A New York Times Notable Book

“As resonant as a blues song. . . . Expect miracles when you read Ann Patchett’s fiction.”—New York Times Book Review

An ex-jazz drummer wants nothing more than to be a good father in this moving family novel by the New York Times best-selling author of The Dutch House.

When John Nickel’s lover takes away his son, Nickel is left only with his Beale Street bar in Memphis. He hires a young waitress named Fay Taft, who brings with her a desperate, dangerous brother, Carl, and the possibility of new intimacy. Nickel finds himself consumed with Fay and Carl’s dead father—Taft—obsessing over and reconstructing the life of a man he never met.

A stunning artistic achievement, Taft confirms Ann Patchett’s standing as one of the most gifted writers of her generation and reminds us of our deepest instincts to protect the people we love.