, among others. This is her second story
featured in The Missouri Review’s Blast section.
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