TAFT

About this book

Taft is the story of John Nickel a black ex-musician who wanted nothing more than to be a good father. But his son is taken away from him and he is left with nothing but the Memphis bar he manages. When he hires a young white waitress named Fay Taft he doesnt know that he is taking on her desperate brother Carl as well. Nickels sympathies for these two quickly become a dangerous path into the lives of strangers. As the ominous events of the story unfold Nickel is consumed with the idea of Taft Fay and Carls dead father. Through imagination he begins to reconstruct the life of a man he never met. Through Taft he begins to define the priorities of his own life. The voice of John Nickel is a stunning artistic achievement. The story it tells is universal in its appeal to our instincts to protect the people we love. Taft confirms Ann Patchetts standing as one of the most gifted writers of her generation.