Robin Garrett is quickly revealed when we learn he was the only one of Mercy’s suitors to call her Miss Wellington. While Mercy Garrett might seem the main character, there is detail and depth in at least four other characters. Now 80 years old, she puts her observations of these small behaviours to good use: French Braid makes clear there is little Anne Tyler does not know about human nature. Like most novelists, Anne Tyler is rarely forthcoming about her writing methods, but she did admit recently to being interested in what small behaviours can reveal about character. As Tolstoy wrote – ‘Happy families are all alike every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.’ French Braid explores the ways in which the Garrett family might qualify as an unhappy family. Set in Baltimore, like many of her novels, French Braid is about families, specifically three generations of the Garrett family, and about how families do and don’t get on.

However, with Anne Tyler most readers who know and love her novels will smile a little to themselves at the description and immediately go out and buy the book. If this was said about any other novelist it might be a criticism. The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist demonstrates there is little she doesn’t know about human nature.Īnne Tyler’s most recent novel, her twenty-fourth, French Braid covers familiar territory.

Anne tyler french braid review