Discussion QuestionsThe Dutch Houseby Ann Patchett1. What are the many and varied details of the Dutch House --- rooms, stairways, architectural specifics, furniture, windows and doors, etc.? What mood or personality does each space or element possess? What is the complex, overall effect?
readingThe Dutch Housewas the first time I was able to sit down and think about what I had been through, what I felt, alongside Danny and Maeve dealing with the aftermath of their father's death. I'm grateful to Ann Patchett for the time and space to work out tangled tentacles of emo...
Known as ‘the Dutch House’, his baroque childhood home was the scene both of painful rupture and of vigilant care, the latter from Danny’s older sister, Maeve, and from the household servants. The mother, Elna, has left. The father, Cyril, himself a property developer, thinks only of...
In her latest nonfiction collection,"These Precious Days: Essays"(HarperCollins), novelist Ann Patchett, author of such acclaimed works as "The Dutch House" and "Bel Canto," reflects on her life, and the writers who have inspired her. Read an excerpt below. HarperCollins Did I tell you I...
A young woman picks up a book left behind by a stranger. Inside it are his margin notes, which reveal a reader entranced by the story and by its mysterious author. She responds with notes of her own, leaving the book for the stranger, and so begins an unlikely conversation that plunges...
It was a fascinating discussion about today’s book ban in Florida, where Lauren Groff lives. 8000 books are banned. She opened a book store,The Lynx in Gainsville, FLwith the intent of promoting challenged and banned books and welcome LGBTQ+ writers who don’t feel safe and welcome in Fl...
This is a classic Robert Munsch book that has been adapted slightly to be an ‘Early Reader’ which means that some teaching moments are included in the back of the book meant to encourage some discussion and recognition of words and themes. I love that rather than having someone write speci...
We were in the writers’ room at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, where he had just taken part in a panel discussion on the end of empire, drawing on his Baillie Gifford Prize-shortlisted book Revolusi: Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World, translated by David Colmer and David ...
‘A house is a precious thing…’An exhilarating tale of twisted desire, histories and homes, and the unexpected shape of revenge – for readers of Patricia Highsmith, Sarah Waters and Ian McEwan’s AtonementIt’s 1961 and the rural Dutch province of Overijssel is quiet. Bomb craters have be...
‘When a young man is found gruesomely murdered in a London houseboat, it triggers questions about three women who knew him. Laura is the troubled one-night-stand last seen in the victim’s home. Carla is his grief-stricken aunt, already mourning the recent death of yet another family mem...