About this episode

Ann Patchett discusses her novels 'Whistler' and 'Tom Lake', focusing on human relationships and the act of aging.

Novelist Ann Patchett has written about things as wild as hostage takeovers, fairy tales, and betrayed magicians’ assistants. But her new novel Whistler turns down the stakes to focus on the quieter complexities of human relationships. Today’s episode features two conversations between Ann Patchett and NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly. First, Patchett talks about Whistler and how it embraces the act of aging among past and present loved ones. Then, we revisit Patchett’s 2023 reflection on Tom Lake, a novel born from her serendipitous visits to the Michigan fruit farms she calls “a world like no other.” To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

People in this episode

Host: Mary Louise Kelly

Guest: Ann Patchett

Topics covered

• human relationships
• aging
• novels
• literature
• interviews
• writing

Keywords

• Ann Patchett
• Whistler
• Tom Lake
• human relationships
• aging
• NPR
• interview

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: NPR

Books & works: Whistler, Tom Lake

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