Ann Patchett's novels are careful studies of how people cope with extreme situations—whether it's being taken hostage  by militants at a dinner party or venturing deep into the rainforest to rescue a missing colleague. So perhaps it's no surprise that the first thing she noticed upon stopping by Boston Public Radio was the extreme situation hosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagan find themselves in on a daily basis—that is, the extremely untidy state of their radio studio. (To be fair, it's a complete mess.)

Patchett's latest novel, "Commonwealth," is a variation on that familiar theme. It's the story of how a spontaneous, gin-soaked kiss at a christening party binds two families together forever. But it's also, according to her, the story most directly inspired by her own life. Patchett joined BPR to discuss "Commonwealth" and her bookstore, Parnassus Books —but not before, of course, commenting on the state of Studio 3.

PATCHETT: I’m a cleaner. I used to smoke. I loved smoking! It was really great. When I was writing, when I got stuck I would stop and have a cigarette, and it was great to think and smoke. But you either die or you quit—those are your two choices. I quit a long time ago. But now I clean in that moment when I get stuck in a scene and I don’t know what to do, I get the vacuum out and vacuum a room. I have to say, all my little cleaning impulses are firing right now.

MARGERY: Jim, let’s face it, it’s a mess.

PATCHETT: What’s with the open box of raisins? Thank God it’s not television.

JIM: We do a three-hour radio show, and one gets hungry. Would you like a raisin? But the way, since you’re outing us, this is chicken and rice soup I made over the weekend in a crockpot.

PATCHETT: Which weekend?

MARGERY: This is an observant woman, needless to say. Tell us about your book, your first autobiographical novel ever, "Commonwealth," which is wonderful. Tell us about it.

PATCHETT: I only write one book, so they’re really all autobiographical novels. I write the same book over and over again: a group of strangers thrown together by circumstance and form a society. It’s "The Lord of the Flies," "The Poseidon Adventure," all of that. I used to make really elaborate sets and costumes for my characters so no one would recognize my family. This time, I just decided to stop making the sets and the costumes. It’s much closer to home. It’s not exactly my family, but the structure of my family, yes.

JIM: You’re 52, and you've said something like, ‘I should have written this when I was 25.’ What did that mean?

PATCHETT: I think that most writers write, as we say, a roman a clef for their first book. Their first book tends to be autobiographical. It was very important to me, actually, that no one would read my book and know anything about my family. I just thought it was polite. I went to Catholic school for 12 years. I thought you weren’t supposed to air your laundry—not that anything so bad had happened—but it just seemed like I didn’t want to sell my family down the river. Now, at 52, I’m happy to sell my family down the river.

JIM: Except you’re not! Because in another interview you did a while ago, you said you sent the manuscript—pre-publication and submission—to your relatives. So you were concerned. Assuming one of them said, 'I’m uncomfortable with the description of the character who is most like me,' what would you have done?

PATCHETT: I would have changed it.

JIM: Did you get any of that?

PATCHETT: One of my stepsisters said I had overused the word ‘pyromaniac.’ That was the only note I got back from anybody in the family. She said, 'just do a word search on it.' Sure enough, I had used the word 'pyromaniac' like 20 times in the book. And it was a very good note, it was very helpful.

MARGERY: It’s daring to do that, because you have a big, extended family and if people had complained it would have been a very big dilemma for you. You’re gallant to do that. 

ANN: These weren't strangers. It wasn’t so risky. They were people I knew really well. I had a good idea. I had also talked to them at every step of the process, this is what I’m doing. It is really based on us. It’s going to be different. Is this okay?

MARGERY: So did this bottle of gin that begins this mess at the christening, when people are having one too many cocktails, is this what happened in the split up of your family?

PATCHETT: Not true. There was no gin involved in the dissolution of my family, that I know of. I was quite small. But, you know, my sibling, my stepsiblings, my parents, they were all great. What I said was, 'listen, I want to be able to use everything in my life. I want to be able to grow as a writer. I want to stop writing the same book over and over again. So maybe if I just write this in a more straightforward way, I can grow and move on.' They were very supportive and loving.

MARGERY: Is there a lesson in this on the blended family?

PATCHETT: I don’t know fi there’s a lesson, but I think there’s a realistic portrayal of the blended family. That’s something I don’t ever see! This book has four parents, six children, takes place over fifty-two years, five locations, two countries, and a novelist. It’s big and messy and could go off forever. This is a 320-page book. It could have been an 1800-page book so easily. Admire my restraint!

To hear more from Ann Patchett, tune in to Boston Public Radio above. You can also see Ann Patchett read from "Commonwealth" tonight at the Harvard Book Store.  This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.