By the time he’d tied the legs onto his belt he’d forgotten about the water altogether. June, like many little girls, was partial to soft things. He thought he would tan the hide and give it to his daughter, June, for her birthday. He blew the head clean off and didn’t disturb the pelt. But since that was the way George learned, that was the only way he could ever do it, and now, here he was, grown with a family, going down on his knees like a man in prayer to shoot a rabbit. His father taught him that way because he was afraid the rifle’s kick would knock the boy off his feet, thought George would be safer close to the ground. It was as big a buck as he’d seen, and he knelt down slowly to get off his shot. He was thinking about it, thinking what he ought to do, when he saw a rabbit on the other side of the field. The water was warm when he dipped in his hand, and he wiped it off against the leg of his trousers. He thought it was a bad sign, that it meant his land was infected and spitting up bile for relief. He smelled the spring before he saw it, foul and sulfurous as spoiled eggs. It was only fitting that he should be the one, seeing as how it was his land. George Clatterbuck found it when it was already a pretty steady stream. This was a hot spring that had broken loose of its river to make mud in the grass, and it kept on till it was a clear pool and then a little creek, cutting out a snake’s path toward the Panther River. There are rivers, hundreds of them, running underground all the time, and because of this a man can say he is walking on water. Water never needed anyone’s help to come up through the ground once it was ready. She is the co-owner of the bookstore Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee where she lives with her husband.TWO O’CLOCK in the morning, a Thursday morning, the first bit of water broke through the ground of George Clatterbuck’s back pasture in Habit, Kentucky, and not a living soul saw it. Her works include The Patron Saint of Liars, Bel Canto, Com m onwealth, These Precious Days, This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, and The Dutch House. Stretching from her childhood to the present day, from a disastrous early marriage to a later happy one, This is the Story of a Happy Marriage covers a multitude of topics, including relationships with family and friends, and charts the hard work and joy of writing, and the unexpected thrill of opening a bookstore.Īs she shares stories of the people, places, ideals, and art to which she has remained indelibly committed, Ann Patchett brings into focus the large experiences and small moments that have shaped her as a daughter, wife, and writer.Īnn Patchett is the author of eight novels, four nonfiction books, and one children’s book. Audiobook Length: 11 hours and 36 minutes
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