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NASHVILLE, Tenn.<\/strong> \u2013 When she isn’t working on a novel, Ann Patchett<\/a> is often thinking of what she can do for others: maybe coming up with a blurb for Douglas Stuart<\/a>, or recording a video birthday message for fellow author-bookseller Emma Straub<\/a>, or beginning an interview with a plug for another admired peer.<\/p>\n \u201cThe new Liz Strout book is the best,\u201d she says of Elizabeth Strout’s \u201cThe Things We Never Say.\u201d \u201cYou know, every single book she publishes, you just think, \u2018Oh, well, she can\u2019t possibly do that again.\u2019 And then she comes out with another book and it\u2019s even better.\u201d<\/p>\n At 62, Patchett is the rare and fortunate writer whose words resonate among friends and strangers alike. She owns one of the country’s signature independent bookstores<\/a>, Parnassus Books, with customers ranging from Nashville’s book lovers to Tom Hanks<\/a>. She’s also a popular and prize-winning novelist whose new books are inevitably among the year’s most anticipated, and whose older ones, including the acclaimed \u201cBel Canto,\u201d continue to sell. In 2021, she received a National Humanities Medal for \u201cputting into words the beauty, pain, and complexity of human nature.\u201d<\/p>\n Her books have been translated into more than 20 languages, but her home is in Nashville, where she spent part of her childhood and now lives with her husband, physician Karl VanDevender. Patchett spoke at Parnassus with The Associated Press on a sunny weekday morning, shortly before opening time. She also met with staff members gathered at the center of the 4,800-square-foot store to discuss upcoming events, and indulged the occasional interruption by one of the employee-owned \u201cshop dogs\u201d who hurry about like bargain-seeking customers.<\/p>\n The new book is called \u2018Whistler\u2019<\/p>\n Patchett is here early to talk about \u201cWhistler,\u201d which comes out Tuesday. Like \u201cBel Canto,\u201d \u201cState of Wonder\u201d and other Patchett novels, it’s a story of improbable meetings and deepening bonds. In this case, 53-year-old Daphne Fuller and her husband encounter an elderly man, Eddie Triplett, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and realize he was briefly her stepfather when she was a girl. Daphne and Eddie form a close friendship as they recall their times together, including a serious car accident followed by the breakup of Eddie’s marriage to her mother.<\/p>\n Patchett doesn’t write with any message in mind, but \u201cWhistler\u201d can be read as an ode to decency and benevolence. The title refers to a story-fable about a horse that runs away, only to turn up at a time of crisis. In the aftermath of the crash, as Daphne wonders if it’s safe to leave and seek help, Eddie assures her, \u201cI swear to you, it’s mostly good people out there, with a few bad people around the edges.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe people that I interact with every single day are good people,\u201d Patchett says. \u201cIt is vanishingly rare when I meet someone who\u2019s not nice. Now, if you watch the news and read the news, it seems like everyone\u2019s terrible and murderous. But it\u2019s the difference between primary and secondary sources. So if I\u2019m just operating off primary sources, what I see is goodness. I completely understand that there is incredible horror and cruelty in the world, but I also feel like incredible horror and cruelty is very well represented (in art). And what I actually experience in my daily life is not as well represented in art.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t set out to write books about nice people,\u201d she adds, \u201cbut I like people.\u201d<\/p>\n Honored by PEN America<\/p>\n