"Exquisite. . .Commonwealth is impossible to put down." -- New York
Times**
#1 New York Times Bestseller NBCC Award Finalist New York Times
Best Book of the Year USA Today Best Book TIME Magazine Top 10
Selection Oprah Favorite Book New York Magazine Best Book of The
Year
The acclaimed, bestselling 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 twenties, 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.
