These Precious Days Ann by Patchett,

Honest, funny essays on family and friends. In Three Fathers, opposite a photograph of herself with her father and two stepfathers, Patchett remembers her sister Heather’s second marriage (Ann married twice; her mother three times). “When I realised all three would be at the wedding – the family equivalent of a total solar eclipse … I wanted a picture of that.” “You know what she’s doing, don’t you?” said stepfather one. “She’s going to wait until the three of us are dead, write about us and this is the picture that will run.”

“That is exactly what I’m doing now.” In Sisters Patchett recalls cashiers asking, “Are you two sisters?” “My friends were all in love with my mother, her zip-up boots and E-type Jaguar. ‘She’s more like a sister,’ not meaning we looked alike.”