The tangled relationships that develop between them all will likely be familiar to anyone who comes from a blended family themselves. Patchett follows the two families over the next five decades, tracing the ways their lives fold into one another. When he develops a sudden passion for the hostess, he sets in motion the dissolution of both marriages and within a few years the Keating and Cousins children are spending their summers together in Virginia. Looking to escape his wife Teresa and their four children, Bert Cousins shows up uninvited (and with an unexpected bottle of gin in hand) to Beverly and Fix Keating’s christening party for their second daughter. The story opens on a stiflingly hot day in 1960s Southern California. Commonwealth is an immersive read that drops you right into the thick of one such family. If you enjoy stories that explore the nuances of big, messy, irresistible families, then this new novel from Orange Prize-winning author Ann Patchett is for you.
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