The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett How have I never read Ann Patchett before? This book was amazing! Danny and Maeve Conroy live in the Dutch House with their aloof and distant father, a poor serviceman turned rich property developer. Years ago their mother Elna, they are told, left them without explanation to go to India. Their father, Cyril, starts bringing a woman to the house and eventually marries her. Andrea is stern and cold, and the mother of two young girls (Norma and Bernice aka Bright). Andrea has her eye on the Dutch House - she loves it, whereas Elna hated it - and when Cyril dies everything is left to her. She's seen to that. Maeve, who was awya at college when this happened, is called back to take Danny. Both of them are banished from the house for good. Maeve becomes Danny's guardian. She has always been both a sister and a mother to him. She pushes him to go to medical school mostly to use up all of the money their father put into an educational trust for the four...