Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Early Warning

  • Last Hundred Years Trilogy, Book 2
  • By: Jane Smiley
  • Narrated by: Lorelei King
  • Length: 18 hrs and 12 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (21 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Early Warning cover art

Early Warning

By: Jane Smiley
Narrated by: Lorelei King
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £14.99

Buy Now for £14.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

A Scattered Life cover art
Fin & Lady cover art
Glitter and Glue cover art
'Round Midnight cover art
Vegas Rich cover art
Olive Kitteridge cover art
Heft cover art
The Rabbi cover art
Miller's Valley cover art
A Gate at the Stairs cover art

Summary

The second novel in the dazzling Last Hundred Years trilogy, from the winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

It's 1953. When a funeral brings the Langdon family together once more, they little realize how much, over the coming years, each of their worlds will shift and change.

For now Walter and Rosanna's sons and daughters are grown up and have children of their own. Frank, the eldest - restless, unhappy - ignores his troubled wife and instead finds himself distracted by a face from the past. Lillian must watch as her brilliant, eccentric husband, Arthur, is destroyed by the guilt arising from his secretive government work. Claire, too, finds that marriage is not quite what she expected it to be.

In Iowa, where the Langdons began, Joe sees that some aspects of life on the farm never change while others are unrecognizable. And though a few members of the family remain mired in the past, others will attempt to move beyond the lives they have always known, and some will push forward as never before. The dark shadow of the Vietnam War hangs over every one....

In sickness and health, through their best and darkest times, the Langdon family will live and love and suffer against the broad, merciless sweep of American history.

Moving from the 1950s to the 1980s, Early Warning is epic storytelling at its most wise and compelling from a writer at the height of her powers.

©2015 Jane Smiley (P)2015 Pan Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

What listeners say about Early Warning

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    11
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    11
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    12
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Gentle narrative

Ostensibly not much happening but actually lots simmering underneath.....like most of life really. Lorelei King reads it well with no melodrama but a fine sense of drama and irony. Perfect listening on my daily commute!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Was this the most boring book I have ever read?

If this book wasn’t for you, who do you think might enjoy it more?

someone who enjoys immense detail may like this book

Would you ever listen to anything by Jane Smiley again?

no, not for me I am afraid

Have you listened to any of Lorelei King’s other performances? How does this one compare?

No I have not, however she did a very good job; an easy voice to listen to

You didn’t love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Thank goodness all our preferences vary but I did not manage to finish "Early Warning" as it was sadly not to my taste, however; because of the vast detail of the scenes and characters of the book it could be imagined clearly from her descriptions.

Any additional comments?

It felt to me that the continuous almost irrelevant detail could have been there to fill out a book rather than for necessity. I am sure that people will enjoy the book, this is a purely personal view.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!