REBROADCAST - Ann Patchett’s novel focuses on mothers, daughters and theater

Think Out Loud

Ann Patchett’s novel "Tom Lake," is set during the pandemic, but it is also set in the past. The main character, a mother of three adult daughters, tells her children the story of her own youthful romance with a man who is now a famous movie star. The story is told over long days picking cherries on their family farm, where everyone has gathered together for the lockdown. Though the central story revolves around the mercurial movie star, the real focus of the book is the relationship between mothers and daughters, the lives that parents led before they were parents, and what the stories of our past tell us about ourselves. We talked to Ann Patchett in August, 2023.