But Patchett won’t spell it out or show it all up front – it’s a slow process, and absolutely worth the wait. We learn about why Elna left and where she went, we start to understand Cyril’s inability to connect with his children and we begin to see why Maeve is infatuated with the Dutch House. Readers do get answers, but we’re made to wait for them. A marriage that dissolved, a mother who left, a sister who became a mother-figure and a father who remarried and rejected his children – it’s remarkable that all of their individual and collective struggles have room to grow and breathe in this relatively short novel.

Our fixation on the past and craving for a good backstory is essential to this book.įor me, the most enthralling dynamics are between the original four Conroys, living in the Dutch House: Danny, Maeve and their parents, Elna and Cyril. Patchett flashes back in time to shed light on formative memories that shape the rest of the novel, taking the reader’s mind seamlessly from decade to decade and back again. The relationships are so well developed – moments of betrayal, misunderstanding, love and forgiveness are subtly and slowly exposed throughout the pages of the novel, leaving just enough unsaid to keep readers wondering.

This is the ultimate character-driven novel, focusing almost solely on their inner thoughts and stilted encounters. For Danny and Maeve, the house holds more than just their memories – it holds unanswered questions and mysteries about their lives that may never be truly reconciled. My thoughtsĮveryone who enters the Dutch House forms a deep, almost mystical fascination with the place, including the reader. It’s a dark fairy-tale like narrative that had me hooked from the very start. The novel follows their life from those early childhood memories, through difficult adolescence into adulthood. Raised by their withdrawn, unapproachable father and cruel stepmother, Danny and Maeve are everything to each other. When they are very small, their mother leaves without a trace. They grow up together in The Dutch House, an elegant and elaborate mansion of a place which enchants them both for the rest of their lives. What’s it about?ĭanny and Maeve Conroy are brother and sister. Published in 2019 and short listed for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, Patchett’s latest novel has received a lot of well deserved attention. The Dutch House by Ann Patchett is a tender, earnest, sweeping family saga – my favourite kind of Ann Patchett novel.

Book review the dutch house