Place is more challenging to summarize, because it’s an adult literary novel praised by some agents as “inventive,” which could mean it’s a bit slippery to define.  The book was recently represented for a time by two different literary agencies in New York and made unsuccessful visits to perhaps a dozen publishers.  Essentially a suspense story, it has its share of romance, cultural commentary, and more than a whiff of metaphysics.  It features 40-something Hugh Ogden, a software genius working in the rarefied field of Artificial Life (A-Life), and his relationship with Abigail Sipes, a business consultant guru whose husband and young son have both recently died.  She has a spectacular affliction that I won’t reveal here, but that propels the two of them on a difficult journey of self-discovery and quest for identity as a family.