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.


備受肯定的熱銷作家兼美國筆會／福克納小說獎及柑橘獎得主安．派契特娓娓道來一段引人入勝的故事，描寫一次突如其來的浪漫邂逅如何對兩個家庭造成無法挽回的轉變。

南加州的某個週日午後，伯特・考辛斯不請自來地現身芙蘭尼・基廷的受洗派對。黑夜降臨前，伯特親吻了芙蘭尼的母親貝佛莉，從此兩段婚姻分崩離析、兩個家庭糾葛不清。本書劇情跨越 50 年，探究這場突如其來的邂逅如何牽動 2 對父母親和 6 個孩子的一生。基廷和考辛斯家的孩子在維吉尼亞州一起度過好多個暑假，也因此培養了長久的情誼，他們對父母都不抱期望，這段奇特且真實的情感也伴隨著他們成長。芙蘭尼 20 多歲時和知名作家里昂・珀森談了一場不倫戀，她對里昂訴說自己家庭的點滴，此後芙蘭尼和她手足的家內事再也不是秘密。

她們的童年點滴被寫進里昂書裡，成為一本極受歡迎的著作，這本書最終迫使芙蘭尼和她的手足接受彼此的失去、罪惡感以及對彼此深摯的忠誠。

本書充滿幽默風趣和令人心碎的故事情節，著重對靈感、詮釋和故事情節主導者的沈思。

這則令人驚艷且溫情的故事，述說愛與責任的深切牽絆使我們連結在一起。