Run, the fifth novel from Ann Patchett (
Bel Canto), centers around two families. Bernard Doyle is an ex-mayor of Boston, and ten years after his wife's death, he's raised their three sons to adulthood. The oldest son, Sullivan, has been a disappointment to his father, but his two adopted black children, Tip and Teddy, have become good men, but they lack their father's desire to follow him into the political world. Tip is nearly run down on the street one evening, but he's saved by a black woman, Tennessee Moser, who pushes him out of the way and is instead hit by the vehicle. Her 11-year-old daughter, Kenya, has nowhere to stay while Tennessee is in the hospital, so the Doyles take her in. It turns out that the Mosers just lived blocks away from the Doyles, but it's a world of difference.
Run has received positive reviews with the Boston Globe saying, "
Run is a graceful, deceptively straightforward novel, seeming as effortless as Kenya unfolding her legs on a city street. And yet it manages to deliver a story about race, attachment, and sacrifice. Nothing easy about that."
