From the Bookshelf of Tyler Public Library…

[close] Two families are pulled asunder when Bert Cousins, uninvited, brings a bottle of gin to Franny Keating’s’ christening party and lays eyes on her beautiful mother, Beverly Keating. The two Keating daughters will live in Virginia with Bert and Bev, while the four Cousins children remain in Los Angeles with their abandoned, exhausted mother. This is a reality tale which is often difficult to read because of the children’s deep sadness. The six step-siblings form a close alliance when every summer, the four Keating children fly to Virginia to spend three months with their father and step-mother. The story flips backs and forth in time, giving the reader a sense of how loss and pain have informed the adult lives of the six children. Few authors can create characters as real as Patchett’s and by the time the novel ends, this dysfunctional family will have become part of the reader. Commonwealth is beautifully written and there is a great deal to ponder long after the story has ended