The Patron Saint of Liars (Thorndike Press Large Print Basic Series) - Hardcover

BACK PANEL/COVER

A New York Times Notable Book

 

“Beautifully written . . . Ann Patchett has produced a first novel that second- and third-time novelists would envy for its grace, insight, and compassion.”—Boston Herald

 

“[A] wonderful first novel. A-”—Entertainment Weekly

 

St. Elizabeth’s, a home for unwed mothers in Habit, Kentucky, usually harbors its residents for only a little while. Not so Rose Clinton, a beautiful, mysterious woman who comes to the home pregnant but not unwed, and stays. She plans to give up her child, thinking she cannot be the mother it needs. But when Cecilia is born, Rose makes a place for herself and her daughter amid St. Elizabeth’s extended family of nuns and an ever-changing collection of pregnant teenage girls. Rose’s past won’t be kept away, though, even by St. Elizabeth’s; she cannot remain untouched by what she has left behind, even as she cannot change who she has become in the leaving.

 

“The Patron Saint of Liars is a remarkable novel . . . Ann Patchett is unique: a generous, fearless, and startlingly wise young writer.”—New York Times Book Review

 

ANN PATCHETT is the author of six novels, including Bel Canto, winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize. She has written for the Atlantic, Gourmet, the New York Times Magazine, Vogue, the Washington Post, and others. The Patron Saint of Liars was her best-selling debut novel.

fully written...Ann Patchett has produced a first novel that second- and third-time novelists would envy for its grace, insight, and compassion."

BOSTON HERALD

St. Elizabeth's is a home for unwed mothers in the 1960s. Life there is not unpleasant and for most, it is temporary. Not so for Rose, a beautiful mysterious woman who comes to the lovely ex-hotel pregnant, but not unwed. She plans to give her baby up because she knows she cannot be the mother it needs. But St. Elizabeth's is near a healing spring, and when Rose's time draws near, she cannot go through with her plans, not all of them. And she cannot remain forever untouched by what she has left behind and who she has become in the leaving....
From the Paperback edition.