In Common: A Novel of Love and Sacrifice

Lillian Creekmore marries Will Hughes to get a better life for herself than looking after the family hotel can provide. Velma Vernon moves to the city and becomes a secretary for similar reasons. Bit by bit, the two of them find their lives revolving around Will.

At first, the book intrigued me. I’ve always loved books about the boundaries the world puts around women, and how they must either adapt to them or force some change in their immediate surroundings. Beginning in the 1930s, the book takes place over decades that were pivotal both in allowing and curtailing women’s freedom. Lillian and Velma are at first perfect foils in this.

As the book goes on, spanning those decades, it begins to grow dull and even repetitive at points. I lost interest in Velma earlier than I would have liked when she began to stagnate. By the end, I felt almost as though I had read a horror novel. If that was the author’s intent, she did well, but it was such a subtle move I could not tell if that was truly her choice. While the book was beautiful, in the end, I failed to enjoy it.