Best-selling novelist Ann Patchett"s second, "strikingly original"160;novel160;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,160;he"s left only with160;his Beale Street,160;Memphis bar.160;He hires160;a young waitress named Fay Taft who brings with her160;a desperate, dangerous160;brother, Carl, and the possibility of160;new intimacy.160;Nickel finds himself consumed with Fay and Carl"s dead father8212;Taft8212;obssessing over and reconstructing the life of a man he never met. A stunning artistic achievement, Taft confirms Ann Pathcett"s standing as one of the most gifted writers of her generation160;and reminds us of our deepest instincts to protect the people we love. Kirkus Reviews