★Longlisted for the 2016 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize

Most of us have experienced what it’s like to know what someone is going to say right before they say it. Or perhaps you have been shocked by the irrefutable phenomena of coincidence, when your life intersects with another’s in the most unlikely way. In gripping prose marked by stark simplicity, Another Place You’ve Never Been by debut novelist Rebecca Kauffman explores the intersection of human experience amidst the minutiae of everyday life.

In her mid-thirties and living in Buffalo, NY (where she is originally from), Tracy spends most days at the restaurant where she works as a hostess, despite her aspirations of a career that would make use of her creative talents. Tracy’s life is explored not only though her own personal point of view, but also through the viewpoints of other characters, wherein Tracy may only make a peripheral appearance or even emerge at different periods in her life.

Kauffman subtly exposes the lives of these characters—alongside the presences of spiritually mysterious Native American figures that appear throughout—and gradually reveals the true purposes of both as their paths intersect.

 

Rebecca Kauffman is originally from rural northeastern Ohio. She eventually moved to New York City, where she received her BA in Classical Violin Performance from the Manhattan School of Music. Several years later, Kauffman attended NYU where she received her MFA in Creative Writing. In the years since, she has worked primarily in restaurants and intermittently as a teacher. She currently lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

 

“[A] wonderful debut… Watching how these characters intersect is incredibly satisfying. In clear and vivid prose, Kauffman potently depicts lonely and isolated lives, marked by rash decisions made in the hope of finding connection. By the end of the novel, the pieces of the puzzle that is Tracy’s life fit together, her disappointments as much a part of her as her small victories, resulting in an undeniably moving and emotionally true portrayal of the kitchen sink of human experience.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Kauffman's compassion for her lonely characters is evident. “—Kirkus

"Another Place You've Never Been is a gorgeous, witty novel that reminded me of Olive Kitteridge...if Olive had been a down-on-her-luck waitress dreaming of love in upstate New York. I loved this kindhearted, beautiful book.”—Amanda Ward, author of The Same Sky and How to Be Lost

“In this mesmerizing novel, composed of short, powerful, interlocking stories, Rebecca Kauffman gives us a wide cast of characters struggling to find happiness, and maybe even transcendence, in a harsh landscape. At the center of it all is Tracy, a woman fighting against the odds, one of the most complex and memorable figures to appear in recent American fiction. Clear-eyed, witty, and dazzlingly inventive, this is a novel that disturbs and delights. An extraordinary debut.”—Brian Morton, author of Starting Out in the Evening and Florence Gordon