Ann Patchett

Oh, Chicago.

Chicago.

And we were flying home and our flight was delayed.

And she said, tell me about the book that you're not writing yet.

And I was like, okay, why not?

It doesn't hurt anything, but I don't do it very often.

Right.

What were the challenges with the writing of Whistler?

There weren't any.

It was a total pleasure, this book.

And it had a lot to do with my friend Jim Fox, who the book is dedicated to.

Jim died on May 3rd, so two years ago.

And I wrote this book about a year after he had died.

But I just got this idea.

I want to write a book that's not about Jim and it's not about me.

The characters aren't based on me or on Jim or any of the circumstances of our relationship.

But I'm going to take all the love that Jim had for me and all the love I had for Jim, and I'm going to put it in this book.

And it really made it such a joyful thing to write because I felt so strongly that I was hanging out with my friend who I wanted to be hanging out with.

It was.

I mean, somebody said to me, well, you know, this was how you worked out your grief.