Whistler

The internationally bestselling author of The Dutch House and Tom Lake returns with a moving, life-affirming novel that reminds us of the power of connection to defy time.

A BARACK OBAMA SUMMER READING PICK 2026

A QUEEN'S READING ROOM BOOK CLUB PICK

'Generous-hearted, clever and poignantly revealing ... Spend a day on the couch in its warm, riveting company and you won't regret it' The Times

'A quietly compelling story about the power of familial love to transcend time and blood' Harper's Bazaar, Best Books of 2026

Of all people Daphne could imagine running into at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, low down on that list is Eddie, the beloved former stepfather she has not seen since she was a child.

But with this unexpected reunion the years seem to fall away, and a second chance to know one another appears – a chance to turn over the past and, just maybe, to face the future together.

From a master of storytelling, Whistler is a luminous novel about the endurance of love, the small moments that can define a life, and how the feeling of being known by another person – even so briefly – might change everything.

'Whistler is top-shelf comfort food, the literary equivalent of pricey ice-cream' Guardian, Book of the Day

'Few writers are more adept than Patchett at delineating the collisions between present and past' Observer