These Precious Days

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What to expect

Bloomsbury presents These Precious Days written and read by Ann Patchett.

A BARACK OBAMA TOP BOOK OF 2021

‘A heartfelt and witty collection of essays on everything from marriage and knitting to the inevitability of death’ Guardian

'A pitch-perfect collection ... She can turn a sentence like no one else: her writing is clear, honest, witty, and just full of unsentimental humanity' Nigella Lawson

‘Profound and clever and funny and wise’ Meg Mason, author of Sorrow & Bliss
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An irresistible collection of essays and memoir from the internationally bestselling, Women’s Prize-winning author of The Dutch House

'Any story that starts will also end.’ As a writer, Ann Patchett knows what the outcome of her fiction will be. Life, however, often takes turns we do not see coming. Patchett ponders this as she explores family, friendship, marriage, failure, success, and what it all means.

Ranging from the personal – her portrait of the three men she called her fathers; how a chance encounter with Tom Hanks led to one of the most important friendships of her life; how to answer when someone asks why you don’t have children – to the sublime – the unexpected influence of Snoopy; the importance of knitting; the pleasure to be found in children’s books – each essay transforms the particular into the universal, letting us all see our own worlds anew.

Illuminating, penetrating, funny and generous, These Precious Days is joyful time spent in the company of one of our greatest living authors.

'Patchett's essays are both sharp and humane ... like a hugely enjoyable conversation with a particularly brilliant friend' Sadie Jones

Critics Review

Ann Patchett is one of my favourite novelists ... A pitch-perfect collection ... She writes about family, writing, life, love, death and the peculiar experience of lockdown with such unshowy brilliance. She can turn a sentence like no one else: her writing is clear, honest, witty, and just full of unsentimental humanity.
NIGELLA LAWSON
Patchett's essays are both sharp and humane ... like a hugely enjoyable conversation with a particularly brilliant friend
SADIE JONES
I am counting down to the release of These Precious Days. I adore everything she writes but especially her essays, which are always profound and clever, and funny and wise
MEG MASON
All of life – friendship, love, loss, fertility, grief, gratitude, success and failure – is contained in These Precious Days
Harper's Bazaar
Patchett’s gift is to write from intensely personal territory but to make her insights - about the importance of being generous in our relationships, or the fine balance between optimism and grief - seem universally relevant. As you read these meditative but warm-hearted essays, you begin to understand what matters most - not just to Patchett, but to you
Financial Times
These Precious Days … is so full of heart that it practically throbs in your hands … The whole volume is a delight: a celebration of friendship and generosity and the flare of those unexpected coincidences which light a life
Spectator, Books of the Year
It’s radiant storytelling, both questing and vulnerable in its candour … It confronts, too, the extent to which literature and life diverge … Timely, timeless and as full-voiced as her smile is broad
Observer
Exquisite … Powerful but unassuming … in These Precious Days, her first nonfiction work in eight years, Patchett turns the lens back not just on herself but on the relationships she’s forged throughout her career as a writer too, in essays that vary in length but seamlessly balance Patchett’s piercing emotional and intellectual insights with a welcoming charm … It’s an unforgettable portrait of love, loss, and the wonders of friendship that will leave you both devastated and dazzled
Vogue, The Best Books to Read in 2021
To immerse oneself in her book is to see the world as she does, in all its wonder and beauty. Read it, cherish it, buy a copy for your best friend, then read it once more
i Paper
Patchett’s latest stands out from the crowd. Reflecting on fiction, family life and her recent career as a bookseller in Nashville, it’s illuminating and often surprising … A book to savour
Metro
Fantastic … The tales she shares are personal, the truths they reflect are universal
Good Housekeeping
Gave me such joy and comfort that I couldn’t shelve it when I had finished; I wanted to keep it there so I could re-read a page in empty moments
i paper, Christmas 2021: Best Books of the Year
A book for our times ... Following almost two years in which, for many of us, death has come too close for comfort, Patchett takes us by the hand and shows us what makes a life
Lunate.co.uk
Rich and vibrant
Red
Life-affirming
Vogue

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