Whistler by Ann Patchett

Whistler by Ann Patchett is a nice novel that begins with Daphne Fuller running into her former stepfather, Eddie Triplett, at the museum in New York. The book then tells of their relationship and past history together.

Eddie is a book editor and was married for a year to Daphne's mother forty-four years ago, when Daphne nine and her sister Leda seven. A story that's told throughout the book is of a car accident at that time. Leda was in the hospital with appendicitis, which Eddie told their mother to check for after the school called saying she was sick, and Eddie driving Daphne and the car went over the edge of a cliff. Eddie's ankle was broken and pinned under the emergency brake, and Daphne had to get help.

Patchett writes vividly of the aftermath of the accident, and another great scene with Daphne in her early thirties taking her father, Buddy Zabriske, to Big Sur, California when he had late-stage cancer. She told Eddie that the trip was the smartest thing she'd ever done in her life. It was how she knew she wanted to be with her eventual husband Jonathan, an administrator in Buddy's hospital, and the last time she flew. 

The book is a good story of connections, and has some tremendously well-written and poignant scenes.