the dutch house book review questions

THE DUTCH HOUSE Book Club Questions: Your Meeting Guide

Emily Martin

Emily has a PhD in English from the University of Southern Mississippi, MS, and she has an MFA in Creative Writing from GCSU in Milledgeville, GA, home of Flannery O’Connor. She spends her free time reading, watching horror movies and musicals, cuddling cats, Instagramming pictures of cats, and blogging/podcasting about books with the ladies over at #BookSquadGoals (www.booksquadgoals.com). She can be reached at [email protected].

View All posts by Emily Martin

Have you chosen Ann Patchett’s 2019 novel The Dutch House  for your book club? Here are ten The Dutch House  book club questions and a reading guide to get the conversation going.

Ann Patchett’s  The Dutch House   is the book everyone is talking about right now. And I know this because when I visited my family for the holidays, more than one family member came up to me and asked if I’d read it yet. Word evidently spread over the end of the year, because when I went back to work, everyone was talking about this book there as well.

So what did I do? I decided to give into the hype and purchase the audiobook version of this novel. Several people told me this was a great audiobook (have I mentioned everyone is talking about this book?). Even better, America’s dad Tom Hanks narrates it. I sat back to listen to the novel and ended up finishing it over the course of two days. Now, I have thoughts. I have questions. And I’m here to share them with you in the hopes your book club will find them helpful!

The Dutch House : A Reading Guide

HarperCollins published Ann Patchett’s eighth novel, The Dutch House, on September 24, 2019. The novel tells the story of Danny and Maeve Conroy over the course of five decades. The siblings are raised together in the Dutch House by their father and their stepmother Andrea. But when Danny and Maeve’s father dies, Andrea forces the two out of the house. Left with no one else to care for them, Danny and Maeve spend the rest of their lives looking after one another in various ways. Danny Conroy narrates the novel as an adult looking back on his life, his sister, and The Dutch House.

Setting is very important in this novel, which takes place in Elkins Park, Philadelphia. In an interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer ,  Patchett explains that she set the novel here because she wanted a place that was close in proximity to New York, and she spent some time in Elkins Park when she was a student at Sarah Lawrence College.

In the same interview, Patchett discusses the themes that she writes about in all of her novels, including  The Dutch House:  “I write a lot about wealth and poverty. I write a lot about class. And I write a lot about race, although not in this book. I think that for every writer, there are just certain things that obsess you, and you keep coming back.”

How did these themes play out in the novel? And what other things obsessed you as you read the story of Maeve, Danny, and the house from which they were banished? Let’s talk through it.

Obviously, some spoilers to follow.

10  The Dutch House  Book Club Questions

The dutch house  book club questions: further reading.

What to do now that you’ve finished reading  The Dutch House?  Aside from the previously mentioned interview with  The Philadelphia Inquirer,  Ann Patchett has given a lot of great interviews about this book that could help enrich your book club discussion. Some of my favorites: this interview with  Time,  and this one with  The Guardian. 

Looking for what book to read after this? Ann Patchett herself gave some great recommendations based on Book Riot’s very own Read Harder Challenge . I know, cool, right?

Or maybe you want more stuff to talk about at your The Dutch House  book club meeting? Here you go: a list of book club discussion questions for when you’re running out of things to say .

Have fun discussing this amazing book, Book Clubbers!

You Might Also Like

The Book Report Network

• Bookreporter
• ReadingGroupGuides
• AuthorsOnTheWeb

Sign up for our newsletters!

Find a Guide

For book groups, what's your book group reading this month, favorite monthly lists & picks, most requested guides of 2023, when no discussion guide available, starting a reading group, running a book group, choosing what to read, tips for book clubs, books about reading groups, coming soon, new in paperback, write to us, frequently asked questions.

• Request a Guide

Advertise with Us

Add your guide, you are here:, the dutch house, reading group guide.

• Discussion Questions

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

• Publication Date: January 5, 2021
• Genres: Fiction
• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• ISBN-10: 0062963686
• ISBN-13: 9780062963680
• About the Book
• Reading Guide (PDF)

• How to Add a Guide
• Privacy Policy
• Cookie Policy
• Newsletters

Copyright © 2024 The Book Report, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

9 Detailed The Dutch House Book Club Questions For Discussion

Once in a while, a story comes along that captivates us with its complexity and depth, leaving us emotionally invested in the characters and their journey. 

“The Dutch House” by Ann Patchett is one such story, a dark fairy tale of two siblings struggling to come to terms with their past and find their place in a world of privilege and power. 

Set over five decades, this gripping novel follows the lives of Danny and Maeve, two wealthy siblings whose unbreakable bond is their only solace as they confront the ghosts of their past. 

In this discussion guide, we’ll have a look at some book club questions for The Dutch House and why it’s a must-read for anyone looking to understand that siblinghood and forgiveness are something that sounds easy to implement but difficult to execute. 

Book Club Questions for The Dutch House

• The Dutch House serves as a physical representation of the Conroy family’s wealth and status, as well as a symbol of their dysfunction and trauma. The house’s lavishness contrasts with the austere childhoods of Cyril and Elna, which they both try to leave behind in different ways. Do you agree with this metaphorical representation of the book title? 
• Danny and Maeve are forced to leave the house by their stepmother – a woman whom Cyril really loved. This is in sharp contrast to any kind of motherly behavior, one would assume. The act left a bit of trauma in the lives of the siblings and served as a focal point for their family’s history and conflicts. What is your take on such cruel deeds and the repercussions that followed in the later part of the novel? 
• Danny and Maeve’s relationship is at the heart of the novel, and their devotion toward each other is a powerful force that sustains them through tough times. The novel also examines the idea of inheritance, both in terms of material wealth and emotional legacies, and how these legacies can shape the course of a family’s history. Discuss. 
• Elna’s absence from the family is a key factor in the Conroy family’s dysfunction and trauma. Elna’s decision to leave the family and do charity work in India is a rejection of the materialism and superficiality of their lifestyle, and it leaves a lasting impact on Danny and Maeve. She becomes a kind of mythic figure in the novel, with Danny and Maeve both idealizing and demonizing her in different ways. How vital a role do you think this eccentric character plays in the novel? 
• The novel’s three-part structure allows the reader to see how the characters and their relationships evolve over time. Each part covers a different period of the Conroys’ lives, and the changes in their circumstances and relationships are reflected in the narrative structure. The structure also allows the reader to gain a deeper understanding of the characters’ motivations and desires, as they are revealed over the course of the novel. Additionally, this creates a sense of nostalgia and reflection as the characters look back on their past and come to terms with their present. Which part was your favorite and why? 
• Maeve is a strong, independent, and intelligent woman who takes on the role of caretaker for her younger brother Danny after they are expelled from the Dutch House by their stepmother Andrea. Throughout the novel, Maeve is motivated by a deep love for her family and a desire to protect Danny from the pain and trauma of their past. She is also driven by a need for justice and revenge against Andrea, who she believes has wronged her family. What other traits of Maeve did you like as you read through the novel? 
• The novel suggests that money can bring comfort and security, but it does not necessarily bring happiness. The Conroys are a wealthy family, but they are haunted by their past, and their relationships with each other are often strained. The Dutch House, while beautiful and grand, is also a source of pain and anxiety for the family. Discuss. 
• Patchett’s writing style is often described as elegant and understated, with a focus on character development and emotional depth. Her prose is precise and measured, with a keen eye for detail and nuance. The use of first-person narration from Danny’s perspective allows the reader to get inside his head and understand his motivations and feelings while also allowing for a sense of distance and objectivity. What is your take on her writing style and what could she have improved in the novel to make it perfect – if you think it was not perfect?
• Maeve struggles to forgive Andrea for Cyril’s death and for banning her and Danny from The Dutch House. Meanwhile, Danny resents Elna for abandoning the family at the moment when they needed her most. At the same time, Danny eventually forgives Elna and allows her to be a part of his life. Do you think this theme of forgiveness has been dealt with well in the novel? 

If you liked this set of book club questions, here are some other options for you to explore.

The Magnolia Palace: In a stunning Gilded Age mansion, secrets, betrayal, and murder intertwine the lives of two women. From the Spanish flu outbreak to a modern-day hunt, their fates collide in a web of intrigue and danger. Can they unravel the truth before it’s too late?

The Magnolia Palace Book Club Questions

The Dictionary of Lost Words: Pip Williams tells the captivating tale of Esme, a girl who discovers the missing word ‘bondmaid’ from the Oxford English Dictionary. In a world where women’s voices are overlooked, she embarks on a secret quest to create her own dictionary, uncovering the power of language along the way.

The Dictionary of Lost Words Book Club Questions

Atlas of the Heart: This masterpiece by Brene Brown is a captivating journey through human emotions, offering actionable tools and a language to foster meaningful connections. It’s an empowering atlas that guides us to understand, choose, and fearlessly navigate the depths of our own hearts.

Atlas of the Heart Book Club Questions

We Begin At The End: In a coastal California town, a devoted chief of police and a rebellious thirteen-year-old girl navigate a web of family, betrayal, and survival as they confront the past and strive to keep their unconventional family intact. Chris Whitaker’s moving tale celebrates the triumph of love and the resilience that humanity can uphold.

We Begin At The End Book Club Questions

The Housemaid: In a quest for a fresh start, a woman joins the enigmatic Winchester family. As she uncovers their dangerous secrets, she realizes her own hidden capabilities. A twist-filled thriller , perfect for fans of psychological suspense , that will keep you riveted till the last page. 

The Housemaid Book Club Questions

Sharing is Caring!

A team of Editors at Books That Slay.

Passionate | Curious | Permanent Bibliophiles

Similar Posts

10 The Perfect Marriage Book Club Questions For Discussion

10 The Paris Library Book Club Questions for Discussion

12 Detailed Daisy Jones & The Six Book Club Questions

10 Tomorrow and Tomorrow And Tomorrow Book Club Questions

14 The Man Who Died Twice Book Club Questions

8 Raft of Stars Book Club Questions for Discussion

Jenna Bush Hager says her April 2024 book club pick is 'equal parts humor and love story'

• TODAY Plaza
• Share this —

• Watch Full Episodes
• Read With Jenna
• Inspirational
• Relationships
• TODAY Table
• Newsletters
• Start TODAY
• Shop TODAY Awards
• Citi Music Series
• Listen All Day

Follow today

More Brands

• On The Show

25 questions to think over as you finish #ReadWithJenna's October pick

This month, #ReadWithJenna book club participants have been falling in love with Ann Patchett's "The Dutch House," a modern fairy tale that's perfect for Halloween season .

Spanning 50 years, the novel follows the close relationship between siblings Danny and Maeve as they navigate a series of tragedies that affect them long after they move out of the titular home. Patchett's writing is lush and lyrical, brilliantly tackling themes like forgiveness, pain, love and the overarching question of who we are versus who we want to be.

Throughout the month, we've been posting some questions about the book on the Read with Jenna Instagram page and we've loved following along with the conversations that have started! If you want to take an even deeper dive into "The Dutch House," the publisher behind the book shared some questions to think about once you've finished reading.

"The Dutch House" by Ann Patchett

The Dutch House: A Novel

• What are the many and varied details of the Dutch house — rooms, stairways, architectural specifics, furniture, windows and doors, etc.? What mood or personality does each space or element possess? What is the complex, overall effect? What might Danny mean when he says, “the house was the story” or that it was “impossible?”
• What is the nature of the relationship between Maeve and Danny? What explains the longevity and power of their support and love for one another?
• What is Cyril Conroy like? How might specific behaviors, routines and decisions of his have influenced Maeve and Danny? Why was he “always more comfortable with his tenants than he was the people in his office or … in his house?” What was it about buildings that he loved so much?
• What are Fluffy’s various, evolving roles in "The Dutch House?" What is her overall influence on Maeve and Danny?
• What explains why Elna Conroy abandoned her children? In what ways might such a profound decision be justified or not? Why, as Maeve argues, are men who leave their families often judged less harshly?
• What were the various effects of Elna Conroy leaving her husband and children? Was it preferable, as Maeve argues, to have spent some years with her and then lost her or, as Danny experienced, to never have known her? What are the particular emotional challenges of each experience?
• What might be the significance of Maeve receiving a box of matches and instructions for how to light a fire from her mother on her eighth birthday?
• When discussing Maeve’s diabetes, Danny suggests that “the body had all sorts of means to deal with what it couldn’t understand.” What does this mean? What is the relationship between physical health and emotional stress or trauma?
• In what ways are Sandy and Jocelyn important to the various Conroys?
• What are Maeve’s particular strengths and abilities? What are her priorities in life? What might explain her decision to stay at her unchallenging job or not pursue a committed romantic relationship or family of her own?
• What forces — familial, social, cultural — might explain why the two males, Cyril and Danny, are in various ways “excused … from all responsibility” about the lives and struggles of the girls and women in the house?
• What is the source of Andrea’s power? Why is she so bent on using it against the others —especially the women — in the house? What does she covet and care about?
• What is significant about each of the portraits in the Dutch house?
• Why do Maeve and Danny sit secretly in a car outside of the Dutch house many times throughout the years after they are exiled from it?
• Consider the various literary allusions throughout the novel. What is suggested, for example, by Celeste reading Adrienne Rich’s "Necessities of Life" when Danny first meets her on a train or by Marilynne Robinson’s novel "Housekeeping?"
• What were the “original disappointments” that Celeste felt about Danny? Why did her relationship with Maeve begin so well and become so acrimonious?
• Despite completing medical school, why is Danny drawn so powerfully to the construction, buying and selling of buildings? What does he mean when he says he is “at home on a building site?”
• What does it mean that Maeve and Danny “had made a fetish out of [their] misfortune, fallen in love with it?" What explains such powerful attachment to painful experiences and relationships? Why might Danny not want “to be dislodged from [his] suffering?”
• Danny eventually realizes that “after years of living in response to the past, (he and Maeve) had somehow become miraculously unstuck.” What does this mean? How did it happen? What explains the “insatiable appetite for the past” that Maeve and Fluffy shared? How does one determine when connections to the past are healthy or restrictive?
• Later in life, sitting outside the Dutch house, Danny realizes that “the feeling of home” he was experiencing was due not to the house but “wholly and gratefully” to his sister Maeve. What defines and determines a feeling of home? What role does a house play or not?
• What explains the very different responses Maeve and Danny have to their mother’s return?
• What might it mean that, when confronted with an aged and enraged Andrea, Danny thinks he “had not been born with an imagination large enough to encompass this moment?” What’s the role of imagination in times of trauma or emotional difficulty? What is its relationship to compassion and empathy? When does imagination become unhealthy illusion?
• After reuniting, Elna tells Maeve and Danny that when she left she “knew (they) were going to be fine.” In what ways did they end up fine or not?
• Finally, Danny realizes that “the rage (he) carried for (his) mother exhaled and died. There was no place for it anymore.” What does this mean? What are other ways to process such anger and emotional pain?
• What changes and transformations are suggested by May’s buying of the Dutch House? What might it imply that Danny walks with her through the darkness to enter it?

View this post on Instagram A post shared by ReadwithJenna (@readwithjenna) on Oct 24, 2019 at 8:54am PDT

For past #ReadWithJenna book club picks, you can check out our Read With Jenna page .

To stay involved all month long, be sure to follow us on Instagram (don't forget to tag your photos with the hashtag, #ReadWithJenna), join our Read With Jenna Facebook group and follow along on Goodreads to continue the conversation about "The Dutch House."

Kerry Breen is a reporter and associate editor for  TODAY.com , where she reports on health news, pop culture and more. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from New York University. 

• Reading Lists
• For the Love of Reading
• Scribd Originals
• Author Conversations
• Expert Tips

8 book club questions for ‘The Dutch House’ by Ann Patchett

In For the Love of Reading by Sarah Sung January 8, 2024

The Dutch House was released in September 2019 and remains at the top of many to-be-read lists as well as coveted book club reads . The novel spans five decades and traces the turbulent lives of a brother and sister who grew up in a mansion in Pennsylvania — and the baggage that came with their upbringing.

Everything you need for a lively book club meeting — starting with book club questions to prompt a thoughtful discussion — are included below.

Table of contents

• Plot synopsis
• Book club questions
• Book quotes
• What to read next

The Dutch House summary

Patchett’s novel will resonate with readers moved by the deep, loving bond between Shakespeare’s twins, Hamnet and Judith, in Hamnet .

The Dutch House is a story of emotional endurance and the beautiful relationship between a brother and sister as they navigate the journey to, and through, adulthood.

As the two siblings navigate the disintegration of their family and the loss of their beloved childhood home, the novel feels like both a modern fairy tale — there’s even a wicked stepmother — and a Victorian work of familial greed and the cruelty of circumstance. 

Layered with Patchett’s signature wit and incisive descriptions, this novel was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and the audiobook is narrated by Tom Hanks .

The Dutch House book club questions

• There is a fairy tale aspect to this story — think: Cinderella meets Hansel and Gretel. What are the elements of the story that stand out to you to back up this comparison?
• The house plays such a central role in the story and represents Cyril’s (the father’s) love of buildings. Would you consider the mansion as a character in the story?
• Elna (the mother) is unhappy in the house and abandons the family to help the poor in India. Do you agree, as Maeve argues, that fathers who abandon their families to help others get away with it, whereas mothers are vilified no matter what?
• Cyril puts Andrea (the stepmother that treats the siblings horribly) in charge of his estate, and doesn’t carve out anything for Danny and Maeve upon his death. Do you think, given the time, that he acted accordingly? Or was he wrong to not ensure his children’s future?
• Would you do the same as Maeve, who used Danny’s education loophole in their trust to get back at Andrea? Why or why not?
• Do you think it was awkward for Danny and Maeve to be so obsessed with the house that they frequently sat in a car outside the house? Why do you think they continued to visit it and foster their attachment to it instead of moving on?
• How does the sense of “home” change throughout the novel? Does a physical house play a role?
• When Danny’s daughter May ultimately buys the house in the end, does that strip it of its powers, or did that happen even before the transaction?

Memorable quotes

• “We had made a fetish out of our misfortune, fallen in love with it.”
• “But we overlay the present onto the past. We look back through the lens of what we know now, so we’re not seeing it as the people we were, we’re seeing it as the people we are, and that means the past has been radically altered.”
• “Do you think it’s possible to ever see the past as it actually was?”
• “Disappointment comes from expectation.”
• “There would never have been an end to all the things I wished I’d asked my father.”

What to read for your next book club

If you liked The Dutch House , then these related titles might be a hit for your next book club pick .

1. Commonwealth by Ann Patchett

The theme of sibling bonds — in addition to messy family relationships and struggles — runs through both novels by Patchett. Each also considers the deep, intricate love that makes the sibling bond so special.

Also available as an ebook

2. Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, this novel covers the complex and often fraught relationship between a mother and daughter. Tara, the mother abandoned her baby daughter only to reappear with early onset Alzheimer’s and little recollection of the past. Memory here, like in The Dutch House , runs throughout the novel.

3. The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney

Yet another novel about a dysfunctional family, The Nest is a worthy novel to read after The Dutch House . It follows four siblings who are about to receive a mid-life trust fund, but it’s put into jeopardy by one of the more irresponsible siblings.

Also available as an audiobook

Trivia questions for The Dutch House

Here’s a warmup round to get things started at book club, or test people’s memory at the end of an engaging discussion.

• What famous actor narrated the audiobook version of The Dutch House ?
• What was the original title of the book going to be?
• In what city is author Ann Patchett’s bookstore located?
• What year did Patchett’s dog, Sparky, get married?

If you’re a big Ann Patchett fan, check out this ranking of her best books .

About the Author: Sarah Sung

Sarah is the Editorial Director at Scribd who obsesses over content strategy and brand building, and has written lifestyle content for AFAR, San Francisco Chronicle, and Under Armour. In her spare time she teaches indoor cycling and consumes podcasts, audiobooks, and ebooks at all times of the day and night. Traveling and dining out are always high on her to-do list

trending now

5 rules for gifting books this holiday season

9 book club questions for ‘Anxious People’ by Fredrik Backman

5 ways AI will change your reading life

The Dutch House Book Club Questions

Ann Patchett’s The Dutch House is quite a read. The novel has received a lot of accolades. It was a Pulitzer Award Finalist, Women’s Prize for Fiction finalist and it’s been featured on Jenna Bush’s Book Club list .

The Dutch House features a looming, ornate house that anchors a complicated multi-generational family story. The book’s themes feature abandonment, betrayal, damaging silences, revenge and a lot of sibling loyalty. And each character has their own relationship with the Dutch House, which adds a lot of layer to the narrative. This book is a great pick for a group read and we are here to help you unpack it with our The Dutch House book club questions and discussion guide.

Our usual format is to offer you the official publisher synopsis, 10 The Dutch House book club questions and some selected (and thought provoking) reviews. Start with the synopsis. Does it accurately reflect your experience with the book? Then move onto the questions and the reviews.

And if you loved the book, we also offer three more books like The Dutch House to help fill up your TBR list.

The Dutch House Synopsis

The Dutch House , Ann Patchett

At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves.

The story is told by Cyril’s son Danny, as he and his older sister, the brilliantly acerbic and self-assured Maeve, are exiled from the house where they grew up by their stepmother. The two wealthy siblings are thrown back into the poverty their parents had escaped from and find that all they have to count on is one another. It is this unshakeable bond between them that both saves their lives and thwarts their futures.

Set over the course of five decades,  The Dutch House  is a dark fairy tale about two smart people who cannot overcome their past. Despite every outward sign of success, Danny and Maeve are only truly comfortable when they’re together. Throughout their lives they return to the well-worn story of what they’ve lost with humor and rage. But when at last they’re forced to confront the people who left them behind, the relationship between an indulged brother and his ever-protective sister is finally tested.

• Why use a house for the main narrative metaphor? Did that work? Was the Dutch House a character in and of itself?
• “We always knew that my father didn’t like children” And yet Cyril embarked upon a second marriage with a woman who came with two of them. What was his motivation for marrying Andrea?
• How is it that Maeve and Danny seemed so out of the loop regarding their father’s courtship with Andrea? Is it simply that they were clueless kids? Or was their father deliberately keeping them out of the loop? Would things have gone better if Cyril had made more of an effort to build a relationship between Andrea and the kids?
• Danny says, “There would never been an end to all the things I wished I’d asked my father. After so many years I thought less about his unwillingness to disclose and more about how stupid I’d been not to try harder.” There is a lot that goes unspoken in the Conroy family– between Danny and his father, between Danny and Maeve, between Andrea and everyone and certainly between Elna and her kids. Why the distance? Are there a lot of unspoken spaces in your family?
• Late in the book, Maeve argues that men leave their families all the time and are hardly judged for it. And yet, Elna is judged harshly for her abandonment. Did you judge her? Were you satisfied with her explanations for why she left?
• Speaking of judgements. Did you judge Cyril for not taking more care in his estate planning? He knew that Andrea and the kids didn’t get along and yet, he put her in charge of everything. Is this simply the way things were done in the 70’s? Who did you judge more– Cyril more for his lack of planning or Andrea for cutting out Danny and Maeve?
• “The fact that I had never wanted to be a doctor was nothing more than a footnote to a story that interested no one.” Medical school wasn’t the only way to spend heavily on education. Danny easily could have bilked the trust by getting an MBA and a law degree at Harvard. Why then, did Patchett chose medical school? And how did Danny’s profound disinterest in medicine affect the story?
• “And so I made the decision to change. It might seem like change was impossible, given my nature and my age, but I understood exactly what there was to lose. It was chemistry all over again. The point wasn’t whether or not I liked it. The point was it had to be done.” Danny says this after finally deciding to accept his mother’s return. What explains the very different reactions that Maeve and Danny have to her re-insertion into their lives?
• “We had made a fetish out of our misfortune, fallen in love with it.” Maeve and Danny spent so many nights talking, smoking and lurking in front of the Dutch House. Were they too obsessed? Or did the time they spent together help them stay bonded as siblings?
• Elna had felt suffocated by the Dutch House, and yet in the end, she moves back in to care for Andrea and reprises Fluffy’s former role as the caretaker. Why was she able to finally tolerate the house after so many decades of being away from it?

Selected Reviews for The Dutch House

“Just punch me right in the heart next time, Patchett. It’d be faster.”

“In terms of scope, tone, setting, and depth, this book seems like a throwback to masterpieces written in the 1700s and 1800s; there is a classic and epic feel to it. Having a grand mansion as the setting helps. As in classics, Patchett does give lots of details of things that by themselves aren’t interesting, but she ends up painting a vivid picture that sets a perfect stage for the action going down, and you feel like you’re right there.”

“A little like a fairy tale flipped upside-down, this story includes an imposing, castle-like house, which seems to affect each character differently, as though abiding inside these walls seems to create an entirely different relationship between the house and each character.”

“This was an absorbing read even though the narrator was infuriating, self-absorbed, oblivious, selfish, and annoying…There is an epic feel to this novel but it is also an intimate portrait of siblings who have found home in each other when they are failed by the adults who were supposed to nurture them.”

“The writing is still compelling enough that it helped carry the story through to the end, so I was never bored. But the last two thirds shambled along without momentum or purpose, and was utterly forgettable. It feels like I read a short story that reached its conclusion and then continued on for 200 more meandering pages.”

NEED BOOK CLUB IDEAS?

Use our guide to find dozens of book ideas for your group.

3 Books like The Dutch House

If you like the pics for Jenna’s Book club, then be sure to check out our reading guide for The Lincoln Highway , Black Cake , The Measure , Remarkably Bright Creatures and Malibu Rising . Or if you group like pulitzer award winners, then you could also get our guide for The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich or All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.

We also recommend taking a look at Patchett’s newer book Tom Lake. You can get more info (+ a synopsis) on our Tom Lake discussion guide .

by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney

When doped-up Leo Plumb crashes his car and severely injures a women, he needs some fast cash to get him out of the pickle. And the money is there– but it’s always been intended as a bequest for all four of the Plumb siblings, who each have their own issues. The Nest  explores what money does to relationships, what happens to our ambitions over the course of our lives, and the fraught but unbreakable ties we have with our families.

The Nest cues on the same Dutch House themes as the corruptibility of money and sibling loyalty (and disloyalty). Also, a lot of the action takes place in NYC.

The Wangs Vs the World

by Jade Chang

This first generation Chinese immigrant family had it all…until they didn’t. Charles the dad is reluctant to tell his kids how bad it really is. And yet, he spirits the family away on a countrywide road trip in an effort to make a fresh start. His wife wants their old life back, his son wants to be a comedian, his younger daughter is obsessed with fashion and their oldest daughter is hiding out from all of them.

The book has more overt humor than The Dutch House , but it picks up the themes of fraught family relationships, stepmoms, and resiliency.

Mexican Gothic

by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

If you like the idea of a large old house as a major character in a book, then take a look at Mexican Gothic . When Noemí Taboada gets a frantic SOS letter from her cousin, she heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside to see what’s up. This truly gothic read is fraught with dark family secrets, fading family wealth and a brooding (and perhaps dangerous) house.

It’s more atmospheric than The Dutch House and it may give you the shivers.

Have a listen on Audible. Try audio books for free for 30 days.

Share our The Dutch House discussion guide on Pinterest:

Share on Social Media

Meet our Writers :

• print archive
• digital archive
• book review

[types field='book-title'][/types]  [types field='book-author'][/types]

Harper, 2019

Contributor Bio

Jackie thomas-kennedy, more online by jackie thomas-kennedy.

• Some of Them Will Carry Me
• Homesickness
• We Want What We Want
• The Souvenir Museum

The Dutch House

By ann patchett, reviewed by jackie thomas-kennedy.

In her eighth novel, Patchett revisits the concerns of previous works, including Commonwealth (the shifting plates of family life after divorce; the bonds among siblings; the process of forgiveness) and Run (the absent mother, the creation of family). The “Dutch house” in a wealthy suburb of Philadelphia is the site of Cyril Conroy’s failed first marriage to Elna, a woman who flees the ornate excesses of the home. It is also the site of Cyril’s second, catastrophic marriage to Andrea, a cruel stepmother who disinherits his children after his death. It is, most crucially, the site of narrator Danny Conroy’s cherished conversations with Maeve, his elder sister. Following Elna’s willful departure, Cyril’s sudden heart attack, and Andrea’s dismissal, the now-grown siblings establish a habit of parking on their old street with a view of their former home to hash out the past and consider their future. In these sessions, which they conduct for most of their lives together, Danny’s love for his sister—her beauty, her ferocious intelligence, her caretaking of her brother, her general kindness and decency—grows and calcifies until it is greater than any love in his life. For Maeve, it turns out, this type of love is reserved for their absent mother.

Elna is referred to in worshipful tones by everyone except her son, who remembers none of her merits but suffers the sting of abandonment. Danny is the only person who cannot absolve Elna. Other people in his life—including a chorus of former domestic employees at the Dutch House named Sandy, Fluffy, and Jocelyn—insist that his mother is a “saint.” This saintly behavior eventually extends to Andrea, who, in one of the novel’s strongest scenes, sees Danny standing on the lawn of the Dutch house, mistakes him for her late husband, and begins hitting the window “like a warrior beats a drum.” Though Elna is repulsed by the gaudy mansion, she moves back into the house to care for Andrea, who is suffering from either Alzheimer’s or aphasia, her family isn’t sure which. Her neediness draws Elna to her side.

Danny begrudgingly accepts his mother’s late appearance in his life, mostly to appease Maeve, whose heart attack precipitates Elna’s return. In the hospital, Maeve tells Danny, “‘I’m so happy. I’ve just had a heart attack and this has been the happiest day of my life.” Danny can’t bring himself to disrupt the newfound companionship between the women, so he relegates himself to the sidelines, where he tries to supervise silently. The other elements of his life—his successful real estate business, his children (a son, Kevin, and a precocious daughter, May), his lukewarm marriage—fail to command half the attention his sister does. Late in the novel, after Maeve, a diabetic, dies in middle age, Danny tells the reader, “The story of my sister was the only one I was ever meant to tell.” This is a depiction of wholehearted, undiluted love, of praise that cannot be held back. It is tiring to Danny’s wife, Celeste, whose mutual dislike of her sister-in-law occasionally reads like a sitcom trope, adding conflict to work that often functions like a love song. When Maeve refuses Danny’s resentment of their mother, challenging him to “[g]row up,” their argument has all the tension, emotion, and knowingness that Danny and Celeste’s relationship seems to lack.

If elderly Andrea hits the Dutch house window “like a warrior,” surely the war is a war of finding and keeping a home. Danny is at home—if home is to be utterly comfortable and safe—only with Maeve, and mostly in her car. He meets Celeste on a train. He encounters his mother, decades after she leaves, in a hospital waiting room. These transitional spaces are where the greatest emotional work of Danny’s life happens, perhaps because he’s embroiled in Andrea’s war. Having had his house taken from him—a house described with details as lush as Jean Stafford or Edith Wharton might offer—he becomes obsessed with real estate, succeeding in the industry just as his late father did. He buys houses for the women in his life, presenting them as casually as bouquets of flowers. Years later, Celeste admits she never liked her house, suggesting a thoughtless and speedy acquisition on Danny’s part.

Andrea—thief of all to which the Conroy children are entitled—is rarely and briefly on the page. Other than being rude to the household staff and unkind to her stepchildren, she has a flimsy presence, and is easily read as a villain who gets her comeuppance simply by aging. The novel also includes a significant digression to cover Danny’s time as a medical student, though he never practices medicine. The schooling is Maeve’s idea, a way to take advantage of the educational trust their father left to them. Its role is perhaps overlarge for its impact. The novel, save for a few dramatic scenes, could nearly be distilled to those hours in the car, with Maeve’s cigarette smoke and Danny’s eager questions, as they cobble together a family history and serve as each other’s witness. “The ghosts are what I come for,” Sandy says, explaining her continued presence at the Dutch house even after it belongs to Andrea. Readers, too, should come for the ghosts: they give the novel its richness, its texture, and its heart.

Published on April 1, 2020

Like what you've read? Share it!

• Book Reviews
• PBR Favorites
• Discussion Questions

• DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
• READER FAVORITES
• MYSTERIES & THRILLERS
• BEST SELLERS
• AWARD WINNING BOOKS
• FAVORITE COSTCO BOOKS
• CLASSIC BOOKS
• WEEKEND READING
• WHAT TO READ NEXT
• POPULAR BOOKS

• Member Login
• Library Patron Login

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR

FREE NEWSLETTERS

Search: Title Author Article Search String:

Reviews of The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

Summary | Excerpt | Reading Guide | Reviews | Beyond the book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio

The Dutch House

by Ann Patchett

Critics' Opinion:

Readers' Opinion:

• Historical Fiction
• Mid-Atlantic, USA
• New York State
• 20th Century (multiple decades)
• Generational Sagas
• Parenting & Families
• Strong Women
• Top 20 Best Books of 2019

Rate this book

About this Book

• Reading Guide

Book Summary

Ann Patchett, the New York Times  bestselling author of Commonwealth and State of Wonder , returns with her most powerful novel to date: a richly moving story that explores the indelible bond between two siblings, the house of their childhood, and a past that will not let them go.

"'Do you think it's possible to ever see the past as it actually was?' I asked my sister. We were sitting in her car, parked in front of the Dutch House in the broad daylight of early summer." At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves. The story is told by Cyril's son Danny, as he and his older sister, the brilliantly acerbic and self-assured Maeve, are exiled from the house where they grew up by their stepmother. The two wealthy siblings are thrown back into the poverty their parents had escaped from and find that all they have to count on is one another. It is this unshakeable bond between them that both saves their lives and thwarts their futures. Set over the course of five decades, The Dutch House is a dark fairy tale about two smart people who cannot overcome their past. Despite every outward sign of success, Danny and Maeve are only truly comfortable when they're together. Throughout their lives they return to the well-worn story of what they've lost with humor and rage. But when at last they're forced to confront the people who left them behind, the relationship between an indulged brother and his ever-protective sister is finally tested. The Dutch House is the story of a paradise lost, a tour de force that digs deeply into questions of inheritance, love and forgiveness, of how we want to see ourselves and of who we really are. Filled with suspense, you may read it quickly to find out what happens, but what happens to Danny and Maeve will stay with you for a very long time.

Excerpt The Dutch House

The first time Maeve and I ever parked on VanHoebeek Street (Van Who-bake, mispronounced as Van Ho-bik by everyone in Elkins Park) was the first time I'd come home from Choate for spring break. Spring was something of a misnomer that year since there was a foot of snow on the ground, an April Fool's Day joke to cap a bitter winter. True spring, I knew from my first half-semester at boarding school, was for the boys whose parents took them sailing in Bermuda. "What are you doing?" I asked her when she stopped in front of the Buchsbaums' house, across the street from the Dutch House. "I want to see something." Maeve leaned over and pushed in the cigarette lighter. "Nothing to see here," I said to her. "Move along." I was in a crappy mood because of the weather and what I saw as the inequity between what I had and what I deserved, but still, I was glad to be back in Elkins Park, glad to be in my sister's car, the blue Oldsmobile wagon of our childhood that my ...

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

• What are the many and varied details of the Dutch House—rooms, stairways, architectural specifics, furniture, windows and doors, etc.? What mood or personality does each space or element possess? What is the complex, overall effect? What might Danny mean when he says, "the house was the story" or that it was "impossible"?
• What is the nature of the relationship between Maeve and Danny? What explains the longevity and power of their support and love for one another?
• What is Cyril Conroy like? How might specific behaviors, routines, and decisions of his have influenced Maeve and Danny? Why was he "always more comfortable with his tenants than he was the people in his office or...in his house"? What was it about buildings that he ...
• "Beyond the Book" articles
• Free books to read and review (US only)
• Find books by time period, setting & theme
• Read-alike suggestions by book and author
• Book club discussions
• and much more!
• Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
• More about membership!

Media Reviews

Reader reviews, bookbrowse review.

The varying descriptions of the house, inside and outside, before and after the siblings' exile, are atmospheric. It looms over everything that goes on, and it's easy to see why Danny and Maeve have remained so deeply affected by it. This is also the kind of novel you might put down many times after a certain line or two, thinking back to your own experiences and wondering how she could possibly know a piece of your life or your family so well... continued

Full Review (833 words) This review is available to non-members for a limited time. For full access, become a member today .

(Reviewed by Rory L. Aronsky ).

Write your own review!

Beyond the Book

The stories that houses can hold.

This "beyond the book" feature is available to non-members for a limited time. Join today for full access.

Read-Alikes

• Genres & Themes

If you liked The Dutch House, try these:

The Warm Hands of Ghosts

by Katherine Arden

Published 2024

About this book

More by this author

During the Great War, a combat nurse searches for her brother, believed dead in the trenches despite eerie signs that suggest otherwise, in this hauntingly beautiful historical novel with a speculative twist, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Bear and the Nightingale .

They're Going to Love You

by Meg Howrey

Published 2023

A magnetic tale of betrayal, art, and ambition, set in the world of professional ballet, New York City during the AIDS crisis, and present-day Los Angeles.

Books with similar themes

Support bookbrowse.

Join our inner reading circle, go ad-free and get way more!

Find out more

BookBrowse Book Club

Members Recommend

The Stone Home by Crystal Hana Kim

A moving family drama and coming-of-age story revealing a dark corner of South Korean history.

The Day Tripper by James Goodhand

The right guy, the right place, the wrong time.

The Mystery Writer by Sulari Gentill

There's nothing easier to dismiss than a conspiracy theory—until it turns out to be true.

Who Said...

Education is the period during which you are being instructed by somebody you do not know, about something you do ...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Solve this clue:

and be entered to win..

Your guide to exceptional           books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

Subscribe to receive some of our best reviews, "beyond the book" articles, book club info and giveaways by email.

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Book Reviews

Motherless children make their own family in ann patchett's 'the dutch house'.

Heller McAlpin

The Dutch House

Buy featured book.

Your purchase helps support NPR programming. How?

• Independent Bookstores

Ann Patchett may well be the most beloved book person in America — not just for her irresistibly absorbing novels and memoirs (including The Patron Saint of Liars, Bel Canto and This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage) but for becoming a patron saint of readers and publishers when she opened Parnassus Books in her hometown of Nashville, Tenn. And despite a few small reservations, this is the story of a happy book critic: The Dutch House is another wonderful read by an author who embodies compassion.

Patchett's eighth novel is a paradise lost tale dusted with a sprinkling of Cinderella , The Little Princess and Hansel and Gretel . Two siblings, Maeve and Danny Conroy, bond tightly after their mother leaves home when they're 10 and 3. Home is the eponymous Dutch House, a 1922 mansion outside Philadelphia that their father, Cyril, a real estate mogul, bought fully furnished in an estate sale as a surprise for his wife in 1946, when Maeve was 5. The house, built by a Dutch couple who made their fortune in cigarettes, is grand, with an ornate dining room ceiling, six bedrooms on the second floor, and a ballroom on the third floor. His wife, Elna, hates it, aesthetically and ethically. After she flees, ostensibly to India to devote herself to the poor, her family suffers, as if "they had all become characters in the worst part of a fairy tale," Patchett writes.

The Dutch House is, in part, about real estate lust. "The only thing our father really cared about in life was his work: the buildings he built and owned and rented out," Danny writes with a surprising lack of bitterness. "He loved buildings the way boys loved dogs," he adds later, an observation equally applicable to himself.

Andrea, a pretty young widow 18 years Cyril's junior, falls in love with his house and then finagles her way into it with her two small daughters. She certainly doesn't fall in love with Cyril's two children. The wicked stepmother's arrival, even more than their mother's ghosting, marks the end of Danny and Maeve's childhood. Their expulsion from paradise becomes quite literal a few years later; in classic fairy tale fashion, Cyril is putty in his second wife's hands.

Rare among Patchett's fiction, The Dutch House is written in the first person, from Danny's adult point of view. Because Danny is by design a clueless, tight-lipped character, it isn't clear that this was the right choice; an omniscient third person narration might have been a better way to get deeper inside him. Many of the details about his eccentric upbringing come courtesy of his older sister, a much more interesting character. But eventually Danny comes to realize how much he's missed along the way, including the fact that the Conroys' two loyal housekeepers are sisters. "The problem, I wanted to say, was that I was asleep to the world. Even in my own house I had no idea what was going on," he comments.

Like memory, Danny's narrative jumps around in time, fast-forwarding to medical school, which he attends only on Maeve's insistence, and his marriage, to which Maeve objects. Periodically, he scrolls back to his boyhood, tracing his intangible inheritances, which include his reticence and the real estate bug he caught from his father.

Author Interviews

Ann patchett calls 'commonwealth' her 'autobiographical first novel'.

Patchett: In Bad Relationships, 'There Comes A Day When You Gotta Go'

The Dutch House is also about obsessive nostalgia. Whenever Danny returns to Pennsylvania to visit Maeve, the two park across the street from their former home to mull over what happened to them: "like swallows, like salmon, we were the helpless captives of our migratory patterns. We pretended that what we had lost was the house, not our mother, not our father." Danny adds later, "We had made a fetish out of our misfortune, fallen in love with it."

On one of these visits Danny asks, "Do you think it's possible to ever see the past as it actually was?" Maeve insists she does just that. "But we overlay the present onto the past," Danny objects, a statement that highlights the trickiness of retrospective personal histories, including the one we're reading. "We look back through the lens of what we know now, so we're not seeing it as the people we were, we're seeing it as the people we are, and that means the past has been radically altered."

Patchett's previous novel, Commonwealth (2016), was her most autobiographical, and it also involved blended families and children left too much to their own devices. The Dutch House belongs to a tradition in both fairy tales and American fiction of motherless children (sometimes raised by their father, often with the aid of an aunt or trusty hired help) — books that include Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn .

Patchett's concern here, as in much of her fiction, is with the often unconventional families we cobble together with what's available to us. Being Patchett, she brings her novel around to themes of gratitude, compassion and forgiveness. The Dutch House goes unabashedly sentimental, but chances are, you won't want to put down this engrossing, warmhearted book even after you've read the last page.

Advertisement

Supported by

Ann Patchett Spins a Modern Fairy Tale in Her Luminous New Novel

• Share full article

• Apple Books
• Barnes and Noble
• Books-A-Million

When you purchase an independently reviewed book through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.

By Martha Southgate

• Sept. 24, 2019

THE DUTCH HOUSE By Ann Patchett

It takes guts to write a fairy tale these days. No P.R. blurb is complete without the descriptors “searing,” “probing,” “challenging” or the like. The use of destabilizing narrative techniques (which often force critics to either include spoilers or to be oblique in order to avoid them) is so prevalent as to seem almost de rigueur. At a moment when everything in the world feels on the verge of falling apart, there seems to be a widespread cultural expectation (in the West, anyway) that serious art — the kind worthy of respect, in books, television, film or theater — is gonna make you sweat, that it should make you sweat.

Ann Patchett doesn’t want to make you sweat. She wants to make you care. As she explained in a 2016 profile in The Guardian , “I’ve been writing the same book my whole life — that you’re in one family, and all of a sudden, you’re in another family and it’s not your choice and you can’t get out.” In “The Dutch House,” the family is built both by blood and by love. And isn’t that what fairy tales are made of? This novel takes a winding road through the forest and doesn’t rush to a finish, nor is the ending wholly surprising. But if you allow yourself to walk along with Patchett, you’ll find riches at the end of the trail. And you won’t end up shoved into an oven.

I make the Hansel and Gretel reference deliberately. “The Dutch House” is a sibling story — that of Maeve and Danny Conroy, a brother and sister growing up comfortable in Elkins Park, Pa., in a house known throughout the community (and by the family) as the Dutch House, in homage to the Netherlands-born VanHoebeeks, the previous owners. The children’s father purchased the house for his wife without telling her before the children were born — it is enormous, wildly elaborate, stuffed with the ornate furniture and outsize presence of the VanHoebeeks. Though they are dead, they are looming spirits — the Conroys never even take down the VanHoebeek portraits. Here’s Danny, the novel’s narrator, on those paintings: “Mr. and Mrs. VanHoebeek, who had no first names that I had ever heard, were old in their portraits but not entirely ancient. … Even in their separate frames they were so together, so married , I always thought it must have been one large painting that someone cut in half.” It is in front of those paintings that the novel begins: “The first time our father brought Andrea to the Dutch House, Sandy, our housekeeper, came to my sister’s room and told us to come downstairs. ‘Your father has a friend he wants you to meet,’ she said.”

[ Patchett once told The Times, “After I read ‘Charlotte’s Web,’ I became so obsessed with pigs that my stepfather got me one for my ninth birthday.” ]

While this seems innocuous, the reader gradually finds out that Danny and Maeve’s mother has disappeared without a goodbye on a quest to India to help the poor there, that the children are lovingly cared for primarily by Sandy and her sister, Jocelyn, who works as the family’s cook, and that their father’s friend, Andrea, is going to end up, yes, as Danny and Maeve’s evil stepmother. She even comes equipped with two girls, Norma and Bright, who will become stepsisters to Danny and Maeve — although it turns out that they are sweet girls under their mother’s unkind sway.

Patchett pulls this off both through her conviction and through her willingness not to wink at or be coy about what she’s doing. There are even direct references to well-loved childhood classics. Here’s Maeve when she’s banished from her beautiful bedroom so that Norma can have it: “It’s just like ‘The Little Princess!’ … The girl loses all of her money and so they put her in the attic and make her clean the fireplaces.” (She tells Norma: “No big ideas for you, Miss. I will not be cleaning your fireplace.”) The power of fairy tales is the way in which they grapple with some of the verities of human life — kindness and cruelty, love and hate. So it is in this novel, which, like Patchett’s 2016 novel, “ Commonwealth ,” covers many years — from Danny and Maeve’s childhood to their middle age.

[ Read Curtis Sittenfeld’s review of “Commonwealth.” ]

Unlike a fairy tale, “The Dutch House” is peopled not with archetypes but with distinctive and believable characters. We hear the story from the first-person perspective of Danny, a stubborn, sometimes clearsighted, sometimes oblivious guy. His descriptions of Maeve, who is seven years his senior, are precise and vivid — though she’s not the narrator, she’s the heroine, fighting off every foe and sacrificing over and over to assure Danny’s happiness. It’s a rare novel that examines the experience of a close and dependent brother-sister relationship — far more often, we see tales of same-gender siblings. If sometimes Maeve and Danny seem a little too good to be true (Do they never argue? Does she never just get sick of him? Does he never feel suffocated? Hmm), their devotion is also quite moving. Here they are when Danny is 12 and Maeve a 19-year-old Barnard student: “Leslie, her roommate, had gone home for Easter break and so I slept in her bed. The room was so small we could have easily reached across the empty space and touched fingers. I slept in Maeve’s room all the time when I was young, and I had forgotten how nice it was to wake up in the middle of the night and hear the steadiness of her breathing.”

“The Dutch House” is also a novel about affluence — about having it, losing it and then getting some of it back. After their father’s sudden death, Andrea evicts Maeve and Danny (he’s allowed to grab one suitcase) along with the family’s beloved retainers, Sandy and Jocelyn. They spend the rest of the book mourning the loss of the house and of most of their money (though Danny has a trust fund that Maeve urges him to burn through) even as they go on to make functional lives, in Danny’s case a prosperous one in real estate, just as his father did. This sounds annoying, even infuriating recounted in this bare-bones way — to be honest, I was a little surprised that it didn’t bug me. But Patchett artfully avoids the stumble of asking for pity for a bunch of well-off white people. The job of a novel like “The Dutch House” is to sweep you along and make you care about the characters, no matter who they are or what their circumstances, and Patchett has done that job.

[ In their By the Book interviews, Michelle Obama, Richard Powers, Anne Lamott, Roxane Gay and Jacqueline Woodson all recommended books by Ann Patchett. ]

There are very few sharp edges in this novel beyond Andrea’s central villainy and I periodically found myself wishing for a narrative that was, if not searing, a little less smooth — though to be fair, the Conroys suffer grief and loss beyond the financial. That said, what I (occasionally) wished for isn’t what Patchett was trying to achieve. The heroes and heroines of fairy tales face mighty challenges but they almost always make it through in the end. In “The Dutch House,” all’s well that ends well — and that’s a pleasure.

Martha Southgate is the author of four novels, most recently “The Taste of Salt.” She is entering her second year in the M.F.A. in playwriting program at Brooklyn College.

THE DUTCH HOUSE By Ann Patchett 352 pp. Harper/HarperCollins Publishers. $27.99.

Explore More in Books

Want to know about the best books to read and the latest news start here..

James McBride’s novel sold a million copies, and he isn’t sure how he feels about that, as he considers the critical and commercial success  of “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.”

How did gender become a scary word? Judith Butler, the theorist who got us talking about the subject , has answers.

You never know what’s going to go wrong in these graphic novels, where Circus tigers, giant spiders, shifting borders and motherhood all threaten to end life as we know it .

When the author Tommy Orange received an impassioned email from a teacher in the Bronx, he dropped everything to visit the students  who inspired it.

Do you want to be a better reader?   Here’s some helpful advice to show you how to get the most out of your literary endeavor .

Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .

• ADMIN AREA MY BOOKSHELF MY DASHBOARD MY PROFILE SIGN OUT SIGN IN

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

Kirkus Reviews' Best Books Of 2019

New York Times Bestseller

IndieBound Bestseller

Pulitzer Prize Finalist

THE DUTCH HOUSE

by Ann Patchett ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 24, 2019

Like the many-windowed mansion at its center, this richly furnished novel gives brilliantly clear views into the lives it...

Their mother's disappearance cements an unbreakable connection between a pair of poor-little-rich-kid siblings.

Like The Children's Crusade by Ann Packer or Life Among Giants by Bill Roorbach, this is a deeply pleasurable book about a big house and the family that lives in it. Toward the end of World War II, real estate developer and landlord Cyril Conroy surprises his wife, Elna, with the keys to a mansion in the Elkins Park neighborhood of Philadelphia. Elna, who had no idea how much money her husband had amassed and still thought they were poor, is appalled by the luxurious property, which comes fully furnished and complete with imposing portraits of its former owners (Dutch people named VanHoebeek) as well as a servant girl named Fluffy. When her son, Danny, is 3 and daughter, Maeve, is 10, Elna's antipathy for the place sends her on the lam—first occasionally, then permanently. This leaves the children with the household help and their rigid, chilly father, but the difficulties of the first year pale when a stepmother and stepsisters appear on the scene. Then those problems are completely dwarfed by further misfortune. It's Danny who tells the story, and he's a wonderful narrator, stubborn in his positions, devoted to his sister, and quite clear about various errors—like going to medical school when he has no intention of becoming a doctor—while utterly committed to them. "We had made a fetish out of our disappointment," he says at one point, "fallen in love with it." Casually stated but astute observations about human nature are Patchett's ( Commonwealth , 2016, etc.) stock in trade, and she again proves herself a master of aging an ensemble cast of characters over many decades. In this story, only the house doesn't change. You will close the book half believing you could drive to Elkins Park and see it.

Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2019

ISBN: 978-0-06-296367-3

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 26, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019

LITERARY FICTION | FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP

Share your opinion of this book

More by Ann Patchett

BOOK REVIEW

by Ann Patchett

More About This Book

SEEN & HEARD

PERSPECTIVES

THE GREAT ALONE

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2018

A tour de force.

In 1974, a troubled Vietnam vet inherits a house from a fallen comrade and moves his family to Alaska.

After years as a prisoner of war, Ernt Allbright returned home to his wife, Cora, and daughter, Leni, a violent, difficult, restless man. The family moved so frequently that 13-year-old Leni went to five schools in four years. But when they move to Alaska, still very wild and sparsely populated, Ernt finds a landscape as raw as he is. As Leni soon realizes, “Everyone up here had two stories: the life before and the life now. If you wanted to pray to a weirdo god or live in a school bus or marry a goose, no one in Alaska was going to say crap to you.” There are many great things about this book—one of them is its constant stream of memorably formulated insights about Alaska. Another key example is delivered by Large Marge, a former prosecutor in Washington, D.C., who now runs the general store for the community of around 30 brave souls who live in Kaneq year-round. As she cautions the Allbrights, “Alaska herself can be Sleeping Beauty one minute and a bitch with a sawed-off shotgun the next. There’s a saying: Up here you can make one mistake. The second one will kill you.” Hannah’s ( The Nightingale , 2015, etc.) follow-up to her series of blockbuster bestsellers will thrill her fans with its combination of Greek tragedy, Romeo and Juliet–like coming-of-age story, and domestic potboiler. She re-creates in magical detail the lives of Alaska's homesteaders in both of the state's seasons (they really only have two) and is just as specific and authentic in her depiction of the spiritual wounds of post-Vietnam America.

Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-312-57723-0

Page Count: 448

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: Oct. 30, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2017

FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP

More by Kristin Hannah

by Kristin Hannah

THEN SHE WAS GONE

by Lisa Jewell ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 24, 2018

Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.

Ten years after her teenage daughter went missing, a mother begins a new relationship only to discover she can't truly move on until she answers lingering questions about the past.

Laurel Mack’s life stopped in many ways the day her 15-year-old daughter, Ellie, left the house to study at the library and never returned. She drifted away from her other two children, Hanna and Jake, and eventually she and her husband, Paul, divorced. Ten years later, Ellie’s remains and her backpack are found, though the police are unable to determine the reasons for her disappearance and death. After Ellie’s funeral, Laurel begins a relationship with Floyd, a man she meets in a cafe. She's disarmed by Floyd’s charm, but when she meets his young daughter, Poppy, Laurel is startled by her resemblance to Ellie. As the novel progresses, Laurel becomes increasingly determined to learn what happened to Ellie, especially after discovering an odd connection between Poppy’s mother and her daughter even as her relationship with Floyd is becoming more serious. Jewell’s ( I Found You , 2017, etc.) latest thriller moves at a brisk pace even as she plays with narrative structure: The book is split into three sections, including a first one which alternates chapters between the time of Ellie’s disappearance and the present and a second section that begins as Laurel and Floyd meet. Both of these sections primarily focus on Laurel. In the third section, Jewell alternates narrators and moments in time: The narrator switches to alternating first-person points of view (told by Poppy’s mother and Floyd) interspersed with third-person narration of Ellie’s experiences and Laurel’s discoveries in the present. All of these devices serve to build palpable tension, but the structure also contributes to how deeply disturbing the story becomes. At times, the characters and the emotional core of the events are almost obscured by such quick maneuvering through the weighty plot.

Pub Date: April 24, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-5011-5464-5

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Atria

Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018

GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | SUSPENSE | FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP | SUSPENSE

More by Lisa Jewell

by Lisa Jewell

• Discover Books Fiction Thriller & Suspense Mystery & Detective Romance Science Fiction & Fantasy Nonfiction Biography & Memoir Teens & Young Adult Children's
• News & Features Bestsellers Book Lists Profiles Perspectives Awards Seen & Heard Book to Screen Kirkus TV videos In the News
• Kirkus Prize Winners & Finalists About the Kirkus Prize Kirkus Prize Judges
• Magazine Current Issue All Issues Manage My Subscription Subscribe
• Writers’ Center Hire a Professional Book Editor Get Your Book Reviewed Advertise Your Book Launch a Pro Connect Author Page Learn About The Book Industry
• More Kirkus Diversity Collections Kirkus Pro Connect My Account/Login
• About Kirkus History Our Team Contest FAQ Press Center Info For Publishers
• Privacy Policy
• Terms & Conditions
• Reprints, Permission & Excerpting Policy

© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Popular in this Genre

Hey there, book lover.

We’re glad you found a book that interests you!

Please select an existing bookshelf

Create a new bookshelf.

We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!

Please sign up to continue.

It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!

Already have an account? Log in.

Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.

Almost there!

• Industry Professional

Welcome Back!

Sign in using your Kirkus account

Contact us: 1-800-316-9361 or email [email protected].

Don’t fret. We’ll find you.

Magazine Subscribers ( How to Find Your Reader Number )

If You’ve Purchased Author Services

Don’t have an account yet? Sign Up.

Advertise   Contact   Privacy

Browse All Reviews

New Releases

List Reviews by Rating

List Reviews by Author

List Reviews by Title

The Dutch House

By ann patchett.

Book review and synopsis for The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, a family drama about two siblings making sense of their childhood.

In The Dutch House , Maeve and Danny are siblings who grow up in a grand house in Elkins Park. The house is nicknamed The Dutch House, after the wealthy Dutch family that once inhabited it.

Maeve and Danny's mother abandoned their family when they were young, so they are raised by their father and the household help instead. One day, their father brings home a woman, Andrea Smith, who he later marries. Their father is more interested in his real estate holdings than in them, and Maeve and Danny's relationship with Andrea is fractious and later overtly hostile.

The Dutch House follows Maeve and Danny lives over many, many years as they revisit and struggle to make sense of their childhood.

(The Full Plot Summary is also available, below)

Full Plot Summary

In Part I , Danny and Maeve are raised by their father Cyril. Their mother Elna left when they were younger. They grow up in a grand house, known as the Dutch House. One day, Cyril brings home Andrea, a young, pretty woman with two young girls, Norma and Bright. Cyril and Andrea are indifferent parents. Instead, Maeve helps to take care of the girls and Danny. The household help, Sandy (housekeeper) and Jocelyn (cook), help to raise them as well. Maeve has an adversarial relationship with Andrea. Cyril is also more interested in nurturing Danny than Maeve, since Danny is male and will take over his real estate business someday. Cyril and Andrea marry.

When Cyril dies from a heart attack, Andrea bans both Maeve and Danny from the house, which is now hers along with Cyril's entire business. The only thing Cyril provided for is an educational trust for Danny, but not Maeve. This disrupts Maeve's plans for grad school. Instead, Maeve pushes Danny to pursue an expensive education (medical school), in order to drain the trust and prevent money from reverting to Andrea.

In Part II , Danny is in college now. Maeve still works as a bookkeeper at a grocery store in a nearby town. Danny and Maeve occasionally park outside the Dutch House and spy on Andrea voyeuristically. In college, Danny discovers his genuine interest in real estate and wants to follow in Cyril's footsteps, but lacks the capital to pursue it. Instead, he goes to medical school. When he starts making money as a medical intern, he's able to make his first real estate investments and pursue that instead.

Maeve runs into Fluffy, their former nanny, one day. Fluffy tells Danny that their mother Elna is alive and in town. Fluffy didn't tell Maeve in fear of upsetting her. Fluffy explains how Elna had hated the Dutch House and never felt at ease there. Elna had started disappearing for periods of time, and Cyril finally told Elna not to come back because of how upset Maeve was each time she disappeared.

Danny marries his girlfriend Celeste, and they have two children, May and Kevin. Danny is now quite wealthy. Fluffy becomes their nanny, and Sandy and Jocelyn are a part of their lives, too. Maeve and Danny still stake out the Dutch House, but mostly out of nostalgia. One night after almost being seen by Andrea, they agree it's time to stop visiting.

In Part III , Maeve gets very sick (she has diabetes), so Fluffy reaches out to Elna, who shows up at the hospital. Maeve is delighted, but Danny is resentful. Elna moves in with Maeve. Elna tells them how she had wanted to be a nun before she married Cyril, and that she'd been at the convent the times she disappeared.

One day, Elna suggests visiting Andrea. They (reluctantly) go and discover that Andrea now has a degenerative mental condition and doesn't recognize them. Norma has recently moved back to the Dutch House to take care of Andrea, and Bright is estranged from Andrea. Maeve reclaims a painting of herself that's still there. Elna decides to help take care of Andrea (partially as a penance for abandoning her family). Maeve passes away, and Danny eventually lets go of his resentment against Elna. May and Kevin spend more time at the house, and May falls in love with it.

When Andrea passes away, May asks Norma not to sell it yet. When May becomes rich and famous actress, she buys the house.

For more detail, see the full Section-by-Section Summary .

If this summary was useful to you, please consider supporting this site by leaving a tip ( $2 , $3 , or $5 ) or joining the Patreon !

Book Review

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, her most recent novel, was released on September 24.

I’ve read a few books from Patchett in the past and really enjoy her writing. I thought Bel Canto was a lovely book, and State of Wonder was just okay, but still well written. Plus, The Dutch House’s fairytale-esque elements appealed to me along with it’s beautiful cover, so naturally it was high priority on my list of books to read.

I was out of town for a while and have been otherwise wrapped up in some other stuff, so this review took a little longer to get up than I’d intended, but here it is!

The Dutch House is one of those books that reminds my why I love reading so much. Flipping through its pages, I feel myself drawn into the understated and engrossing story of Danny and Maeve Conroy. On the most basic level, The Dutch House is a book about two people piecing together the fragments of their youth.

As much as I enjoy flashier mystery or fantasy or adventurous stories, there is a special place in my heart I reserve for subtle stories that are elegantly told. I find Ann Patchett’s writing very pleasurable to read. It’s neither too sparse or too flowery, instead it’s crisp, clear and confident in an unassuming way.

Maeve and Danny’s childhood has a fairytale-eque quality, as if Cinderella and Hansel & Gretel were mixed together. They grow up in a wealthy household but lose everything, their mother is presumed to be dead, Andrea plays the role of the evil stepmother, and their stepsisters Nora and Bright are brought in and given preferential treatment. Like Hansel & Gretel, Maeve and Danny are forced to lean on each other and, as adults, are trying to pick up the pieces of their childhood and find a way back home.

But The Dutch House is no fairy tale and instead the book provides a sober reflection on how the stories we tell ourselves are shaped and whether the roles we cast people in should be considered or reconsidered later, with more maturity and perhaps more empathy.

That said, there were parts of the Dutch House didn’t entirely resonate with me. The conclusion of the novel felt a little too quaint or simplistic and a bit devoid of realism. And I found the character of their mother a little improbable as well, since her motivations and personality just didn’t make sense to me. Still, I realize this is a very subjective opinion, so people (or book clubs!) will likely have differing views on this, and it’s no reason not to read the book.

Read it or Skip it?

The Dutch House is a lovely and interesting story. People who enjoy family dramas or have liked Patchett’s work in the past should definitely consider this title.

It didn’t quite bring the story to a satisfying conclusion for me, but it’s such a well-written and engrossing family drama that I enjoyed it very much anyway. And I’m sure many people will like the ending just fine. Even if you feel like I did, I think you’ll probably still find something of value in this story anyway.

This would also be a fantastic book for book clubs to debate over the ending and discuss whether it makes them think about the roles they’ve cast the people in their lives into. It certainly made me think about my own childhood and the stories I’ve formed around it.

Of course, this is an understated and somewhat interior novel, so if that’s not something that interests you, then maybe try something else. Also, note that while their childhood borrows from fairytale-esque elements, this is not a fairytale-type book and doesn’t read like one. So if that’s what you’re interested in, you might want to skip this.

What do you think? Did you read this or would you consider reading it? Share your thoughts below! See The Dutch House on Amazon .

Book Excerpt

Read the first pages of The Dutch House

Share this post

The Heiress

Fourth Wing

Funny Story

2024’s Best Book Club Books (New & Anticipated)

Best Cozy Mystery Books of 2024

Bookshelf: Development Diary

Best Rom-Com, Beach Reads & Contemporary Romance Books

2024’s Best Rom Com & Romance Books (New & Anticipated)

10 comments

Share your thoughts cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.

I loved the audiobook. It was my first novel by her, and I was impressed by her writing.

Tom Hanks did the audio for the Dutch house and I loved it.

Thanks for your thoughts. I loved Bel Canto but haven’t read anything else by Patchett. I’ll put this one my list and see if I can get to it.

I definitely want to read this book. It’s now shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Although I haven’t read any of Ann Patchett’s other books so perhaps I should start with Bel Canto?

I was confused after finishing this book. It seemed a little too far out the story of the mother that goes to India and comes back… What mother leaves 2 children? I did not care that much for the book. I am sure this book is great for our Book club discussions.

I totally agree! I mean I think some mothers would, but someone who was that concerned about helping others but couldn’t see how her actions would affect her children? It just didn’t sync up with me as a character.

Glad to hear I’m not the only one that thought it seemed like her personality didn’t make a ton of sense. Seemed like her actions were molded to fit the plot as opposed to a real person you could imagine.

I have read some comments detailing disbelief that Elna would leave her Children. Believe it! The guilt and shame for some women who abandon their Children overpower their love. Perhaps returning to their Children seemed like the opposite of love to Elna.

I’ve agreed with most of your reviews, but I thought The Dutch House was an inferior novel, very disappointing work from an author I respect. The house itself may have symbolized love and loss for the siblings, but I just wanted to say “Get over it!” Every childhood has trauma, a not unpleasant stepmother is not a major one in the scheme of things, and (considering how often the average American moves) the loss of a house is just shallow.

I love reading anything Ann Patchett writes and think she is a masterful storyteller. I agree with above reviews about Elna’s character not quite syncing in the story but was able to move past that easily because of the whole of the story. As someone who experienced 2 stepmothers after the death of my mother as well as the emotional abandonment of my father, this story was very real to me. Childhood trauma can and does follow you for life. Some people grow through it and some it cripples but few can just look in the rear view mirror and say “oh well”.

The book is great! Tom Hanks did a great job as always! I can picture Mads Mikkelsen as the father.

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett review – an irresistible modern fairytale

T he house in Ann Patchett ’s eighth novel is the last word in desirable real estate. “Seen from certain vantage points of distance, it appeared to float several inches above the hill it sat on. The panes of glass that surrounded the glass front doors were as big as storefront windows and held in place by wrought-iron vines. The windows both took in the sun and reflected it back against the wide lawn.”

The sun-drenched Dutch House – so named not for its architecture but for the nationality of its original owners, the Van Hoebeeks – is in every sense a hot property. Built in boomtime 1920s Philadelphia, it boasts Delft mantels and marble floors, a ballroom and a dining room with a gilt ceiling “more in keeping with Versailles than Eastern Pennsylvania”. Crammed with silk chairs, tapestry ottomans, Chinese lamps and oil paintings, it is, as one of the characters observes, “a piece of art” and, like a piece of art, it ignites extreme reactions in the people who come into contact with it.

First in line are the Conroys. Cyril Conroy is a hard-up but ambitious property developer with a talent for life-changing surprises. He acquires the house in 1946 when the Van Hoebeeks go bankrupt, taking possession not only of the building but of its servants and sumptuous contents, and installing his wife, Elna, and children, Maeve and Danny, in their ready-made new existence overnight. Their rags-to-riches move from a rental “the size of a postage stamp” to the Dutch House with its treasures spells the beginning of the end of the marriage. Elna’s disintegration, in all its flamboyant pathos and ascetic self-denial, is brilliantly handled. Insisting that she has “no business in a place like that, all those fireplaces and staircases, all those people waiting on me”, she flees to help the destitute in India. Art is not for everyone.

When Elna goes, the Conroys are thrown into a crisis of archetypal proportions: “They had all become characters in the worst part of a fairytale.” The children are left to the ministrations of the cook and housekeeper, a pair of warm-hearted sisters (though Danny, like a fairytale prince, doesn’t realise for a long time that his two watchful guardians have their own backstory). Their father, in the way of 1940s fathers and fairytale kings, is too busy ruling his empire to oversee their care. Danny survives the loss of his mother because his sister – loving, resourceful Maeve, vividly drawn by Patchett – steps into the breach: “Maeve was there, with her red coat and her black hair, standing at the bottom of the stairs, the white marble floor with the little black squares.” She’s Snow White or Red Riding Hood as Vermeer might have painted her.

Cyril introduces a young widow called Andrea and her two daughters to the Dutch House, and the fragile equilibrium of this kingdom is destroyed. Like all enchantresses, the demure but deadly Andrea has “a knack for making the impossible seem natural”, including marriage to Cyril. We know what happens next: once their stepmother has taken possession, Maeve and Danny will be systematically pushed out. But the question of what, if any, kind of reconciliation with the past might still be achieved after such a profound betrayal gives The Dutch House an irresistible narrative drive. It’s a mark of Patchett’s skill that the novel’s bold fairytale elements – its doubles and archetypes, its two children left to find their own way back to their home after being expelled – add up to a story that feels wholly naturalistic.

There are other, more subtle literary templates underpinning the book. It’s no coincidence that Maeve has “a stack of Henry James novels on her bedside table” – among them The Turn of the Screw . An obsessive younger woman who comes to a big house and falls for the aloof owner? Check. Lost mother? Check. Terrorised children? Check. Stalwart and sceptical housekeeper? Check. “Lots of ghosts” (as Danny puts it)? Check that, too. If The Dutch House is like a novel by James, however, then it’s most like The Spoils of Poynton , cleverly appropriating that book’s use of a coveted house and its treasures as an index to human character. Andrea is marked out as morally deficient during her very first visit to the Dutch House, when she singles out the portraits of the Van Hoebeeks to Cyril for praise: “‘It must be a comfort, having them with you,’ Andrea said to him, not of his children but of his paintings.’” Like a Jamesian villain, she prefers art to life.

James said that the house of fiction has “not one window, but a million”, depending on who is looking at the scene, and Patchett’s elegantly constructed narrative often reads like a dramatisation of this idea. For years after they are banished from the Dutch House, Maeve and Danny make a ritual of parking outside their former home to watch the comings and goings of Andrea and their stepsisters through its vast windows. “Do you think it’s possible to ever see the past as it actually was?” asks Danny, now in college, where Maeve forces him to endure years of expensive medical training simply to drain the educational fund that would otherwise devolve to Andrea’s daughters. “We look back through the lens of what we know now,” he decides, “so we’re not seeing it as the people we were, we’re seeing it as the people we are, and that means the past has been radically altered.” The glass-walled Dutch House may be open to view, but the truth it contains is obscured.

As the layers of the past are rolled away, the shocks keep coming. Vanished fairytale mothers have a habit of reappearing at critical times, and so it is with self-denying Elna, “the little sister of the poor, the assemblage of bones and tennis shoes”. In spite of her frailty, she is a truly monstrous creation, dispensing charity with the ruthless impartiality of a saint, offering her love and presence to all except her own family. The other characters don’t get off lightly either. Cyril is revealed as weak and neglectful, a man who never really liked children, even his own. And if Maeve is a substitute mother then she’s in some ways as compromised a figure as Elna and Andrea, demanding her own relentless form of sacrifice in the guise of Danny’s medical studies. Having carried out his sister’s revenge against their stepmother by qualifying as a doctor, he refuses to practise medicine. Like art, healing is not for everyone.

Except that, in the world of The Dutch House , it almost is. It’s a rare Patchett novel that ends without the slightest glimmer of redemption, and here the major players virtually all – as in a story by James – arrive at final positions that involve an ironic inversion of where they started. Danny’s eventual accommodation of the past, and of his family’s choices, seems both inevitable and earned. “The point wasn’t whether or not I liked it,” he admits. “The point was it had to be done.” And besides, by middle age he “had the idea that all of the hard things had already happened”: as always, Patchett leads us to a truth that feels like life rather than literature.

• Book of the day
• Ann Patchett

Most viewed

• Getting Started
• Start a Book Club
• Book Club Ideas/Help▼
• Our Featured Clubs ▼
• Popular Books
• Book Reviews
• Reading Guides
• Blog Home ▼
• Find a Recipe
• About LitCourse
• Course Catalog

Dutch House (Patchett)

The Dutch House   Anne Patchett, 2019 HarperCollins 352 pp. ISBN-13: 9780062963673  Summary A powerful novel and richly moving story that explores the indelible bond between two siblings, the house of their childhood, and a past that will not let them go .     "Do you think it’s possible to ever see the past as it actually was?" I asked my sister. We were sitting in her car, parked in front of the Dutch House in the broad daylight of early summer." At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves. The story is told by Cyril’s son Danny, as he and his older sister, the brilliantly acerbic and self-assured Maeve, are exiled, by their stepmother, from the house where they grew up. The two wealthy siblings are thrown back into the poverty their parents had escaped from and find that all they have to count on is one another. It is this unshakeable bond between them that both saves their lives and thwarts their futures. Set over the course of five decades, The Dutch House is a dark fairy tale about two smart people who cannot overcome their past. Despite every outward sign of success, Danny and Maeve are only truly comfortable when they’re together. Throughout their lives they return to the well-worn story of what they’ve lost with humor and rage. But when at last they’re forced to confront the people who left them behind, the relationship between an indulged brother and his ever-protective sister is finally tested. The Dutch House is the story of a paradise lost, a tour de force that digs deeply into questions of inheritance, love and forgiveness, of how we want to see ourselves and of who we really are. Filled with suspense, you may read it quickly to find out what happens, but what happens to Danny and Maeve will stay with you for a very long time.

• Next >>

LitLovers © 2024