Claire Nicholls

Hello, it's Claire Nicholls here, and I must confess, if there is a book by Anne Patchett, chances are very high that I am going to love it.

This is the book show where, yes, the American author Anne Patchett is here.

Anne is best known for her novels Commonwealth, Tom Lake and Belcanto.

That one won the Women's Prize in 2002.

And Anne writes about families and relationships.

There is a goodness to her characters, even the most difficult ones, which I find really appealing as a reader.

Now, when Anne's new book arrived at the ABC a few weeks ago, this one's called Whistler, I must admit I was a little worried.

There is a horse on the cover and I wasn't sure if this was going to be one for me.

But as Anne will tell you, Whistler is not a book about a horse.

Anne Patchett, welcome back to the book show.

It's a beautiful painting as well.

which was also a beautiful cover.

I'm having another look now to figure out how he did that.

Yeah, he's got the eyes right on the edge there so we can just see them.

Exactly.

But Whistler is about a New York woman.

Her name's Daphne and her one-time stepdad, Eddie.

And it opens in the Metropolitan Museum of Art where Daphne seems to be getting followed through the rooms of the gallery.

What exactly is happening in this opening scene?

So Daphne's mom had married three times while Daphne was a kid.