NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Between writing novels, Ann Patchett dedicates considerable time to supporting fellow authors: crafting endorsements for Douglas Stuart, creating video birthday greetings for author-bookseller Emma Straub, or opening interviews by promoting colleagues’ work.
“The new Liz Strout book is the best,” she remarks about Elizabeth Strout’s “The Things We Never Say.” “You know, every single book she publishes, you just think, ‘Oh, well, she can’t possibly do that again.’ And then she comes out with another book and it’s even better.”
Now 62, Patchett has achieved the uncommon position of being a writer whose recommendations carry weight with both colleagues and the general public. She operates Parnassus Books, one of America’s premier independent bookstores, serving everyone from local literature enthusiasts to celebrity customers like Tom Hanks. As a celebrated novelist, her upcoming releases consistently rank among the year’s most eagerly awaited titles, while her earlier works, including the renowned “Bel Canto,” maintain strong sales. The National Humanities Medal recognized her contributions in 2021 for “putting into words the beauty, pain, and complexity of human nature.”
Though her works have appeared in over 20 languages worldwide, Patchett remains rooted in Nashville, where she spent childhood years and currently resides with her husband, physician Karl VanDevender. During a recent interview with The Associated Press at Parnassus, conducted on a bright weekday morning before store hours, she also gathered with staff members in the center of the 4,800-square-foot space to plan upcoming events, occasionally interrupted by employee-owned “shop dogs” that roam the premises like eager shoppers.
Patchett arrived early to discuss “Whistler,” launching Tuesday. Similar to “Bel Canto,” “State of Wonder” and her other novels, it chronicles unexpected encounters that develop into meaningful relationships. The story follows 53-year-old Daphne Fuller and her spouse, who meet elderly Eddie Triplett at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and discover he was once her stepfather during her childhood. Daphne and Eddie develop a strong friendship while revisiting shared memories, including a severe automobile accident that preceded Eddie’s divorce from her mother.
While Patchett avoids writing with predetermined themes, “Whistler” reads like a celebration of kindness and goodwill. The book’s title comes from a tale about a horse that escapes but returns during a moment of need. Following the crash, when Daphne questions whether it’s safe to leave for assistance, Eddie reassures her, “I swear to you, it’s mostly good people out there, with a few bad people around the edges.”
“The people that I interact with every single day are good people,” Patchett explains. “It is vanishingly rare when I meet someone who’s not nice. Now, if you watch the news and read the news, it seems like everyone’s terrible and murderous. But it’s the difference between primary and secondary sources. So if I’m just operating off primary sources, what I see is goodness. I completely understand that there is incredible horror and cruelty in the world, but I also feel like incredible horror and cruelty is very well represented (in art). And what I actually experience in my daily life is not as well represented in art.”
“I don’t set out to write books about nice people,” she continues, “but I like people.”
PEN America recently honored Patchett’s civic contributions by presenting her with its Literary Service Award at the organization’s May gala in Manhattan. Author Patrick Ryan introduced her to hundreds of attendees at the American Museum of Natural History, highlighting her diverse efforts, from working “to get books into the hands of children in underserved communities” to supporting emerging writers and inspiring readers “who recognize themselves in her novels.”
Patchett possesses a deeply personal understanding of human connections and how they can fracture through conflict or end with death.
Born in Los Angeles, she experienced her parents’ divorce during early childhood and relocated eastward with her mother — experiences that informed her novel “Commonwealth.” She has also penned tributes to deceased loved ones. The memoir “Truth & Beauty” commemorated her close friend Lucy Grealy, a poet and memoir writer who battled a rare cancer and underwent numerous surgeries before dying at 39. The title essay from her 2004 collection “These Precious Days” pays tribute to the late Sooki Raphael, an assistant to Hanks who became close to Patchett while fighting terminal cancer.
“Whistler” bears a dedication to her friend Jim Fox, former chief legal counsel at HarperCollins who passed away in 2024 and served as inspiration for Eddie (and provided the name for a character in “State of Wonder”).
“He was brilliant, and a great reader,” she reflects. “Jim isn’t Eddie and I’m not Daphne, and certainly the circumstances aren’t the same, but the huge love that Eddie and Daphne shared is the huge love Jim and I shared.”
A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa, Patchett recalls creating stories before she could read — an experience that she says deepened her love for written words. Growing up before “young adult” literature emerged, she began with childhood classics like “Charlotte’s Web” and “The Little House on the Prairie” series, then moved directly to literary masters who shaped her development: Saul Bellow, Philip Roth and John Updike.
By her early twenties, Patchett had achieved enough recognition to publish a story in The Paris Review. Her first novel, “The Patron Saint of Liars,” appeared before she reached 30. She has subsequently released nine additional fiction works, including “Whistler,” alongside four nonfiction titles and three picture books illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser.
“I was at my cousins’ house a few months ago and they had boxes of old papers of mine,” Patchett recalls. “And they were from grade school, middle school, high school — notebook after notebook, poetry and stories. I was shocked by the extent I was practicing my craft at age 10.”
Patchett’s bookselling career started around 2010, when two Nashville store closures reflected the nationwide challenges facing independent retailers, partly due to Amazon’s expansion. Patchett and business partner Karen Hayes developed what seemed like an ambitious plan: launching a new bookstore — a decision that drew skepticism initially but now represents the changing landscape for independent booksellers.
American Booksellers Association membership has more than doubled during the past decade — including author-operated establishments like Straub’s Books Are Magic in New York City and Jeff Kinney’s An Unlikely Story in Plainville, Massachusetts. Straub recalls consulting various small business-owning friends when considering opening her store.
“They all told me not to do it, but when I talked to Ann, she said ‘Do it,’” Straub explains. “She’s my hero. I think the friends who were telling me not to do it were speaking practically. But I didn’t want to hear practical advice. I wanted to hear inspiration.”
