Description

An irresistible collection of essays and memoir from the internationally bestselling, Women’s Prize-winning author of The Dutch House

‘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 as she explores family, friendship, marriage, failure, success, and what it all means.

A literary alchemist, Patchett plumbs the depths of her experiences to create gold: essays that are both self-portrait and landscape, each vibrant with emotion and rich in insight.

Ranging from the personal – her portrait of the three men she called her fathers; unexpectedly falling into a life-changing friendship with Tom Hanks; how to answer when someone asks why you don’t have children – to the sublime – exploring the Harvard Museum of Natural History before its doors open; the unexpected influence of Snoopy; the importance of knitting – each essay transforms the particular into the universal, letting us all see our own worlds anew.

Illuminating, penetrating, funny and generous, These Precious Days is joyful time spent in the company of one of our greatest living authors.

Publisher Review

PRAISE FOR ANN PATCHETT: Patchett leads us to a truth that feels like life rather than literature -- Elizabeth Lowry * Times Literary Supplement, Book of the Year * One of my top favourite contemporary writers. I don't think that there's a book of hers that I haven't put down at the end and been haunted by for weeks after -- Gillian Anderson Few novelists today combine such a forensic eye with an acute and humane understanding of human nature. I would read Ann Patchett's shopping list -- Jojo Moyes She is one of those rare writers, like Anne Enright or Anne Tyler, who is able to convey poignancy and humour in the space of a single sentence -- Elizabeth Day Patchett is a pleasure to read: there is a no-fuss casualness to the prose that is only possible when a writer is in control of every word and she is master of her art * Observer * Stunning -- India Knight * Sunday Times * We expect a lot from Patchett ... This does not let her, or us, down * The Times * Like climbing into a luxurious automobile and hitting the road on a perfect day. Patchett is in the driver's seat and I don't mind where she takes me -- Erica Wagner * New Statesman * Spoken about in the same breath as the likes of Jennifer Egan or Dave Eggers, Patchett is one of the most celebrated novelists of our times ... But it is her new book, widely billed a one of this autumn's best new reads, where she truly comes into her own * Sunday Times Magazine * Bliss -- Nigella Lawson