This week’s guest is one of host Greta Johnsen’s favorite authors. Ann Patchett’s ninth novel is Tom Lake. It’s about a family that’s brought together to their northern Michigan cherry orchard during the quarantine days of the pandemic. They don’t have the staffing they usually have, because everything’s shut down, so the parents and three daughters spend their days picking cherries. As they pick, the mother tells a story. At first glance, it’s about the play Our Town, and acting, and making it in Hollywood. But on the other hand, it’s about magical summers and passion and art and finding beauty in unexpected places.

Greta talks to Ann about how she convinced Meryl Streep to narrate the audiobook, never fully knowing one’s parents, and the titles she’s most excited about this year.