Harvard Club of Philadelphia

HCP Book Group: Whistler by Ann Patchett

The Prize-winning author of Bel Canto and The Dutch House, Ann Patchett, returns with a deeply moving novel about the fleeting beauty of life and the enduring power of human connection to transcend time.. The Group will meet on Sunday, October 18th at a Center City home. Space is limited. 

About the Book:

When Daphne Fuller and her husband Jonathan visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, they notice an older, white-haired gentleman following them. The man turns out to be Eddie Triplett, her former stepfather, who had been married to her mother for a little more than year when Daphne was nine. Now fifty-three, Daphne hasn’t seen Eddie for many years, not since the fateful event that changed the direction of both their lives. Meeting again, time falls away; while their relationship was brief, it had a profound impact on them both, and now that they are reunited, they have no intention of ever being separated again.

Whistler is a story about two adults looking back over the choices they made, and the choices that were made for them. It’s a story about bravery, memory, the often small yet consequential moments that define our lives, and the endless stream of loss that in time comes for us all. Beautiful in its simplicity, it is ultimately about how love endures, and how the feeling of being known by one other.

A KATIE COURIC BOOK CLUB PICK

PRESIDENT OBAMA's '26 SUMMER READING LIST PICK

“Ann Patchett’s new novel is a rare phenomenon in contemporary fiction: a novel both majestic and intimate, original and masterful in its structure, crystalline in its prose, revelatory in its insights, utterly devastating yet ultimately uplifting in its emotional impact. . . . I think it is her best novel yet.” —Boston Globe

About the Author:

ANN PATCHETT is the author of ten novels, including Bel Canto, The Dutch House, and Tom Lake, as well as four books of nonfiction and three children’s books. Her work has been translated into more than thirty languages and has earned numerous honors, including the National Humanities Medal and the PEN/Faulkner Award. The Dutch House was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and Patchett was named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World.

In 2011, she co-founded independent bookstore, Parnassus Books, in Nashville, where she lives with her husband, Karl VanDevender, and their dog, Nemo. She is a passionate advocate for independent bookstores and literacy and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Host / Lead Organizer: Susan Robinson

Date: Sunday, October 18th at 3:00 pm.

Location: Address will be included in confirmation email. 

Coffee and tea will be provided.

Limited to 8 people. 

Click here to RSVP