After reading Kindred I wasn’t quite ready to give up historical fiction. Especially southern historical fiction. In Common was just what I needed. Let’s get to my thoughts.
Synopsis
Lillian Creekmore grows up at her family’s popular rural spa. She successfully runs an entire hotel, yet longs for a husband. Then she meets Will Hughes.
Velma Vernon accepts life on a small, struggling farm until a boy she barely tolerates proposes marriage. To accept means duplicating her parents’ hard life. Alone, she leaves for the city and triumphs, not as a wife, but by being the best at her job. Velma is content until the most beautiful man she has ever seen walks into her office.
This moving and darkly humorous novel follows the intertwined lives of women willing to surrender everything to a man.
My Thoughts on In Common
Once I started In Common, I couldn’t put it down. Watkins writing style is so lush and descriptive. I felt like I was immersed in the story. There was one particular scene at the very beginning where Velma was helping her uncle plant onions and I felt like I was right there with her. I could smell the turned dirt and feel the slight chill of a southern spring morning. Then my heart broke with Velma at the event to come. The whole story made me feel a whirlwind of emotions that I wasn’t expecting.
When I read the reviews before picking up In Common I was worried when several people mentioned that it was all about two women in a quest for the love of one man. I’m not generally a romance or love triangle reader. But it goes so much deeper than that. We follow these women as they face trails in their day-to-day life. It’s an insight to the lives of women from this era, and frankly it’s eye opening.
If you want an astounding character driven novel set in the Deep South this one’s for you.
