Patchett was born in Los Angeles but was raised in Nashville, Tennessee, where she still lives. She owns and operates Parnassus Books, an independent bookstore that is a literary hub for authors in the South. Patchett is a fierce advocate for books and was listed as one of the Most Influential People of 2012 by Time magazine. Her most famous novel is Bel Canto, which was published in 2001 and won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the Women’s Prize for Fiction.

Many of Patchett’s novels use both California and the American South as settings. She is best known for her ability to create dynamic and multi-dimensional characters. Patchett has been “lauded for her skillful use of multiple narrative voices and points of view within her novels” (“Ann Patchett.” Contemporary Literary Criticism, edited by Jeffrey W. Hunter, Gale, 2008). The Patron Saint of Liars utilizes this form of narration, allowing Patchett to explore a messy family history through different points of view.

Patchett often writes about “unconventional love and personal transformation […] [often], the stories seem to unfold in a romanticized space devoid of a larger social, political, or historical context” (“Ann Patchett”).