Run: A Novel

By Ann Patchett

What can I say about this amazing book? Although I haven’t read Patchett’s best known book, Bel Canto, yet, I have been a huge fan of her debut novel, The Patron Saint of Liars, for a long time. Set in Boston, Run is the story of two seemingly unrelated families and how their lives intersect in many ways.
Tennessee and her 11 year old daughter Kenya Moser live in the Cathedral Housing Project. The much wealthier Doyle family (eldest son Sullivan, adopted sons Tip and Teddy, and family patriarch, widower and former mayor Bernard) live just a few blocks away on one of the nicest streets in Boston. One cold, wintery night, the Mosers and the Doyles attend a political lecture by Jesse Jackson. When they leave the auditorium and walk out into a terrible snowstorm, the two families collide as Tip unknowingly steps into the path of an oncoming SUV and Tennessee saves his life by pushing him out of its path. Tennesse is taken to the hospital for emergency surgery and the Doyles find themselves temporarily caring for feisty Kenya, who soon reveals that this was not exactly a random accident. For years, the Mosers have been watching Tip, Teddy and the rest of the family from afar because Tennessee is the boys’ birth mother.
This is just the beginning of this beautifully written, intriguing story. As Patchett weaves the unpredictable stories of these characters, the reader can’t help but fall in love with them and savor each page of this great novel. Highly recommended, one of the best books of the year.