Product Description <br/>Bestselling novelist Ann Patchett's second, ""strikingly original"" (Kirkus Reviews) novel tells the moving story of John Nickel, an ex-jazz musician who wanted nothing more than to be a good father. When his lover takes away his son, he's left only with his Beale Street bar. He hires a young waitress named Fay Taft, who brings with her a desperate, dangerous brother, Carl, and the possibility of new intimacy. Nickel finds himself consumed with Fay and Carl's dead father--Taft--obsessing over and reconstructing the life of a man he never met. <br/>A stunning artistic achievement, Taft confirms Ann Patchett's standing as one of the most gifted writers of her generation and reminds us of our deepest instincts to protect the people we love.<br/> Review <br/>"Patchett convincingly portrays a bar manager's conflicted feelings for a teenage waitress in this tale of fatherhood and unfulfilled dreams."-- " Publishers Weekly "<br/> About the Author <br/>Ann Patchett is the author of several novels and books of nonfiction. She has won many prizes, including Britain's Orange Prize, the PEN/Faulkner Prize, and the Book Sense Book of the Year. Her novels Bel Canto and The Patron Saint of Liars have been made into major motion pictures. Her work has been translated into more than thirty languages. She has written for many publications including the New York Times, Atlantic, the Washington Post, and Vogue.