Taft - Softcover

Patchett, Ann

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1841150495 ISBN 13: 9781841150499

Publisher: Harpercollins Pub Ltd, 2003

Synopsis

Ann Patchett's second novel to be published in the UK, following the Orange Prize-shortlisted `The Magician's Assistant'. John Nickel is a black ex-jazz musician who only wants to be a good father. When his son is taken away to Miami by his mother, Nickel is left with nothing but Muddy's, the Memphis blues bar that he manages. Then he hires Fay Taft, a young white waitress from east Tennessee who has a volatile brother, Carl, in tow. They spell nothing but trouble for Nickel. Fay stirs up both romantic and paternal impulses in him and Carl is clearly a no-good. But Nickel finds himself consumed with the idea of Taft, Fay and Carl's dead father, and begins to reconstruct the life of a man he never met but whose place he has taken.

About this title

From the Publisher

"As resonant as a blues song . . . Expect miracles when you read Ann Patchett's fiction."
--The New York Times Book Review

"A MOVING EMBLEM OF FATHERHOOD'S RARELY EXPLORED PASSION."
--Los Angeles Times

"Patchett writes with remarkable conviction and attention to telling detail... [She] is excellent at portraying the steady love and interest that holds the family members together, even though that love and interest isn't always successful in preserving the members from danger."
--Jane Smiley

"Absorbing . . . Strikingly original."
-Kirkus Reviews

"Taft is a moving, dangerous book about love and despair and hope. Ann Patchett gives us fantastic yet believable characters that will stay alive long after the last page is turned. She is a wonderful, intelligent writer."
--James Welch

"In her picture of Nickel, Patchett combines a rare sensitivity to issues of race with the unswerving knowledge that deeper than skin color is the essential soul of a good man who wants to repair the damage he has done."
--The New Orleans Times-Picayune

"Compassionate and deeply moving."
--Booklist

From the Inside Flap

is a black ex-jazz musician who only wants to be a good father. But when his son is taken away from him, he's left with nothing but the Memphis bar he manages. Then he hires Fay, a young white waitress, who has a volatile brother named Carl in tow. Nickel finds himself consumed with the idea of Taft, Fay and Carl's dead father, and begins to reconstruct the life of a man he never met. But his sympathies for these lost souls soon take him down a twisting path into the lives of strangers. . . .

About this edition

• Publisher: Harpercollins Pub Ltd
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1841150495
• ISBN 13: 9781841150499
• Binding: Paperback