The Dutch House
- Authors: Ann Patchett
- Series:
- Type: Novel
- Genres: Literary fiction
- Rank:Top 100 in Best Coming of Age Fiction Books on AmazonTop 200 in Best Literary Fiction Books on AmazonTop 500 in Best Women's Domestic Life Fiction on Amazon
- Rating: 4.4 based on 83,990 reviews
- Release Date: September 24, 2019
- Print length: 352 pages (Hardcover)
About the book
Next, dive into TOM LAKE - the breath-taking newest novel from Ann Patchett
Lose yourself in the story of a lifetime - the unforgettable Sunday Times bestseller
A STORY OF TWO SIBLINGS, THEIR CHILDHOOD HOME, AND A PAST THAT THEY CAN'T LET GO.
Like swallows, like salmon, we were the helpless captives of our migratory patterns. We pretended that what we had lost was the house, not our mother, not our father. We pretended that what we had lost had been taken from us by the person who still lived inside.
In the economic boom following the Second World War, Cyril Conroy's real estate investments take his family from poverty to enormous wealth. With it he buys the Dutch House, a lavish mansion in the Philadelphia suburbs. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves.
Danny Conroy grows up in the opulence of the Dutch House. Though his father is distant and his mother is absent, Danny has his beloved sister Maeve: Maeve, with her wall of black hair, her wit, her brilliance. The siblings grow and change as life plays out under the watchful eyes of the house's former owners, in the frames of their oil paintings.
Then one day their father brings home Andrea, a new stepmother. Though they cannot know it, her arrival to the Dutch House sows the seed of the defining loss of Danny and Maeve's lives: exiled from the house and tossed back into the poverty from which their family rose, Danny and Maeve have only each other to count on.
Accolades
Praise for The Dutch House
The best book I've read in years
The buzz around The Dutch House is totally justified. Her best yet, which is saying something
A masterpiece
Patchett is at her subtle yet shining finest in this gloriously incisive, often droll, quietly suspenseful drama of family, ambition, and home... . With echoes of F. Scott Fitzgerald and in sync with Alice McDermott, Patchett gracefully choreographs surprising revelations and reunions as her characters struggle with the need to be one’s true self.
The Dutch House confirms what we've always known: Ann Patchett doesn't write a bad book.
Ann Patchett spins a dark, compelling fairy tale in The Dutch House.
Patchett writes enviable prose-fluid, simple, direct, clear, and fearless.
This richly furnished novel gives brilliantly clear views into the lives it contains.
A lavishly gifted writer.
This finely textured novel is made up of many such small, intimate moments, yet the effect is sweeping, grand, and lavish-and all deeply moving.
You won’t want to put down this engrossing, warmhearted book even after you’ve read the last page.
Patchett is a master storyteller.
Enchanting.
Patchett’s splendid novel is a thoughtful, compassionate exploration of obsession and forgiveness, what people acquire, keep, lose or give away, and what they leave behind.
Patchett’s storytelling abilities shine in this gratifying novel.
The Dutch House has the richness, allusiveness, and emotional heft of the best fiction.
The Dutch House is unusual, thoughtful and oddly exciting, as well-told domestic dramas can be.
The Dutch House is unusual, thoughtful and oddly exciting, as well-told domestic dramas can be.
Patchett leads us to a truth that feels like life rather than literature
Patchett’s prose is confident, unfussy and unadorned.
Expect miracles when you read Ann Patchett’s fiction.
The Dutch House is beautifully written and often tender.
For Patchett fans who have been waiting for years, it's a worthwhile read.
Her finest novel yet
A great novelist is on top form with this tale of lost family home.
As always, the author draws us close to her protagonists swiftly and gracefully.
Subtle mystery, psychological page-turner, Patchett's latest is a thriller.
This is a serious and poignant story, but also a delightfully funny one.
About the author
