Excerpt from The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

"She must have watched us," Maeve said, "before she ever came in that first time."

"Or maybe everybody watched us, everyone who ever drove down this street in winter." I reached into her purse and took out the cigarettes.

"That seems a little self-aggrandizing," Maeve said. "Everyone."

"They teach us that at Choate."

She laughed. I could tell she hadn't been expecting to laugh and it pleased me to no end.

"Five whole days with you at home," she said, blowing smoke out the open window. "The best five days of the year."

From the book: The Dutch House by Ann Patchett. Copyright © 2019 by Ann Patchett. Reprinted courtesy of Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.