Blackout
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Audible Standard 30-day free trial
Buy Now for £17.61
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Narrated by:
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Katherine Kellgren
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Connie Willis
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By:
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Connie Willis
About this listen
In her first novel since 2002, Nebula and Hugo award-winning author Connie Willis returns with a stunning, enormously entertaining novel of time travel, war, and the deeds - great and small - of ordinary people who shape history.
Oxford in 2060 is a chaotic place. Scores of time-traveling historians are being sent into the past, to destinations including the American Civil War and the attack on the World Trade Center. Michael Davies is prepping to go to Pearl Harbor. Merope Ward is coping with a bunch of bratty 1940 evacuees and trying to talk her thesis adviser, Mr. Dunworthy, into letting her go to VE Day. Polly Churchill's next assignment will be as a shopgirl in the middle of London's Blitz. And 17-year-old Colin Templer, who has a major crush on Polly, is determined to go to the Crusades so that he can catch up to her in age. But now the time-travel lab is suddenly canceling assignments for no apparent reason and switching around everyones schedules. And when Michael, Merope, and Polly finally get to World War II, things just get worse. For there they face air raids, blackouts, unexploded bombs, dive-bombing Stukas, rationing, shrapnel, V-1s, and two of the most incorrigible children in all of history to say nothing of a growing feeling that not only their assignments but the war and history itself are spiraling out of control. Because suddenly the once-reliable mechanisms of time travel are showing significant glitches, and our heroes are beginning to question their most firmly held belief: that no historian can possibly change the past.
BONUS AUDIO: In an exclusive introduction, author Connie Willis discusses her fascination with WWII and the historic context of Blackout.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Blackout is the first volume of a two-part novel. To find out what happens to the time-traveling historians from Oxford, we invite you to download the concluding volume, All Clear.
©2010 Connie Willis (P)2010 Audible, Inc.Continue the series
Critic reviews
- Nebula Award, Best Novel, 2010
- Hugo Award, Best Novel, 2011
- Best SF and Fantasy Books of 2010: Readers' Choice (SF Site)
Where does Blackout rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Oh amazing if you have interesting in WW2 London HistoryWhich scene did you most enjoy?
Commander and Saltram-on-seaDid you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
The scale of human loss during the blitzMore History than Time Travel
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Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes, I would recommend it as a good story, however the narration was poor, so I would recommend that they read it rather than listen.Who was your favorite character and why?
Not really relevant as there are numerous characters.What three words best describe Connie Willis and Katherine Kellgren ’s performance?
Katherine Kellgren's performance was ok however there were some strange pronunciations, e.g parssage for passage; parsenger for passenger. It was very odd.Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
The story didn't have the depth of characterisation that would require slow considered reading.Any additional comments?
It's full of anachronisms. Towards the end I was enjoying spotting them. Examples were, currency was not pennies but pence; temperatures were given in centigrade rather than Fahrenheit; people playing an American game Parcheesi etc. there were loads. Also the two books are really part one and part two of the same book so it's a bit of a rip off!Bomb alley
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Unlike some others I love this book and the sequel. I confess that I waited for the sequel before reading it.
I got to really like the characters and I wanted to know what happened to them. And I wished I had read some Agatha Christie's because I might of figured out what happened before the end.
There is a caveat though. If like me you know London well not to mention the geography of England and Wales you might find yourself noticing mistakes. And some Americanism's slip in despite a valiant attemp to keep them out.
All in all a very interesting take on the time travel idea and a very worthwhile read.
Love this author
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Poor narration
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Excellent listening
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