Can a whole town be evil? Tulla Murphy's life has unraveled. Spurred by a loss that forces her to rethink all her plans, she retreats to the town where she grew up, even though she vowed never to go back. She soon discovers that Parnell is still the petri dish of old secrets and simmering resentments of her youth as she reconnects with her three childhood friends: Leo, Kat, and Mikhail. Their friendship once insulated them from the enmities of the schoolyard and the treacheries of the town, but Tulla isn't sure if it can protect them again. Then mysterious deaths start occurring - the first at the height of one of Parnell's most ferocious storms. As the body count mounts, Tulla is plagued by a growing suspicion that threatens loyalties and makes her question her memories. Is it possible that her friends are more dangerous than the forces swirling around her?

In 1988 Penelope Williams was told she had breast cancer. And with this pronouncement she found herself flung into a different world, one with a reluctant citizenry and a frightening terrain. That Other Place is an absorbing and utterly candid account of Penny's journey in this country.

Each stage of the journey provides an illuminating view on issues such as conventional cancer treatments, research, the mythical cancer personality, cancer shibboleths and holistic mind/body medicine.

This is a story written from a cancer patient's point of view. The subject is grim, and Penny is unflinching in descrbing the reality of the pain and terror on initial diagnosis and treatment, the whole wrenching process of the change of perceptions, lifestyle and goals. The reader is taken on the roller coaster of emotions experienced in a world knocked out of focus by the blow of sudden, perhaps terminal, illness. But there is also humour sometimes black, sometimes liberating. And there is emphasis on the bonds of support among cancer sufferers, an empathy as important to the healing process as medical treatment.

In writing That Other Place, Penny gained a measure of control over the dragon. She concludes her story with words of honesty and courage, knowing that self-proclaimed cancer survivors lose their impact as role models when they die: "It is enough to say I am here; and here is always the goal, not a milestone to somewehre else."