Best-selling author Ann Patchett is known for her works of fiction and nonfiction. Her many acclaimed works include Bel Canto , State of Wonder , Truth and Beauty, This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, and many others, including her latest, Commonwealth , her seventh novel, which provides a discerning, sometimes funny, sometimes heart-rending study of sibling and other familial relationships. Ann Patchett also co-owns Parnassus Books and went into the independent booksellers business when two