Author Reading with Polly Dugan
October 17 | 7:00-8:30pm
Free Event | Open to the public
Pre-Registration is strongly recommended; Walk-ins welcome as space allows
Hoffman Center for the Arts | 594 Laneda Avenue | Manzanita
Join us for a reading by Polly Dugan from her new novel, The House of Cavanaugh, hot off the presses, published by Syblline Press,
October 2025.
This book revisits a family who appears in five stories in Dugan’s linked collection, So Much a Part of You (Little, Brown, 2014).
Dugan will read from her new novel and also discuss the thoughtful process of continuing a storyline from a fictional short story to the development of realistic fiction in a longer format.
Synopsis of The House of Cavanaugh
Fifty years after the affair between Joan Cavanaugh and Peter ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson in New York City, and 25 years after Joan’s death, the paternity of Joan’s middle daughter, Anne, is revealed through a 23andMe kit. Two families’ lives are rocked by the revelation and two best friends who live in Portland discover they share a sister. In 2014, decades after their paths last crossed, Joan’s widower, Graham, and Hutch come face to face over the Thanksgiving weekend when Graham travels from New York to visit his daughter, Carolyn, in Portland, the city where Hutch and his wife Alice have recently moved to be near their daughter and her family. Weeks later, just before Christmas, Graham’s daughters are forced to decide how best to handle the truth of Anne’s paternity with him. The House of Cavanaugh explores the flaws of even the most seemingly unblemished families, the mystery of who a mother really was, and the challenge of forgiving someone who can no longer atone.
About the author
Polly Dugan is the author of the linked story collection, So Much a Part of You, and the novel, The Sweetheart Deal. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in The Dickinson Review, Narrative and Line Zero, ModernLoss.com and Huffpost.com. She is a contributing author to Before and After the Book Deal: A Writer’s Guide to Finishing, Publishing, Promoting, and Surviving Your First Book by Courtney Maum. She is a graduate of Dickinson College and the Denver Publishing Institute, a former employee of Powell’s Books and Guide Dogs for the Blind, a Tin House Summer Workshop alum and a former submissions reader for Tin House magazine. She lives in Portland and Manzanita, Oregon with her family.
Please direct any questions about this event to [email protected]
October 17-Author Reading with Polly Dugan-Main Room
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Situated on the main street in Manzanita just a few blocks west of Highway 101, the Hoffman Center is located across the street from the North Tillamook Library.
