Wow! Ann Patchett at Boswell on Wednesday, June 22 at Boswell, 7 pm.

When Harper publicist Jane and I were planning our event for Ann Patchett's wondrous new novel, State of Wonder, we had a heart to heart about what kind of success we wanted out of this event. Did we want to sell the most books or have the most people? "Well, both are important, but I really want Ann to reach as many people as possible" was Jane's verbatim-ish thoughts on the subject.

Patchett's new novel returns to the South America of Bel Canto, but on a very different note, musically speaking. Dr. Marina Singh works for a pharmaceutical firm doing experiments in the Amazon. Her colleague, who has travelled into the jungle to find out why there has been so little progress in the company's work, is dead. Singh is dispatched next, to find out what is going on with Annick Swenson's research anyway. Swenson's missives have been mighty odd, and being that she was Singh's one-time mentor, the situtation is odder still.  It's a modern update of Heart of Darkness, and booksellers around the country that I've spoken to agree that Patchett's newest is, to paraphrase Kirkus, a gripping thriller with spiritual depth. Yowza!

We're so thrilled to be hosting Ann Patchett, who is in the midst of opening an independent bookstore in Nashville, replacing the gaping hole where there once was a majestic Davis Kidd store. Sound familiar? Is this cool or what?  So let's celebrate and give her the biggest event we can. Of course I would love it if you bought a copy of State of Wonder from us, but honestly, I just want you and your friends and coworkers and neighbors and fellow book clubbers to show up. Bring your copy from elsewhere, and recommend to your friends that they come to hear a wonderful, inspiring speaker. More on her new venture here.

And that's not all. You probably know how much I love it when authors really get behind other folks' books. Remember when Patchett came to the Schwartz Readers Retreat in Kohler, on the condition that we feature Patrick Ryan's story collection Send Me? (Just as an aside, I just saw Ryan in New York, and heard all about his hilarious young adult novel about twins who fall in love with a boy who may be a vampire, Gemini Bites, which I can't wait to read.) Well, on this book tour, Patchett is talking up the newly reissued cult classic novel, Jeanette Haien's The All of It, of an Irish priest who hears a deathbed confession that changes his life. 

So back to our point about us wanting as many people as possible to see Ann Patchett on Wednesday, June 22, 7 pm. Our event is free. It's ok to bring your books from home. Heck, bring your e-reader. And don't forget, you can download State of Wonder from our website and read it on your Nook, Sony, iPad, or smart phone The price is $12.99, the same price as anywhere else you've been shopping.

There is so much going on at Boswell. Visit our web page for upcoming events, sign up for our regular email newsletter, like us on Facebook, or read our blogs, Boswell and Books and The Boswellians.

Thank you for your patronage,

Daniel Goldin, with Alex, Amie, Anne, Beverly, Carl, Conrad, Greg, Jason, Mark, Pam, Shane, Sharon, and Stacie.