The acclaimed best-selling author – winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize – tells the enthralling story of how an unexpected romantic encounter irrevocably changes two families’ lives.
One Sunday afternoon in Southern California, Bert Cousins shows up at Franny Keating’s christening party uninvited. Before evening falls, he has kissed Franny’s mother, Beverly – thus setting in motion the dissolution of their marriages and the joining of two families.
Spanning five decades, Commonwealth explores how this chance encounter reverberates through the lives of the four parents and six children involved. Spending summers together in Virginia, the Keating and Cousins children forge a lasting bond that is based on a shared disillusionment with their parents and the strange and genuine affection that grows up between them.
When, in her 20s, Franny begins an affair with the legendary author Leon Posen and tells him about her family, the story of her siblings is no longer hers to control. Their childhood becomes the basis for his wildly successful book, ultimately forcing them to come to terms with their losses, their guilt, and the deeply loyal connection they feel for one another.
Told with equal measures of humor and heartbreak, Commonwealth is a meditation on inspiration, interpretation, and the ownership of stories. It is a brilliant and tender tale of the far-reaching ties of love and responsibility that bind us together.
absolutely brilliant and totally captivating Commonwealth by Ann Patchett is a very highly recommended domestic saga involving four parents and six children, and covering five decades. Commonwealth is one of the best books I have had the pleasure to read this year.
Immediately Engrossing! Ann Patchett’s new novel, “Commonwealth”, surpassed my expectations and solidly earned a spot on my “Best of 2016” list. This character-driven domestic drama swept me up into the lives of the Cousins and Keating families as Patchett deftly revealed secrets and tragedies over the span of five decades. Be assured that “Commonwealth” is not without Patchett’s wry humor, after all, it IS about family.
Beautifully and observantly told This is the story of two families: Bert and Teresa who have three children with a fourth on the way, and Fix and Beverly who have two daughters. When Bert and Beverly end up together, the lives of the six children become linked. Despite the fact that for most of the time each set of children will live with their respective mothers, each summer they will all be united and will run wild together. Eventually, a tragedy will occur, which each will be permanently marked by.