The Dutch House

by Ann Patchett, Tom Hanks (Read by)

Overview

Audiobook performed by Tom Hanks.

Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize

New York Times Bestseller | A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick | A New York Times Book Review Notable Book | TIME Magazine's 100 Must-Read Books of 2019 | 2020 Audie Finalist – Audiobook of The Year & Best Male Narrator

Named one of the Best Books of the Year by NPR, The Washington Post; O: The Oprah Magazine, Real Simple, Good Housekeeping, Vogue, Refinery29, and Buzzfeed

Ann Patchett, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Commonwealth, delivers her most powerful novel to date: a richly moving story that explores the indelible bond between two siblings, the house of their childhood, and a past that will not let them go. The Dutch House is the story of a paradise lost, a tour de force that digs deeply into questions of inheritance, love and forgiveness, of how we want to see ourselves and of who we really are.

At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves.

The story is told by Cyril’s son Danny, as he and his older sister, the brilliantly acerbic and self-assured Maeve, are exiled from the house where they grew up by their stepmother. The two wealthy siblings are thrown back into the poverty their parents had escaped from and find that all they have to count on is one another. It is this unshakeable bond between them that both saves their lives and thwarts their futures.

Set over the course of five decades, The Dutch House is a dark fairy tale about two smart people who cannot overcome their past. Despite every outward sign of success, Danny and Maeve are only truly comfortable when they’re together. Throughout their lives they return to the well-worn story of what they’ve lost with humor and rage. But when at last they’re forced to confront the people who left them behind, the relationship between an indulged brother and his ever-protective sister is finally tested.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062963727
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/24/2019
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	235,085
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 5.40(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

ANN PATCHETT is the author of seven novels, The Patron Saint of Liars, Taft, The Magician’s Assistant, Bel Canto, Run, State of Wonder, and Commonwealth. She was the editor of Best American Short Stories, 2006, and has written three books of nonfiction, Truth & Beauty, about her friendship with the writer, Lucy Grealy, What now? an expansion of her graduation address at Sarah Lawrence College, and, most recently, This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, a collection of essays.

In November 2011, she opened Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee, with her partner Karen Hayes. She has since gone on to be a spokesperson for independent booksellers, talking about books and bookstores on “The Colbert Report,” NPR, “The Martha Stewart Show” and “The CBS Early Show.” Along with James Patterson she was the honorary chair of World Book Night. In 2012 she was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.

Ann Patchett lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband, Karl VanDevender, and their dog, Sparky.

Tom Hanks is an award-winning actor, producer and director. One of only two actors in history to win back-to-back Best Actor Academy Awards, Hanks has starred in over 40 films, including Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan, Cast Away, Big and Philadelphia. With his production company, Playtone, Hanks has produced several award-winning TV series including John Adams, Band of Brothers and Olive Kitteridge. In 2013, he garnered multiple award nominations for his Broadway debut in Nora Ephron’s Lucky Guy. Hanks has received the AFI’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the Kennedy Center Honor, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Hometown:

Nashville, Tennessee

Date of Birth:

December 2, 1963

Place of Birth:

Los Angeles, California

Education:

B.A., Sarah Lawrence College, 1985; M.F.A., University of Iowa, 1987

Website:

http://www.annpatchett.com

Editorial Reviews

As always, the author draws us close to her portagonists swiftly and gracefully.

Wall Street Journal

Patchett is a master storyteller.

O: the Oprah Magazine

"The Dutch House confirms what we've always known: Ann Patchett doesn't write a bad book."

BookPage

"This is a serious and poignant story, but also a delightfully funny one."

Washington Independent Review of Books

"The Dutch House is beautifully written and often tender."

The Spectator

This is an author that specializes in extremely legible yarns.

New York magazine

Tom Hanks narrates this novel about Danny and Maeve, and their beloved childhood home, The Dutch House, with a restraint that admirably captures the writing’s surface calm and buried tension. Set in 1950s Philadelphia, Patchett’s first book since COMMONWEALTH feels as timeless as a fairy story, and is, in fact, satisfyingly full of classic tropes—grand house, distant father, abandoning mother, wicked stepmother, controlling wife. Hanks takes his narrative cue from Danny, who tells the story in a mix of bemusement, wonder, and nostalgia. It’s not a dramatic performance but is, instead, a sensitive and warm reading of a fine novel about love, loyalty, redemption, forgiveness, and what we will do to make the world the way we want it to be. A.C.S. 2020 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2019 - AudioFile

This novel takes a winding road through the forest and doesn't rush to a finish, nor is the ending wholly surprising. But if you allow yourself to walk along with Patchett, you'll find riches at the end of the trail…The job of a novel like The Dutch House is to sweep you along and make you care about the characters, no matter who they are or what their circumstances, and Patchett has done that job.

The New York Times Book Review - Martha Southgate

Patchett's prose is confident, unfussy and unadorned. I can't pluck out one sentence worth quoting, but how effective they are when woven together—these translucent lines that envelop you like a spider's web. It can feel old-fashioned: her style, her attachment to a very traditional kind of storytelling—a vision of the novel as a Dutch house, with a clarity and transparency of purpose and method, a refusal of narrative tricksiness…"The love between humans is the thing that nails us to this earth," Patchett wrote in her memoir This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage—a belief her new novel shares but shades with caution. There's no missing the statement's brutal, brilliant ambivalence.

The New York Times - Parul Sehgal

★ 07/01/2019

A 1920s mansion worms into the lives of the broken family that occupies it in another masterly novel from Patchett (Commonwealth). In 1945, Brooklyn-born real-estate entrepreneur Cyril Conroy purchases the Dutch House in Elkins Park, outside Philadelphia, and presents it, complete with Delft mantels, life-size portraits of the original owners, a ballroom, and staff, to his wife. She hates it. She runs away to serve the poor, abandoning her 10-year-old daughter, Maeve, and three-year-old son, Danny. Five years later, Maeve and Danny meet Conroy’s second wife. The second Mrs. Conroy adores the house. When Cyril dies, she keeps it, dispossessing Maeve and Danny of any inheritance except funds for Danny’s education, which they use to send Danny to Choate, Columbia, and medical school. Grown-up Danny narrates, remembering his sister as an unswerving friend and protector. For Patchett, family connection comes not from formal ties or ceremonies but from shared moments: Danny accompanying his father to work, Danny’s daughter painting her grandmother’s fingernails, Maeve and Danny together trying to decode the past. Despite the presence of a grasping stepmother, this is no fairy tale, and Patchett remarkably traces acts of cruelty and kindness through three generations of a family over 50 years. 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. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

The Dutch House has the richness, allusiveness, and emotional heft of the best fiction.” — Boston Globe

"As always, the author draws us close to her protagonists swiftly and gracefully." — Wall Street Journal

"Patchett’s prose is confident, unfussy and unadorned." — New York Times

“A big-hearted, capacious novel...” — Chapter 16

“The Dutch House is unusual, thoughtful and oddly exciting, as well-told domestic dramas can be.” — Columbus Dispatch

“Patchett’s storytelling abilities shine in this gratifying novel.” — Associated Press

"As always, Patchett leads us to a truth that feels like life rather than literature." — The Guardian

"For Patchett fans who have been waiting for years, it's a worthwhile read." — Evening Standard (London)

"Ann Patchett spins a dark, compelling fairy tale in The Dutch House." — Entertainment Weekly

"The Dutch House confirms what we've always known: Ann Patchett doesn't write a bad book." — BookPage

"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." — New York Journal of Books

"This is a serious and poignant story, but also a delightfully funny one." — Washington Independent Review of Books

“This richly furnished novel gives brilliantly clear views into the lives it contains.” — Kirkus Reviews(starred review)

"You won’t want to put down this engrossing, warmhearted book even after you’ve read the last page.” — NPR

“Expect miracles when you read Ann Patchett’s fiction.” — New York Times Book Review

“Patchett is a master storyteller.” — O, the Oprah Magazine

“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.” — Publishers Weekly(starred review)

“A lavishly gifted writer.” — Los Angeles Times

“Patchett writes enviable prose—fluid, simple, direct, clear, and fearless.” — Esquire

“Enchanting.” — PEOPLE Magazine, Best Books of Fall 2019

“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.” — Booklist

"The Dutch House is beautifully written and often tender." — The Spectator

"A great novelist is on top form with this tale of lost family home." — The Times (London)

"Subtle mystery, psychological page-turner, Patchett's latest is a thriller." — Washington Post

From the Publisher

"Ann Patchett spins a dark, compelling fairy tale in The Dutch House."

Entertainment Weekly

"For Patchett fans who have been waiting for years, it's a worthwhile read."

Evening Standard (London)

Patchett’s storytelling abilities shine in this gratifying novel.

Associated Press

"Patchett’s prose is confident, unfussy and unadorned."

New York Times

The Dutch House is unusual, thoughtful and oddly exciting, as well-told domestic dramas can be.

Columbus Dispatch

The Dutch House has the richness, allusiveness, and emotional heft of the best fiction.

Boston Globe

"The Dutch House confirms what we've always known: Ann Patchett doesn't write a bad book."

BookPage

"As always, Patchett leads us to a truth that feels like life rather than literature."

The Guardian

A big-hearted, capacious novel...

Chapter 16

"As always, the author draws us close to her protagonists swiftly and gracefully."

Wall Street Journal

"This is a serious and poignant story, but also a delightfully funny one."

Washington Independent Review of Books

"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."

New York Journal of Books

Expect miracles when you read Ann Patchett’s fiction.

New York Times Book Review

"Subtle mystery, psychological page-turner, Patchett's latest is a thriller."

Washington Post

"You won’t want to put down this engrossing, warmhearted book even after you’ve read the last page.

NPR

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.

Booklist

Patchett is a master storyteller.

the Oprah Magazine O

A lavishly gifted writer.

|Los Angeles Times

"A great novelist is on top form with this tale of lost family home."

The Times (London)

"The Dutch House is beautifully written and often tender."

The Spectator

Patchett writes enviable prose—fluid, simple, direct, clear, and fearless.

Esquire

Enchanting.

PEOPLE Magazine

A lavishly gifted writer.

Los Angeles Times

"Subtle mystery, psychological page-turner, Patchett's latest is a thriller."

Washington Post

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.

Booklist

"Ann Patchett spins a dark, compelling fairy tale in The Dutch House."

Entertainment Weekly

The Dutch House has the richness, allusiveness, and emotional heft of the best fiction.

Boston Globe

The Dutch House is unusual, thoughtful and oddly exciting, as well-told domestic dramas can be.

Columbus Dispatch

"You won’t want to put down this engrossing, warmhearted book even after you’ve read the last page.

NPR

Expect miracles when you read Ann Patchett’s fiction.

New York Times Book Review

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.

Booklist

As always, the author draws us close to her protagonists swiftly and gracefully.

Wall Street Journal

A lavishly gifted writer.

Los Angeles Times

"As always, Patchett leads us to a truth that feels like life rather than literature."

The Guardian

Patchett’s storytelling abilities shine in this gratifying novel.

Associated Press

"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."

New York Journal of Books

"For Patchett fans who have been waiting for years, it's a worthwhile read."

Evening Standard (London)

Enchanting.

PEOPLE Magazine

Patchett writes enviable prose—fluid, simple, direct, clear, and fearless.

Esquire

Patchett is a master storyteller.

the Oprah Magazine O

"Subtle mystery, psychological page-turner, Patchett's latest is a thriller."

Washington Post

Patchett’s prose is confident, unfussy and unadorned.

New York Times

"A great novelist is on top form with this tale of lost family home."

The Times (London)

A big-hearted, capacious novel...

Chapter 16

Patchett’s prose is confident, unfussy and unadorned.

The New York Times

★ 2019-05-27
Their mother's disappearance cements an unbreakable connection between a pair of poor-little-rich-kid siblings.

Like The Children's Crusade by Ann Packer or Life Among Giants by Bill Roorbach, this is a deeply pleasurable book about a big house and the family that lives in it. Toward the end of World War II, real estate developer and landlord Cyril Conroy surprises his wife, Elna, with the keys to a mansion in the Elkins Park neighborhood of Philadelphia. Elna, who had no idea how much money her husband had amassed and still thought they were poor, is appalled by the luxurious property, which comes fully furnished and complete with imposing portraits of its former owners (Dutch people named VanHoebeek) as well as a servant girl named Fluffy. When her son, Danny, is 3 and daughter, Maeve, is 10, Elna's antipathy for the place sends her on the lam—first occasionally, then permanently. This leaves the children with the household help and their rigid, chilly father, but the difficulties of the first year pale when a stepmother and stepsisters appear on the scene. Then those problems are completely dwarfed by further misfortune. It's Danny who tells the story, and he's a wonderful narrator, stubborn in his positions, devoted to his sister, and quite clear about various errors—like going to medical school when he has no intention of becoming a doctor—while utterly committed to them. "We had made a fetish out of our disappointment," he says at one point, "fallen in love with it." Casually stated but astute observations about human nature are Patchett's (Commonwealth, 2016, etc.) stock in trade, and she again proves herself a master of aging an ensemble cast of characters over many decades. In this story, only the house doesn't change. You will close the book half believing you could drive to Elkins Park and see it.

Like the many-windowed mansion at its center, this richly furnished novel gives brilliantly clear views into the lives it contains.

Kirkus Reviews