I listened to much of this audiobook twice because my walking (and listening) were interrupted by sickness. There are few books that I would be agreeable to listening to twice in such short order. Run, and probably most books by Ann Patchett are like comfort food — satisfying, pleasing, and leaving something with you.
The story moves along pretty predictably, though compellingly, but it is the characters that provide the comfort. They are all lovable, even the rascal is a dear. The patriarch, a former mayor of Boston and his saintly wife, after having one son, are unable to have other children, so they adopt brothers who are black. The wife dies quite young, and the father lavishes all his love on the boys. The older brother apparently displayed his rascality early on as the father focuses on creating politicians of Tip and Teddy, the two adopted boys. Clearly he had a plan from the moment of their appearance. Their birth mother turns up at an opportune moment, pushing Tip out of the path of a car which hits her. It develops that the birth mother and her younger daughter have been shadowing the family for all of Tip and Teddy’s lives.
The focus on the good qualities of all the characters makes this a fairy tale, except that there is no wicked witch. What a treat.