What is the importance of Nashville, Tennessee in the collection, These Precious Days: Essays?

Nashville, Tennessee is the town in which Patchett primarily grew up. After her mother divorced her father, Frank, she moved the family to Nashville. Because Patchett spent the majority of her childhood in this city, she grew attached to the place. Throughout the years, it was always the city she returned to on holidays and between varying phases of her life.

Patchett continues to live in Nashville with her second husband, Karl. The bookstore, Parnassus Books, is also located in this city.

Patchett's life in Nashville is defined not only by her domestic rituals and marital dynamics, but by the community she has fostered here. Parnassus Books is central to this community.