“Whistler”

I could not wait to start Ann Patchett's newest book, Whistler, as I so enjoyed her other books including Bel Canto, The Dutch House and Tom Lake. The premise: 53 year old Daphne reunites with her beloved ex step-father, Edward, who has been out of her life for 40 years.  The past and present relationship between them is central to the story, but Patchett’s narrative of the protagonists’ other relationships - partners, children, mothers, fathers and so on - gives this novel a lovely richness.  Reading a Patchett novel, in the words of author Anna Quindlen, is like “living somewhere else, being someone else”.