Novelist Ann Patchett visits NWS—new novel set in Northern Michigan

From staff reports

Just about every big-name national newspaper has written rave reviews about Ann Patchett’s newest novel, Tom Lake. That means that northern Michigan is in the national spotlight again, as the book takes place on a cherry farm in Traverse City.

Patchett will visit Traverse City to present her new book at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 12 at the City Opera House (and livestreamed) in front of a live audience, hosted by the National Writers Series.

The guest host is Patchett’s good friend, Elk Rapids native Erin Anderson Whiting, who helped conduct research for the book. Anderson Whiting works as a senior charitable giving specialist for the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy.

“Ann Patchett is our first NWS author who has actually written a book with Traverse City at center stage,” NWS executive director Anne Stanton said. “Erin has a terrific story about how she first met Ann Patchett in Nashville and they bonded over their dogs.”

Here’s our Q&A with Patchett:

Glen Arbor Sun: How and where did the idea for Tom Lake come to you? 

Ann Patchett: Ideas evolve over a long period of time. I leave them on a back burner for years and they change and change. The very first idea was about a woman who, at the end of her life, realizes she was happiest in her high school production of “Our Town” in which she played Emily. She went off to try and find the other people in the play. Over time that turned into TOM LAKE. Every part of the story changed except the connection to “Our Town.” I’ve gone back to that play my entire life and it always teaches me something. The play was the constant for me.

Sun: Tom Lake is such a beautiful setting for the novel. Is it inspired by anywhere that you’ve visited?

Patchett: Yes! The beautiful setting in Traverse City was inspired by beautiful Traverse City. I started going there more than 20 years ago when I was sent to the neighboring town of Petoskey on book tour for Bel Canto. Over the years I’ve made close friends in the area. It’s one of my favorite places. When I started writing the book, my friend Erin Anderson Whiting took me to see a family fruit farm. I wanted to live there. Pretty much all the physical details of the Nelson farm are based on the Wunsch farm.

Sun: In your announcement, you revealed Tom Lake was written entirely on a treadmill desk! How did that come about and how did this process differ to writing your previous books?

Patchett: I got the treadmill desk for my 50th birthday (I’m 59 now). I wanted one because Susan Orlean had one. Susan Orlean is always 10 years ahead of the curve and I strive to emulate her. In the past I had used the treadmill to answer emails or return phone calls but I never used it to write fiction. Starting a novel is always the worst part for me and for whatever reason I decided to give the treadmill a try. It did wonders for my concentration. I felt like I was stepping into the novel every day, and when I finished work I stepped out of it. I think that walking occupies the restless part of my brain.

Aside from the concentration, the difference between writing a novel on a treadmill or in a chair is that in a chair, my hands, arms and neck wind up hurting. On the treadmill, the pain was in my hips and feet. Having pain from the waist down is preferable to having pain from the waist up. This is the kind of thing you think about when you get older.

Sun: Several of your books are reminders that goodness still exists in the world. How hard is it to write a literature of hope, especially at a time when news headlines are dire and bleak?

Patchett: There is so much goodness. When I turn away from the headlines and talk to my neighbors, talk to the people who come to the bookstore and work in the bookstore, talk to my family and friends, pretty much all I see is kindness. There are plenty of brilliant books that represent the current state of hopelessness and despair. I write books about the sort of people I actually know. There’s nothing wrong with that.