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My review of Anne Patchett's "The Dutch House" (releasing September 24, 2019 from Harper) featured in September issue of Franklin (TN) Lifestyle magazine.
Nashville’s Parnassus Books co-owner, Ann Patchett’s latest novel, The Dutch House, drops readers into a sprawling mansion full of strained family connections. As the Second World War comes to an end, Cyril Conroy catapults his family from poverty to enormous wealth as he builds his real estate empire. To celebrate his success he purchases the Dutch House, an opulent 1920s estate in the Philadelphia suburbs, as a surprise for his wife Elna, setting the unraveling of his family into motion. Complete with life-size portraits of the original owners (the Dutch VanHoebeek family), a ballroom, and household staff, The Dutch House overwhelms Elna so much that she abandons her husband, her 10-year-old daughter Maeve, and three-year-old son Danny to serve the poor in India. In dark fairy tale fashion, when stepmother Andrea arrives with her two daughters it is clear that she loves The Dutch House but not her step-children. Banishing Danny and Maeve after Cyril’s sudden death, the siblings must rely on each other as they find themselves thrown back into poverty. The house itself becomes a character that looms large, affecting the lives of all of its inhabitants in this decade-spanning story full of one family’s dysfunctional relationships and stolen inheritances. Written in her legendary prose, Patchett delivers a story of banished and bonded siblings navigating the complex and ever-changing layers of love and forgiveness, while simultaneously pushing readers to analyze the stories we tell ourselves about our own lives.
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