Ann Patchett

""Any story that starts will also end." As a writer, Ann Patchett knows what the outcome of her fiction will be. Life, however, often takes turns we do not see coming. Patchett ponders this truth in these wise essays that afford a fresh and intimate look into her mind and heart. At the center of These Precious Days is the title essay, a surprising and moving meditation on an unexpected friendship that explores "what it means to be seen, to find someone...

First published in 2001, Bel Canto is possibly Ann Patchett's most beloved novel. Set in an unnamed South American country, at the home of the vice president, it is the story of a lavish birthday party honoring Mr. Hosokawa, a powerful Japanese businessman. Roxanne Coss, opera's most revered soprano, has enthralled the international guests with a mesmerizing performance. The evening is perfect--until a band of gun-wielding terrorists takes the entire...

""Commonwealth is the story of two broken families and the paths their lives take over the course of 40 years, through love and marriage, death and divorce, and a dark secret from childhood that lies underneath it all""-- Provided by publisher. ""The acclaimed, bestselling author--winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize--tells the enthralling story of how an unexpected romantic encounter irrevocably changes two families' lives. One...

The author describes her twenty-year friendship with Lucy Grealy, tracing their introduction at a writer's workshop, the integral part their friendship played in their writing careers, and her witness to Grealy's medical deterioration.

Rose, married for three years, decides she has made a mistake and leaves her husband, traveling from California to Kentucky to take up residence in a home for unwed mothers where she plans to have her baby and give it up for adoption, but she soon discovers life still holds some surprises.

Ann Patchett, author of State of Wonder, Run, and Bel Canto, examines her deepest commitments-- to writing, family, friends, dogs, books, and her husband-- creating a resonant portrait of her life.

Novelist Ann Patchett explores the confusion and fears that come with transitions and the potential to be found in the unknown, discussing her experience of attending college, graduating, and having to decide what to do next.

A flock of lambs mishears the word "landslide" as "lambslide" and begins a campaign to have one built for them on the farm.

One summer's day, ten-year-old India Opal Buloni goes down to the local supermarket for some groceries - and comes home with a dog. But Winn-Dixie is no ordinary dog. It's because of Winn-Dixie that Opal begins to make friends. And it's because of Winn-Dixie that she finally dares to ask her father about her mother, who left when Opal was three. In fact, as Opal admits, just about everything that happens that summer is because of Winn-Dixie.

Cesar and Nestor, Cuban musicians, make their way from Havana to the New York stage in 1949 where they share triumphs and tragedies.