This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett

Before she became a novelist, Ann Patchett was a freelance magazine writer, producing work for Seventeen, Vogue, Bridal Guide, and the New York Times Magazine, among many others. A selection of personal essays are collected here creating a patchwork memoir.

A collection of autobiographical essays for Ann Patchett fans.

Patchett has a warm nonfiction writing voice and an ambitious work ethic. She put in long miles before that first novel. But there’s prickle and steel in her voice too: the sort of voice that’s baking apple pies on one line and roasting opponents on the next.

Topics include marriage, divource, dogs, censorship, driving a motorhome, opening a bookshop, book tours, and taking the entrance test to the Los Angeles Police Academy.

My favourites were The Getaway Car and Nonfiction: the former an extended essay on fiction writing; the latter a look at the business of freelance journalism.

Art stands on the shoulders of craft, which means that to get to the art you must master the craft. (p.29)

Only a few of us are going to be willing to break our own hearts by trading in the living beauty of imagination for the stark disappointment of words. This is why we type a line or two and then hit the delete button or crumple up the page. (p.25)

Note that most of the essays collected here are not about the writing or bookselling life. This is an autobiographical collection, ideal for Ann Patchett fans.

WHAT TO READ NEXT

How Words Get Good by Rebecca Lee

The Writer’s Room by Katie da Cunha Lewin