“The trouble with dying,” a mother says in Anne Tyler’s new novel, “is that you don’t get to see how everything turns out. You won’t know the ending.” “But, Mom,” replies her daughter, “there is no ...

A lopsided pottery house sits on a high shelf in Anne Tyler’s writing room. The handicraft belonged to the novelist’s mother, who made it in her retirement home as her mind was starting to fade. Ms.

There’s a reason why Pulitzer Prize winner Anne Tyler (The Accidental Tourist) is one of America’s most-read authors. She combines emotional complexity with wholly relatable material in observational ...