The Dutch House: A Novel

"Over the holidays, it’s a special pleasure to read about families with different dysfunctions than the people serving the mashed potatoes at your own table. For this season, I submit that Ann Patchett’s novel, The Dutch House, will happily fulfill your requirements. The book contains all of the best elements of the family drama – a house too gorgeous not to be haunted, resourceful orphans, a wicked stepmother. Told by one of the orphaned siblings expelled from their childhood home, it’s a book with many of the elements of a fairy tale, but with real suspense and characters that live on the page. Patchett executes the story with so much surety that you hardly notice that her writing is virtually flawless."