{"product_id":"commonwealth-9781408880364","title":"Commonwealth","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eNext, dive into TOM LAKE – the breath-taking new novel from Ann Patchett\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Dazzling … life-affirming and compulsively readable' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Patchett blends wisdom and humanity jointly with the icy forensic gaze of someone not afraid to expose the frailties of human behaviour ... Read it' \u003c\/b\u003eJojo Moyes\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'\u003cb\u003eAn outstanding novel ... a master of her art' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eObserver\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is 1964: Bert Cousins shows up at Franny Keating’s christening party uninvited and notices a heart stoppingly beautiful woman. When he kisses Beverly Keating, his host’s wife, he sets in motion the joining of two families, whose shared fate will be defined on a day seven years later.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 1988, Franny Keating, now twenty-four, is working as a cocktail waitress in Chicago. When she meets the famous author Leon Posen one night at the bar, and tells him about her family, she unwittingly relinquishes control over their story…\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eDetails\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eISBN13: 9781408880364\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFormat: Paperback \/ softback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNumber of Pages: 336\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEdition: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication Date: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication City, Country: London, United Kingdom\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDimensions (cm): 19.6(H)x13(L)x2.4(W)238\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWeight (gm): 238\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h4\u003eAnn Patchett is the author of six novels and three works of non-fiction. She has been shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction three times; with \u003ci\u003eThe Magician’s Assistant\u003c\/i\u003e in 1998, winning the prize with \u003ci\u003eBel Canto\u003c\/i\u003e in 2002, and was most recently shortlisted with \u003ci\u003eState of Wonder\u003c\/i\u003e in 2012. She is also the winner of the PEN\/Faulkner Award and was named one of \u003ci\u003eTime \u003c\/i\u003emagazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2012. Her work has been translated into more than thirty languages. She is the co-owner of Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee, where she lives with her husband, Karl.\u003ch4\u003eReviews\u003c\/h4\u003ePatchett blends wisdom and humanity jointly with the icy forensic gaze of someone not afraid to expose the frailties of human behaviour ... Read it -- Jojo Moyes\u003cbr\u003ePart of Patchett’s design is to curve every type, bend every cliché, adulterate every formula … Subtle, startling and painful ... \u003ci\u003eCommonwealth\u003c\/i\u003e is one of the most discerning novels about siblings I can recall … Alive with provocative insights that sum up entire relationships -- Sarah Churchwell * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003eStunning -- India Knight * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003eHugely entertaining and an unsettling joy to read -- Roddy Doyle * Irish Times *\u003cbr\u003eAn outstanding novel ... The opening is a show stopper … Patchett is a pleasure to read: there is a no-fuss casualness to the prose that is only possible when a writer is in control of every word and she is master of her art * Observer *\u003cbr\u003eThe opening scene …. is a faultless set piece ... Her prose is equally powerful when she’s evoking a 1970s summer in Virginia … Patchett deftly summons up a simmering childhood anger and dangerously ricocheting energy * The Times *\u003cbr\u003ePatchett writes excellently and seemingly artlessly * Daily Mail *\u003cbr\u003eDazzling … sharply observed, ripe with humour, laden with significance … Her characters shimmer with life-likeness, and she pulls you into every one of her vibrantly drawn scenes with great ease … The combination of lightness, warmth and remarkable incisiveness creates a novel that is life-affirming and compulsively readable * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003eThe book flows easily between narrators, constantly switching from past to present, and slowly revealing what happened that summer, allowing Patchett to play with memory and perspective to surprisingly moving effect ... \u003ci\u003eCommonwealth \u003c\/i\u003eis a book about relationships and the obligations they bring .. Poignant ... funny ...  An engaging novel that draws you in with sharp observation, a gin-fuelled plot written in beautiful prose and convincing dialogue. You miss the characters once it’s over * Evening Standard *\u003cbr\u003eShe achieves the great novel of American domestic life with a spare hand and a demotic prose that seems to come from the mouths of her characters, even when they aren’t speaking … Her unshowy account of public and private stories addresses the great puzzle of what our lives are really made of ... This novel convinces me she’s wiping the floor with her heftier competitors -- Linda Grant * Daily Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eCommonwealth\u003c\/i\u003e is full of heart, and is Patchett’s most complex and emotionally suspenseful novel. She never hits a wrong note although she conjures with many deftly drawn characters. The opening chapter is one of the best party-scene seductions ever written -- Louise Erdrich, author of The Beet Queen\u003cbr\u003eShe is one of those rare writers, like Anne Enright or Anne Tyler, who is able to convey poignancy and humour in the space of a single sentence -- Elizabeth Day * Irish Times *\u003cbr\u003eSo clear and clean and at the top of her game ... It is just so masterfully done. The sweep of it and the subtlety of the ideas -- Esther Freud\u003cbr\u003eBeautiful -- Katie Roiphe * Observer *\u003cbr\u003eFrom the mesmerising first chapter to the final page, Ann Patchett’s new novel is utterly brilliant. This domestic drama deals in loyalties, sibling rivalries, jealously and heartbreak in an effortlessly graceful style that makes for unputdownable reading * Sunday Express *\u003cbr\u003eGorgeously evocative writing and complex characters ... Patchett is a writer of exceptional talent, and this is one of her best yet * Good Housekeeping *\u003cbr\u003eA deft craftsman … Patchett ultimately wins the reader over with her perceptive qualities, alluring characters and undertone of humour … In \u003ci\u003eCommonwealth\u003c\/i\u003e, Patchett’s nimble storytelling floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee * Literary Review *\u003cbr\u003eThis delicate exploration of the ties that bind us never seems to lose focus * Stylist *\u003cbr\u003eAn absorbing, brilliantly observed novel * Women \u0026amp; Home *\u003cbr\u003eRich and engrossing … her observations about people and life are insightful; and her underlying tone is one of compassion and amusement … Patchett also skilfully illustrates the way that seemingly minor, even arbitrary decisions can have long-lasting consequences and the way that we often fear the wrong things -- Curtis Sittenfeld * New York Times *\u003cbr\u003eDelicious. From the moment a kiss at a christening ends up sparking the divide and re-merging of two families, I was drawn into the minutiae of the drama ... Patchett makes you feel like you’ve lived among it and have been subsumed into the newly drawn clan * Grazia *\u003cbr\u003eHumourous and heartbreaking, this quietly brilliant collage of a novel also happens to be semi-autobiographical itself * Mail on Sunday *\u003cbr\u003eLife-affirming and compulsively readable * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003eTold with great sympathy and even greater wit – it should be said that \u003ci\u003eCommonwealth \u003c\/i\u003eis very funny indeed – this is a book to savour * The Lady *\u003cbr\u003eAt the heart of a novel is a family story that is appropriated by another character – an author – the consequences of which ripple out to every family member * Guardian Readers' Books of the Year *\u003cbr\u003eI want to tell you how good Ann Patchett is. She’s classy. She reminds me of Anne Tyler – superb at domestic details and very ambitious * Evening Standard *\u003cbr\u003ePatchett moves through the gears very smoothly, from sexual attraction to disease and violent death. Exciting, and also poignant * Independent *\u003cbr\u003eWhen the tragic power of the story hits the reader, the effect is breathtaking. Patchett sucker-punches you, but leaves you feeling you had it coming – whether for underestimating her, her characters, or humanity, it is hard to say’ -- Sarah Churchwell * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003eAn outstanding novel …  The opening is a show stopper ... Patchett is light, incisive and all-seeing ... She lets readers reflect on what is involved in stealing from life: emotional copyright is, in this unpushy and brilliant novel, more powerful than anyone dared suppose * Observer *\u003cbr\u003eAnn Patchett's cleverly crafted \u003ci\u003eCommonwealth\u003c\/i\u003e is one of her best, which for this writer is saying a great deal -- Geraldine Brooks * Sydney Morning Herald, Books of the Year 2017 *","brand":"Ann Patchett","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48745900376281,"sku":"9781408880364","price":22.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0502\/9530\/8441\/files\/718QFQiKs6L._SL1500_6aca1e29-4973-4272-b098-c6ca3856fb11.jpg?v=1779869586","url":"https:\/\/www.arielbooks.com.au\/products\/commonwealth-9781408880364","provider":"Ariel","version":"1.0","type":"link"}