Run (English)

Anne Patchett follows up her bestselling BEL CANTO with a sprawling tale of a large, diverse Boston family. Bernard Doyle, a former mayor, and his wife Bernadette have one child of their own and also adopt two black children, Teddy and Tip. Bernadette dies when the children are young, and later another child enters the family: Kenya, the daughter of a woman who sacrificed herself to save Tip. With four children of different races and classes under one roof, the novel becomes a wonderful and subtly miraculous tale of family, identity, and compassion. As always, Patchett excels at capturing those rare moments of grace when people from very different worlds suddenly find the ability to see each other face to face. minimize