Description
Book Synopsis''So compellingly personal you feel you're looking over her shoulder as she sits down to write'' New York Times''Electrically entertaining ... Funny, generous, spirited and kind'' The TimesThis Is the Story of a Happy Marriage is an irresistible blend of literature and memoir revealing the big experiences and little moments that shaped Ann Patchett as a daughter, wife, friend and writer. Here, Ann Patchett shares entertaining and moving stories about her tumultuous childhood, her painful early divorce, the excitement of selling her first book, driving a Winnebago from Montana to Yellowstone Park, her joyous discovery of opera, scaling a six-foot wall in order to join the Los Angeles Police Department, the gradual loss of her beloved grandmother, starting her own bookshop in Nashville, her love for her very special dog and, of course, her eventual happy marriage.
This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage is a memoir both wide ranging
Trade ReviewI hope it will not sound disrespectful if I say that I read this book for fun … But when I got to the end of the book, I realised I hadn’t taken a single note. I had been so engaged by Ann Patchett’s multifaceted story, so lured in by her confiding voice, that I forgot I was on the job … So compellingly personal you feel you’re looking over her shoulder as she sits down to write *
International New York Times *
The pieces collected in
This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage have exactly the tone of a good story told at a convivial dinner party, by someone who has told it often enough to have the timing down cold and who happily caters to her audience’s desire ... Patchett writes gracefully
-- Laura Miller *
Guardian *
She has an authoritative, straightforward voice in exploring some of the milestones of her life ... A memoir about her friendship with the deeply tortured writer Lucy Grealy, form the most telling and moving selections ... Many of these selections reveal a candid, evolved self-reflection *
Publishers Weekly *
Witty, warm reflections on life, love and art of fiction ... she speaks about the love and happiness of her second and enduring marriage with immense beauty and insight, and without an iota of smugness -- Arifa Akbar *
Independent *
Electrically entertaining ... Each of these essays feels fresh and bright and, just as importantly, they seem to fit together to achieve a fascinating whole ... Funny, generous, spirited and kind *
Julie Myerson, The Times *
Patchett’s style at its best -- Matilda Bathurst *
Spectator *
A brilliant mix of moving memoir and deeply personal essays ... consoling, inspiring, but, above all, true
-- Kathryn Hughes *
Mail on Sunday *
