The United Earth Commonwealth has enjoyed half-a-century of prosperity and peace, reaching far into the stars, its superiority unquestioned and unrivalled. Its people are happy and well-fed, without a single need being neglected.All that changes when the alien N'xin Hegemony makes contact with them. Aggressively xenophobic, the N'xin begin a methodical crusade against the unsuspecting and unprepared Commonwealth. For the first time in generations, the people of the Commonwealth know fear and hunger. James Hunter finds himself a reluctant hero, signing up to fight in a war to protect his family and way of life. But as the war wages on, he may end up paying a price far higher than anyone else...

“Exquisite... Commonwealth is impossible to put down.” — New York Times #1 New York Times Bestseller | NBCC Award Finalist | New York Times Best Book of the Year | USA Today Best Book | TIME Magazine Top 10 Selection | Oprah Favorite Book | New York Magazine Best Book of The Year The acclaimed, bestselling author—winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize—tells the enthralling story of how an unexpected romantic encounter irrevocably changes two families’ lives. One Sunday afternoon in Southern California, Bert Cousins shows up at Franny Keating’s christening party uninvited. Before evening falls, he has kissed Franny’s mother, Beverly—thus setting in motion the dissolution of their marriages and the joining of two families. Spanning five decades, Commonwealth explores how this chance encounter reverberates through the lives of the four parents and six children involved. Spending summers together in Virginia, the Keating and Cousins children forge a lasting bond that is based on a shared disillusionment with their parents and the strange and genuine affection that grows up between them. When, in her twenties, Franny begins an affair with the legendary author Leon Posen and tells him about her family, the story of her siblings is no longer hers to control. Their childhood becomes the basis for his wildly successful book, ultimately forcing them to come to terms with their losses, their guilt, and the deeply loyal connection they feel for one another. Told with equal measures of humor and heartbreak, Commonwealth is a meditation on inspiration, interpretation, and the ownership of stories. It is a brilliant and tender tale of the far-reaching ties of love and responsibility that bind us together.

All 3 books in the Humanx Commonwealth trilogy -- Phylogenesis, Dirge, and Diuturnity's Dawn -- in one volume.