Critical Praise

"In her picture of Nickel, Patchett combines a rare sensitivity to issues of race with the unswerving knowledge that deeper than skin color is the essential soul of a good man who wants to repair the damage he has done."

——The New Orleans Times-Picayune

"Patchett writes with remarkable conviction and attention to telling detail... [She] is excellent at portraying the steady love and interest that holds the family members together, even though that love and interest isn't always successful in preserving the members from danger."

——Jane Smiley

"Absorbing . . . Strikingly original."

——Kirkus Reviews

"Taft is a moving, dangerous book about love and despair and hope. Ann Patchett gives us fantastic yet believable characters that will stay alive long after the last page is turned. She is a wonderful, intelligent writer."

——James Welch

"As resonant as a blues song . . . Expect miracles when you read Ann Patchett's fiction."

——The New York Times Book Review

"A moving emblem of fatherhood's rarely explored passion."

——Los Angeles Times