American writer Ann Patchett's new novel is reminiscent of a Brothers Grimm fairy tale expanded to the scale of a family epic. The story of the main characters, Danny Conroy and his sister Maeve, spans the entire second half of the 20th century, and their destinies become fatefully intertwined with the Dutch House—a mansion in eastern Pennsylvania that once belonged to the ruined Van Hoebeik dynasty of Dutch magnates. The Dutch House itself isn't haunted, but everyone who crosses its threshold becomes, in a sense, the ghost of the house—wherever they go, wherever they live, they carry that image with them. For Danny and Maeve, that's all they have: a father who died prematurely, a mother who has long since become a memory, a stepmother who seems to have emerged from a nightmare, and the ominous family mansion. And then there's the adult life that never quite begins: the curse of childhood, the mark of orphanhood, the impossibility of breaking bonds once formed. 'The Dutch House' is a story about the triumph of love over evil. A victory that was based on losses and was in many ways not obvious, because ultimately the reader
will have to figure out for himself whose side he is on and whether there was a villain here.
And if there was, then who?
UDC 821.111(73)