Patrick deWitt Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Anthologies

Patrick deWitt is one of the famous Canadian screenwriter and author. He was born on March 06, 1975 in Sidney, Vancouver Island in British Colombia in Canada. Later, he went on to live in Washington and California. As of today, deWitt lives in Portland, Oregon, United States. He began his career as a novelist in the year 2009 with his debut novel titled Ablutions. It went on to become highly successful and was named as one of the Editors’ Choice Book by the New York Times. The second book written by author deWitt was titled The Sisters Brothers, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in the year 2011, as well as for the Scotiabank Giller Prize in the same year. The novel was such a huge hit that it was also nominated for the Governor General’s Award of a fiction novel in the English Language and the Trust Fiction Prize by the Rogers Writers in the year 2011. Author Patrick deWitt is one of only two authors from Canada to make the lists of all the four awards in the year 2011, the other one being author Esi Edugyan.

At the end of the year 2011, deWiit was announced as the winner of the Canadian Governor General’s Award and the Rogers Prize, In early next year, the novel was able to win the Stephen Leacock Award. Later, authors deWitt and Esi Edugyan were shortlisted as the nominees for the Walter Scott Prize in the year 2012 in the category of best historical fiction novel. Banking on the success of his initial couple of novels, author deWitt complete and released the third novel of his writing career, which was also listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize in the year 2015. Almost all the novels written by author deWitt are based on the literature and fiction genres. Other than writing interesting novels for most of the time of the day, deWitt likes to spend some quality time with his wife and son at his home located in Portland, Oregon. Author Patrick deWitt gives a lot of credit of his success as an author and screenwriter to his wife who, according to him, has supported him throughout his career and has encouraged a lot during the times of his struggle.

One of the initial novels of the few standalone novels written by author deWitt was titled ‘Ablutions: Notes for a Novel’, which was published in the year 2009 by the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt publishing house. The plot of this novel deals with the life of a Barman who works at the Hollywood bar and the events happening around him. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, Barman is introduced as working a famous Hollywood during the period of its decline. He seems to be amused morbidly by the continuous decay of the surrounding and watches the falls of the patrons into their oblivion of the night. During such declining times, Barman keeps making notes for his upcoming novels with the hope of getting them published once the situation becomes conducive for living. While still working at the declining bar in Hollywood, Barman hopes of uncovering some of the most deadly motives and secrets of the patrons. With that intention in mind, he makes tentative friendships with the a number of various pathological regulars of the bar. As he becomes successful in finding the ways to increase his tenure at the bar, he begins to work and serve himself even more than the customers at the bar. Due to this, it becomes extremely painful for him to spend the moments living outside the bar during breaks. Continuing with his work at the bar, Barman loses his wife and himself. He gets trapped by his loneliness and habits, and realizes that he is not going to survive for long if he does not put his work aside and take some break. In order to that, Barman hatches a terrible but necessary plan. He thinks of it as the only chance for his redemption and escaping away from the bar. With the unique plot and interesting set of characters, the novel proves to be a classic and a twisting description of addiction and its harmful consequences on the personal life of the addicts. Author Patrick deWitt has tried to give an exciting account about the below rock bottom, beyond the daily take, and behind the bar art of storytelling brilliantly. This helped him to reach out to a number of readers all over the world and helped author deWitt to establish himself as a successful and noteworthy author of the fiction genre.

One of the other novels written by author Patrick deWitt in the initial days of his writing career was titled ‘The Sisters Brothers’. It was published by the Ecco publishing house in the year 2011. The plot of this novel is set in Oregon and California in The United States and revolves around the lives of the main characters Eli Sisters, Hermann Kermit Warm, and Charlie Sisters. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, Hermann Kermit Warm is depicted as being about to die. A man named Commodore, who is very powerful and enigmatic has ordered the henchmen, Charlie and Eli Sisters to kill Hermann Kermit Warm. One of the Sisters brothers, Eli, does not seem to have an appetite for killing and drinking Whiskey like his brother Charlie. But, it appears that he is not known to do anything else. The prey that they are ordered to kill does not seem to be an easy target. While on his quest along with brother Charlie Sisters for killing Hermann Kermit Warm, Eli takes the road from Oregon City to the gold mining claim of Herman Kermit Warm in Sacramento, and begins to question the brutal acts for earning his living. He also begins to question the working for his boss Commodore as a henchman. By writing this novel, author deWitt has tried to pay homage to the style of of writing classic Western novels. He has also tried to transform it in a comic story. The novel seems to be full of remarkable characters as cheaters, losers, and protagonists as seen in all the walks of life. Even the compelling and complex style of narration is quite interesting. On the whole, this novel serves as a violent and lustful odyssey of the underworld life during the 1850s frontier and captures the humor, grit, and melancholy in a beautiful manner. The readers, critics, and the fellow authors appreciated author deWitt for his attempt of depicting the story of two brothers bound by violence, love, and blood.