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"I publish the banns of marriage between Cynthia Clary Coppersmith of the
parish of the Chapel of our Lord and Savior and Father Timothy Andrew
Kavanagh, rector of this parish. If any of you know just cause why they may
not be joined together in Holy Matrimony, you are bidden to declare it…"
It is the biggest event to take place in Mitford in years…perhaps ever. In A
COMMON LIFE, the sixth book in the best-selling Mitford Years series, Jan
Karon takes readers back in time to the wedding of Father Timothy Kavanagh
and Cynthia Coppersmith. For Mitford fans, A COMMON LIFE is a long time in
coming. When the third book, THESE HIGH, GREEN HILLS, opens, Father Tim and
Cynthia are married already, and it is left to the reader to imagine the
wedding. Until now.
A lifelong bachelor, 62-year-old Father Tim wrestles with his heart and
searches his soul before finally getting down on bended knee to propose
marriage to Cynthia, his next door neighbor. There is no keeping a secret in
a small town, and delightful chaos follows once the news of the impending
nuptials gets around. Soon, all of Mitford is talking about the wedding, and
Father Tim feels as if he is caught in the eye of a hurricane. "The tidal
wave, the firestorm, the volcanic spew --- all the things he's dreaded had
come at last, and all at once…. Well-wishers bellowed their felicitations
across the street, rang his phone off the hook at home and office, and
generally made a commotion over the fact that he had feelings like the rest
of the common horde." As anyone who has ever planned a wedding knows, things
have a way of going unexpectedly awry, and Father Tim and Cynthia's wedding
is no exception.
By turns hilarious and poignant, A COMMON LIFE is less about the wedding
itself and more about the reactions, emotions, and behaviors of the Mitford
residents. How does Dooley feel about sharing Father Tim's attention? Will
Cynthia ask Esther Bolick to make her famous orange marmalade cake? Is Father
Tim ready to give up bachelorhood --- and is his parish ready to let him?
Will Miss Sadie and Louella find the perfect outfits to wear? As preparations
for the wedding get underway, it inspires many in Mitford to reflect on their
own lives, loves, and losses.
Karon never gets overly sentimental, tempering potentially saccharine
situations with humor. One example where Karon's wit shines through is a
scene in which Father Tim is trying in vain to write a poem for his intended,
searching through books of poetry for inspiration and finally declaring that
"the good stuff has already been written." And even though he is "a muddle of
happiness and confusion, as if his brain had been stirred like so much
porridge," Father Tim has the ability to be honest with himself: "His heart
had pulled away when he felt happiness with her; each time the joy came, he
had retreated, filled with the fear of losing himself." This is what makes
Karon's characters so wonderful --- they aren't perfect. They have doubts,
anxieties, and fears, and they even succumb to the occasional stab of
jealousy.
Father Tim and Cynthia's wedding is a coup for Mitford --- and for Mitford
fans --- and it deserves to be chronicled in its own book. At only 186 pages,
though, it's a bit slim, and it feels as if some of the details have been
left out. About two-thirds of the way through the story the narrative jumps
forward several months to the day before the wedding, making the transition
between these chapters too abrupt. But this is an age-old complaint from
readers of serial novels: I want more of my favorite characters!
You wouldn't go to a stranger's wedding, so if you have yet to visit "the
little town with the big heart," A COMMON LIFE should not be your first foray
into Mitford. Start with the initial book in the series, AT HOME IN MITFORD,
and then read one or two of the subsequent books. Jan Karon has said that she
wrote the Mitford novels to "give readers an extended family." First get to
know the characters, and you'll savor A COMMON LIFE all the more.
--- Reviewed by Shannon McKenna
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