Commonwealth

Patchett, Ann

ISBN 10: 0062491792 / ISBN 13: 9780062491794

Published by Harper, 2016

About this Item

Item in very good condition! Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. Seller Inventory # 00082889812

Bibliographic Details

Title: Commonwealth

Publisher: Harper

Publication Date: 2016

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis:

#1 New York Times Bestseller

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.

Review:

Praise for Commonwealth
"Patchett brings humanity, humor, and a disarming affection to lovable, struggling characters... Irresistible."--Library Journal

"(A) rich and engrossing new novel ..."--New York Times Book Review

"Commonwealth represents yet another victory for Patchett. Readers will fly through it... the tale is so rich and the plot is so wildly addicting, readers won't be able to put it down until they've turned the final page."--Hampton Sheet

"The genius of the way Patchett approached Commonwealth is that it's constructed like a puzzle... Maybe it's another case of the tried-and-true adage: "Write what you know." Because this book? It's pure gangbusters."--San Francisco Chronicle

"moving, beautifully crafted novel..."--Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"Commonwealth is a sly book about storytelling, a story about a single incident - really two pivotal incidents - spun out over the length of a narrative constructed like a conversation but encompassing decades."--Kansas City Star

"splendid new novel... Just try to stop reading. And you won't want to. Patchett is in stellar form."--USA Today

"close obervation, deadpan humor... Chekhov regularly invoked"--Wall Street Journal

"Exquisite... Commonwealth is impossible to put down."--New York Times

"Indeed, this is Patchett's most autobiographical novel, a sharply funny, chilling, entrancing, and profoundly affecting look into one family's "commonwealth," its shared affinities, conflicts, loss, and love."--Booklist