Have you ever been to Provincetown? It’s a hell of a town. Nestled amongst tourist hamlets at the outermost tip of Cape Cod, it has inexplicably become a magnet for bohemian culture and boasts one of the largest gay populations in Massachusetts. Many a vacationing family has unwittingly driven out there only to their very foundations irrevocably rocked.

Hyperbole, yes, but the town still would make a fantastic setting for your first novel, except that Annie Dillard beat you to it. Her latest is called The Maytrees and follows the post-WWII marriage of bohemian couple Toby and Lou Bigelow from its tipsy, when-a-young-man’s-fancy-turns-to-love beginnings to its crumbling, adulterous descent some twenty-five years later.

Described on her barnesandnoble.com author page as being a “gregarious recluse”, Dillard emerged to briefly discuss The Maytrees on NPR over the weekend. Listen to the full interview and read an excerpt.