Commonwealth, The Dark Circle and Mothering Sunday

Not my favourite Ann Patchett novel. I preferred Run, State of Wonder, The Magician's Assistant and (especially) Bel Canto. For the most part, Commonwealth is not an uplifting family drama. It could have done with more humour and a lighter touch. It's all about the six children and the two sets of parents. Timelines crossover and the sometimes complicated relationships make for a pretty mesmerising first half. But once I learnt to remember who was who, it made for a more satisfactory second.

I would have said that Franny, the child whose Christening opens the story, is the main character. And of the nine long chapters, she appears in seven. We could have done with more of Jeanette and Albie. In the hot Brooklyn apartment "The radiator hissed and clanked like someone was beating it to death with a lead pipe down in the basement. A humidifier blew a steady mist through the tiny room, very possibly an attempt to create a sub-Saharan climate in this Brooklyn terrarium". Yes, Patchetts's writing is still as good as ever.

The Dark Circle contains a raft of wonderful characters (we really get under their skin in more than one way), with superb dialogue and lots of wit. Linda Grant does come up with something special given the lack of a plot. A story set in an isolated sanatorium for sufferers of tuberculosis is all about the patients and the staff. The setting is 1950 (I was five so much of the background of post war England is familiar). Linda Grant is such a good writer you get carried away with the lives of young twins Lenny and Miriam and all those they meet.

For such a short book (actually a novella) Mothering Sunday packs plenty of punch. In 1924, Jane Fairchild is a maid who spends the day from which the book has it's title, with the son of friends of her employer. Or should I say morning, as Paul has to meet his bride to be for lunch. So Jane has plenty of time to explore the empty mansion and contemplate her young life. Then halfway through, just a few words changes everything.

Then in an intricate construction the author turns everything on it's head until regaining forward momentum towards the end. How Graham Swift is able to delve so deep into the characters and say so much about the human condition in such a short book is amazing. I was sorry that it only lasted a couple of days.