In this week's edition of Endnotes, we take a look at Patrick Cottrell's Afternoon Hours of a Hermit, which follows a trans author who returns to his childhood home after receiving a mysterious envelope in the mail with a childhood photo of his deceased brother.

Here's how the book came together:

Patrick Cottrell

Author

“I wanted to write about someone who is struggling to be seen and understood by his family, but I didn’t know how to actually begin it. I glanced at some blurbs of a mystery novel on my desk; the book, Olga Tokarczuk’s Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead, was described as both a fairy tale and a philosophical examination. At the time, I hadn’t read the book, but I wanted to write something that could be described as such. When I read those blurbs, a portal opened.”

Kate Johnson

Agent, Wolf Literary Services

“Our priority above all was finding the right, intuitive fit for the novel, so in deciding to include additional places in our submission—McSweeney’s had published Patrick’s first novel so beautifully—we were very editor-led: Who were the smart, exciting, attentive people in the industry who would get it? Deborah blew us away with a passionate, perceptive four-page letter at that early stage.”

Deborah Ghim

Senior Editor, Ecco

“I was a fan of Patrick’s before I even began my publishing career—back when I was a regular-degular reader, I loved his debut novel. So to have acquired Afternoon Hours of a Hermit, which revisits the same characters and continues the world of that first book, is meaningful in ways I don’t even know how to properly articulate.”

Alex Merto

Cover Designer

“The book is structured around traces, clues, and unanswered questions rather than resolution. The fingerprint reflects that sense of evidence without explanation, while the apple shape keeps the image grounded and human. The small caterpillar detail mirrors the way the book lingers on minor marks and fragments that slowly take on meaning.”