Bestselling author and Nashville native Ann Patchett has had a big year. She was awarded the National Humanities Medal from President Biden earlier this spring and is gearing up to release her latest novel, “Tom Lake.”
Patchett isn’t just an award-winning author; she’s also the owner of Parnassus Books. There, she’s mentored booksellers who double as emerging writers, like Lindsay Lynch. She’s a book-buyer at Parnassus and has just released her debut novel, “Do Tell.”
WPLN News sat down with Patchett and Lynch as they tour the South to introduce their books.
Cynthia Abrams: Ann, in many of your novels place plays an important role. “Tom Lake” is set in Michigan. You’ve crafted books set in the Amazon rainforest and in the suburbs of Philadelphia. I’m curious if you’ve ever considered writing fiction set here in Nashville.
Ann Patchett: No, I don’t think I could do it. I just know too much about Nashville, and I would spend too much time wondering if I got something wrong or if I was leaving something out. I like to set my books in places that I know a little bit about. I would never set a book in a place I had never been, but a little knowledge in this case is a perfect amount of knowledge.
CA: Now, Lindsay, your debut novel, “Do Tell”, was released earlier this month. It tells the story of a gossip columnist grappling with the misogyny and secrets at play in Hollywood’s Golden Age. What drew you to that time period?
Lindsay Lynch: It’s funny. I was supposed to be working on several other projects when I started writing this novel. I was in grad school, and I thought that I was going to be writing contemporary short stories. I found myself picking up this book called “City of Nets,” which is a year-by-year history of old Hollywood. And this book consumed my mind. For months, all I wanted to think about was old Hollywood. And then I realized I was inventing characters and that I was inventing a storyline. And I had never written historical fiction prior to this, and it was just a wonderful escape into the past. It just consumed my brain.
CA: Is there any advice that you received from Ann that has stuck with you?
LL: I think the piece of advice that sticks with me was I had one story that had a lot of punch lines. I was at that stage in my early twenties where most of my stories were just vehicles for telling jokes that weren’t very good. And Ann had written ‘you’re being clever, but you’re not being empathetic,’ or something to that effect.
AP: I don’t know that I taught you very much about writing, but I think I’ve really mentored you a lot more in terms of publishing and and standing up for yourself. And if you aren’t happy with something, that you get to go back. Like if you get a cover, and you don’t like it. You’re like, ‘Well, it’s not my dream.’ But I was like, ‘No, say no! Tell them no, go back, do it again.’ So I think that it probably didn’t shape your writing very much. Your writing was always great, but I shaped your career.
LL: Yeah, I think as debuts especially, you’re used to just fighting for scraps, like trying to get here. And Ann, basically, was like, ‘No, you deserve a meal.’
CA: Ann, how does it feel to see somebody from the Parnassus family sharing a book with the world? Is this something that you imagined would happen when you started Parnassus?
AP: No. And it’s so fantastic. The thing about Lindsay is that there were a lot of obstacles. This has been a long journey, and no matter what the world threw at her, she just very quietly got up, dusted herself off and went on. And that is the thing that makes a writer. It’s the ability to just stand up again and keep going.
Patchett’s latest novel, “Tom Lake,” will be out on sale on August 1st. Lynch’s debut novel, “Do Tell,” was released earlier this month.
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