“Putting together a novel is essentially putting together the lives of stranger I’m coming to know.”

As it turns out, writing nonfiction stories is not very different from writing fiction for Ann Patchett.  The title essay for this collection describes how she puts together an understanding of the life of the stranger who comes to stay in her house during the first months of the COVID-19 … Read More

“There are a few times in life when you leap up and the past that you’d been standing on falls away behind you . . .”

Ann Patchett continues “…and the future you mean to land on is not yet in place, and for a moment you’re suspended, knowing nothing and no one, not even yourself.” This is the protagonist’s description of how his life as a teenager changed when his father died.  There are many … Read More