Finished: Run (Patchett) A moving story about a man left with three young boys to raise after the death of his young wife. Always wanting a huge family, but only able to have one child of their own, the Doyles adopted two brothers, one a newborn and one 14 months old. They were fortunate in their lifestyle, and Bernard had been mayor of Boston. He continued to be a hands-on, good father, raising his three sons, Sullivan, twelve at the time of the adoption, and the babies, Tip and Teddy, after his wife's passing. The unusual thing about their family, but not at all unusual to any of them, was that Tip and Teddy were African American while the Doyles were Caucasian. The story picks up with Bernard still active in the lives of his college-aged younger boys, while Sullivan, who probably had the hardest time of all with his mother's death, is working in Africa, but really not living a great life. Ann Patchett is such a beautiful writer. She takes the reader into the depths of what each character is feeling and we see how each of them misses their mother and wife, and we see how much the younger boys adore and respect their father, but don't feel like they can live up to the expectations of what he would like them to do...follow a "meaningful" professional career of some sort like he did. Tip, the older, just wants to be an Ichthyologist. He's got a brilliant mind for science, and his father would like him to continue on to medical school, but he just wants to study fish! Teddy, the youngest, is very close to his mother's brother a priest, Uncle Sullivan, and finds himself being called to follow the same profession. One night, as Bernard insists that the boys meet him on the Harvard campus, where Tip goes to school, for yet another political speech, this one by Jesse Jackson, Tip finally decides to tell his dad after the speech that he's definitely not going to medical school. They are trudging through a downfall of snow, and Tip is walking backwards in front of his dad, talking to him, when an SUV comes out of nowhere headed straight for Tip, who has accidentally stepped off the curb. In the blink of an eye, a woman throws herself at Tip, pushing him out of the way and taking the full brunt of the impact. Her eleven year old daughter, Kenya, is beside herself and rushes to her mother's side. Both Tip and the woman are transported to the hospital, but while Tip gets away with just a sprained ankle, the woman, whose name is Tennessee, is fighting for her life and needs surgery. Kenya sits alone at the hospital and Bernard realizes that she means to stay there with her mom all night. When Kenya starts talking to them, though, she reveals that she already knows each one of them. Her mother is the biological mother of Tip and Teddy and has watched over them their entire lives with Kenya in tow. Needless to say, all of the Doyle's are flabbergasted and are not sure whether to believe it or not. However, the most important thing to Bernard at the moment is that Kenya has no other family and no where to go, so he insists that she come home with them and they'll take her right back to see her mother in the morning.  When they arrive home from the hospital they are shocked that 33 year old Sullivan has arrived from Africa for a surprise visit. And so, begins the story of the relationship between each of the Doyle men and Kenya. They are all very kind to her, in particular Sullivan, who has always cherished his little brothers, even though you'd think that he might resent them suddenly getting all the attention when they were adopted. Now, he sees that this bright young girl has entered their lives and might just take all the attention away from the boys. Both Tip and Teddy grapple with the notion that their biological mother is lying in the hospital hovering between life and death. I'm not going to give any more details, because there are a couple of surprises, but it is a lovely book. Oh, and Tip is so excited when Kenya is genuinely interested in all the fish in the jars when he takes her to his lab at Harvard! Also, Kenya is an amazing track runner, hence the name of the book. She is destined to be in the Olympics some day! Even though there were some sad moments in the book, it was, for me, a heartwarming book that made me feel good at the end. :-)