The Patron Saint of Lost Girls by Maureen Aitken #teaser #excerpt #comingsoon #shortstories #fiction #literary #rabtbooktours @RABTBookTours

 

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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