Ann Patchett Reflects on Memory, Loss and Sibling Bonds in 'The Dutch House'

As Ann Patchett began plotting her newest novel “The Dutch House,” she told herself that she wanted “to write a book about the kind of stepmother I don’t want to be.” The resulting work follows a family fractured by a mother’s decision to abandon her young children and an emotionally distant stepmother who takes their beloved childhood home from them. We’ll talk with Patchett about how she scrapped the book’s original draft, and about the roles of family and childhood memory in her work.