The Great Read: 71 and a First-Time Novelist: ‘I Was Tenacious and I Kept Coming Back’
For 50 years, Patricia Finn kept to the background and told other people’s stories. Now, in “The Golden Boy,” she’s finally telling one of her own.
The New York Times
The Great Read

February 27, 2026, 2:00 p.m. Eastern time

On weekdays and Sundays, we recommend one piece of exceptional writing from The Times — a narrative or essay that takes you someplace you might not expect to go.

A smiling woman with gray hair stands in a room. A bookshelf and a piano with sheet music are visible behind her.

Alana Paterson for The New York Times

71 and a First-Time Novelist: ‘I Was Tenacious and I Kept Coming Back’

For 50 years, Patricia Finn kept to the background and told other people’s stories. Now, in “The Golden Boy,” she’s finally telling one of her own.

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