These Precious Days: Essays

In the Introduction to These Precious Days, Ann Patchett describes how the collection of essays came to be. Although she had been in an essay-writing spate, after penning the title piece, Patchett decides she wants it to be housed in a book. This essay is about Patchett’s friend and artist, Sooki Raphael, who battled pancreatic cancer. Patchett invited Sooki to stay with her while participating in a clinical trial in Nashville, where Patchett lives. Early in the trial, the coronavirus pandemic struck, and Sooki was stranded at Patchett’s house for longer than anticipated. This allowed Patchett to witness and be a part of Sooki’s experience in an intimate way.

The emergence of the novel virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), led to a global pandemic. The first case of this severely contagious and deadly disease was identified in the Wuhan province in China in December 2019, leading the disease to be termed COVID-19. The high transmissibility of the virus, combined with disease symptoms ranging from undetectable to deadly, led to panic worldwide as the virus rapidly spread across borders and caused millions of deaths. The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a pandemic on March 11, 2020. By March 19, 2020, Italy overtook China in the death toll brought about by the virus (Italy Surpasses China), and the US topped the highest number of detected cases just a week later (U.S. Leads the World in Confirmed Cases).

Two measures taken by many countries worldwide to contain the disease were social distancing and lockdowns. Borders were closed, most public transportation was suspended or prohibited, and all aspects of public life were shut down as people were instructed by their respective governments to stay home and isolate. Such separation and isolation were unprecedented and unimaginable in a world otherwise easily connected by transportation and technology. The fear of being unable to reach loved ones who contracted the virus and fell ill was ubiquitous. In the Introduction, Patchett describes how thoughts of death usually haunt her when she writes fiction; for the first time, these thoughts arrived before she began a story. Similarly, in the title piece, Patchett describes Sooki’s worry about her 94-year-old mother, who was living alone in New York, the epicenter of the virus in the United States.

The themes explored in this collection are visibly influenced by the mood of the times. There are pieces Patchett penned during the pandemic, such as the title piece—the reflections resulting from Sooki’s stay with Patchett during the early months of the pandemic; she also reworked older pieces for this collection that revolve around similar themes. “Sisters” and “Tavia” are reworked pieces about people Patchett loves; “How to Practice” and “My Year of No Shopping” explore the process of letting go of material possessions; “Flight Plan” and “The Moment Nothing Changed” recount realizations about life and the things one holds dear.