After reading all of Ann Patchett’s fiction, and almost all her non-fiction, I can say with confidence that a new Patchett book will capture your heart and emotions from the first pages, shake up preconceived ideas, throw in some twists and surprises, take you to unexpected territory and by the last pages, leave you simultaneously enormously satisfied yet gasping for more. Her latest novel WHISTLER (Harper Collins 2026) is further proof the reader is in the hands of a masterful writer who combines the daily minutia of life with the great themes of humanity and what it means to belong, to love, to lose, to forgive and to survive.
The cover of WHISTLER (and even the title) is somewhat confounding. Yes, there is a horse in the book named Whistler, but the story is not at all about horses. The horse Whistler is a story within a story within a story in the book, a metaphor about resilience and survival and bonds forged over the passage of time. Whistler (the horse) is a fable, an analogy, a myth. And like all good myths, it is reflective of our current times.
The action begins in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Daphne and her husband are enjoying the exhibits when he notices an older gentleman appears to be following them (or more specifically, Daphne). When confronted, nobody is more surprised than Daphne or Eddie (the older man) that they have stumbled upon each other after more than forty years. Eddie is Daphne’s stepfather, or he was, for the short time he was married to her mother (in between two other husbands). Their time together was brief but impacted by a significant and life-changing event. This event led to the disappearance of Eddie from the family, and for most of Daphne’s life she has blocked out his brief but kindly presence. He was (is) a good man, and meeting again after forty years, their friendship is rekindled, sparked by the traumatic incident when she was only nine years old, and fanned by their new-found respect for each other, and their fond memories of the people they were so long ago.
Together, Daphne and her family (especially her mother and sister) revisit what happened when the girls were children, and how and why life played out the way it did. Eddie discovers his commitment to Daphne is as strong now as it ever was when she was a child.
The story is told mostly in chronological order, from the first meeting in The Met, but is punctuated with scenes from 1980, the time of the incident, told in present tense so it feels very real and current. In this way, we are given glimpses of what happened then, and are able to construct this with what’s happening now in the lives of all the characters.
WHISTLER is moving, tender, joyful, poignant, rueful and optimistic, full of companionship, family, regret, forgiveness, courage, grit, fear and love. The blurb describes the story as ‘… an intimate portrait of the sweetness and impermanence of life …’ and it certainly is a colourful, unforgettable, profound encapsulation of memory, time and relationships. Highly recommend.