I gave him the two pages in which the painting is mentioned in the novel and based on those two pages, he did the painting in three days. I called my friend Noah Saterstrom (who also lives in Nashville) and asked him to paint Maeve’s portrait. This turned out better than I ever could have imagined. I wanted the portrait of Maeve to be on the cover. It was very important to me not to have any part of a house on the cover of the book. My friend Melissa Pinney lives in Evanston and I’ve never seen so many gorgeous houses in my life, but a big part of Commonwealth took place in Chicago, and I didn’t want to set another book there. I thought about setting the book in Evanston, Illinois, and Chicago. All the Buchsbaums were tremendously helpful. I wanted to set The Dutch House somewhere near New York and so this seemed like the perfect location, plus there was the added benefit of being able to ask Erica and her sisters and her parents questions about where Danny and Maeve went to school, what trains they would take from the city, and where they would live as their fortunes rose and fell. Her family lived in Wyncote, and I used to go home with her for the weekends and holidays when we were in school.
The reason I set the book in Elkins Park is because of my friend Erica Schultz (née Buchsbaum). Why did you set The Dutch House in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania? I later moved the whole thing into my novel, china closet and all. I used to babysit the president’s daughter and spent a lot of time in that house. Interestingly, the vice president’s house in Bel Canto was based on an actual house - the president’s house at Sarah Lawrence College. I’ve taken bits and pieces from great houses I’ve been in over my life and run those details together - carved wooden panels, the dining room ceiling, a tiny kitchen in a grand house, the staircase, the ability to see through certain houses. The important thing is that the Dutch House in the book conjures up that feeling. It could have been a museum or a historical home. It may have been someplace you lived or someplace you drove past once. Everyone has a house or houses they think are spectacular.
It exists in my imagination and in the reader’s imagination. I hope this covers any questions you might have. I’ve been getting a lot of questions about The Dutch House, more than I can possibly answer individually, so I’ve put together a list of answers.
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