![]() ![]() ![]() When Danny and Maeve Conroy’s distant, icy father Cyril converts a miraculous investment into the real estate purchase of a lifetime – the famed Dutch House, an enormous and historic estate outside Philadelphia – the family is suddenly wealthy and privileged beyond all expectation. Originally built during the Great War for cigarette mogul VanHoebeek (hence the property’s eventual nickname), the Dutch House is a manor house so imposing it has a ballroom on its third floor. In Ann Patchett’s highly anticipated and deeply moving new novel, "The Dutch House" (HarperCollins, 352 pp., ★★★★ out of four stars), the allegiance between a modern-day brother and sister has been forged in a jarring ejection from their unusual childhood home, a central event the rest of their lives crystallize around. In fairy tales, brothers and sisters rely on one another for love and survival after the worst has happened. Whether they are cast out or lost or in peril, abandoned children in myth and folktales must turn toward each other for strength, when parents have gone missing or are no longer reliable. ![]()
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