EVERYWHERE BUT HERE is a work of contemporary adult fiction set in the rural community of Long Branch in northern California. The central protagonist is a forty-nine-year-old artist named Robert Turghoff who has lived in the community for more than two decades. Twice divorced, Turghoff is a successful painter who enjoys his quiet small-town life while his work sells in distant urban galleries.
When he realizes that Long Branch is struggling economically Turghoff proposes a set of public murals that would portray the history of the area, involve the disaffected local youth and attract tourists off the bypass and into the downtown. The proposal turns out to be a radical, life-changing decision for him. A private man who values that his art reflects his personal vision, he realizes that the murals will require him to coordinate and cooperate with other members of the community. How does one, he asks himself, create and sustain a personal vision while engaging in such a public project?
When the local newspaper sends its new reporter, Yvonne Curtiss, to interview him Turghoff's life changes forever. Yvonne is a skilled reporter who is soon promoting the mural project with captivating weekly articles. She also becomes his muse, inspiring his late-night studio work, and his mistress whose mysterious comings and goings enchant him.
But Yvonne is married to Gil Curtiss, a haunted Iraq war veteran who drives a propane truck, and they are the parents of Carly, a fragile twelve-year-old who aspires to be an artist herself. And, in her efforts to recover from a serious fall, Yvonne has become addicted to opioids.
Turghoff and Yvonne struggle to find an appropriate wall for the first mural. While admired by many, Turghoff's proposed sketch for first mural raises questions about the roles native Americans and first settlers. Turghoff is increasingly haunted by the orbiting presence of Gil Curtiss, troubled by the disapproval coming from his close friends the Solomons (who are also friends of the Curtiss family), and he develops a teacher-student relationship with Carly.
When he finally raises the issue of opioid use with Yvonne, she leaves in a huff and resists his effort to reconnect. Avoiding him completely she writes a series of articles about the homeless camps in and around Long Branch. The owners of the proposed wall demand an entirely different mural and when Gil Curtiss delivers propane to his house, Turghoff realizes that he and Gil are both worried about, obsessed by, and in love with the same woman.
One evening he returns home to find Yvonne's car in the yard. Moments later he discovers her collapsed in the spa. After his desperate efforts fail to revive her, he sees an empty syringe next to her purse. He decides to inform no one of the death until morning so Yvonne will remain alive "everywhere but here." The next morning he calls Gil and as the man approaches his door, Turghoff realizes that under different circumstances he and Gil might have become good friends.
Six years later, living and painting now "in the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius," Turghoff is happy to learn that Carly Curtiss has applied to his alma mater, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The impulse to create art has survived in her as it has in him.
