<DIV>Best-selling novelist Ann Patchett's second, "strikingly original"* novel tells the moving story of John Nickel, an ex–jazz musician who wanted nothing more than to be a good father. When his lover takes away his son, he's left only with his Beale Street bar. He hires a young waitress named Fay Taft, who brings with her a desperate, dangerous brother, Carl, and the possibility of new intimacy. Nickel finds himself consumed with Fay and Carl's dead father— Taft—obsessing over and reconstructing the life of a man he never met.<br><br> A stunning artistic achievement,<BR><br> Taft confirms Ann Patchett's standing as one of the most gifted writers of her generation and reminds us of our deepest instincts to protect the people we love.<br><br> <I>*Kirkus Reviews</I></div>