Heather's Picks

Whistler by Ann Patchett is, like all her books, a gift; this is Patchett at the very height of her formidable storytelling powers.

Whistler starts with a chance encounter in a museum. Daphne Fuller crosses paths with the man who was her stepfather for one of the most impactful years of her life—more than four decades earlier, when she was nine.

That random meeting reignites their relationship and sparks an emotionally resonant story that looks at the moments and relationships that truly make us who we are.

Patchett's unique talent has always been her ability to craft prose that is at once immersive and deep but always somehow "quiet,” allowing the reader space to feel. This is Ann Patchett at her very best.