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Cloud Cuckoo Land

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Cloud Cuckoo Land

By: Anthony Doerr
Narrated by: Marin Ireland, Simon Jones
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About this listen

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER AND NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST‘A dazzling epic of love, war and the joy of books’ Guardian

‘There is magic in this place … You just have to sit and breathe and wait and it will find you’

Fifteenth-century Constantinople. Present day Idaho. The future, and humanity’s last hope.

Across time and space, five young dreamers are bound by a single ancient text. Together, they tell a story of a world in peril; of the power of words, of resilience, and of hope against all odds.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of All the Light We Cannot See returns with a heart-breaking, magnificent epic of human connection and a love letter to storytelling itself.

‘Wonderment and despair, love and destruction and hope – all find their place in its sumptuously plotted pages’ Observer

‘Ingenious, hopeful and totally absorbing’ Financial Times

‘This engagingly written, big-hearted book is a must-read’ Daily Mirror

©2021 Anthony Doerr (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Coming of Age Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Medieval Metaphysical & Visionary Heartfelt Thought-Provoking Middle Ages Survival Resilience

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Critic reviews

‘Sets him comfortably alongside Tolkien, Rowling and David Mitchell, and he is a much more elegant writer than two of thoseCloud Cuckoo Land is an impressive achievement and a joy to read. Serious novels are rarely this fun.The Times

‘There is a kind of book a seasoned writer produces after a big success: large-hearted, wide in scope and joyous. Following his Pulitzer winner All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr’s Cloud Cuckoo Land is a deep lungful of fresh air – and a gift of a novelGuardian

‘A paean to stories as a source of sustenance and solace, and to the sweetness of our shared terrestrial home, Doerr’s narrative is buoyant with humanity and it’s author’s palpable pleasure in inventionDaily Mail

A humane and uplifting book for adults that’s infused with the magic of childhood reading experiences. Cloud Cuckoo Land is ultimately a celebration of books, the power and possibilities of reading New York Times

Cloud Cuckoo Land is a fascinatingly ambitious tale that’s worth the seven year waitStylist

‘Pulitzer Prize-winner Anthony Doerr’s new novel traverses time and space, unifying his characters through a text written by Diogenes in the first century AD. Cloud Cuckoo Land begins there and sweeps through the millennia in a huge, imaginative arc that celebrates the outsiders, the writers and the keepers of books. An ultimately hopeful and life-affirming novel about the essence of love, literature and artIrish Independent

‘This is a dazzling epic of love, war and the joy of books – one for David Mitchell fans’ Guardian

Wonderment and despair, love and destruction and hope – all find their place in its sumptuously plotted pages’ Observer

All stars
Most relevant
This book started slowly and, to be honest, I was a little nonplussed by it. However, as the story developed and the scope of the author’s ambition became clear, it was obvious that it is an absolute masterpiece. I am completely blown away by it’s vastness, originality and beauty. Wonderful!

Wow!

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As someone with no knowledge of Classical Greek, I may be wrong in my assessment of this book that seems to celebrate the Greek writers. Certainly it made me aware of the few-of-the-many writings that remain, and to feel I must pride them off shelves and read them at once as treasures. This novel interweaves times, places, people: Librarians, medieval embroiderers, fishermen, ox-handlers, children-in-space, the young, the old, the deformed, the Saracen and the Greek and the US army in Korea….Just the edge of the tip of the iceberg of the variety of people in this brilliant story. Perhaps this is why it so successfully reads like a book for everyone. I loved it.

Alpha to Omega: brilliant!

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I loved All the Light We Cannot See, and road is on an even bigger scale. I just didn't want it to end. No spoilers, but you may well need tissues as you reach the end. This book will live with me for a long time.

What a wonderful and uplifting book

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A series of seemingly unconnected tales come together in a beautifully intriguing way. I was engaged from start to finish. The narrator was excellent with the exception of jarringly terrible English and Australian accents - it was really a shame as otherwise she was brilliant. You just need to get past it and let it go! Once I did I thoroughly enjoyed the story.

Worlds Collide Through History

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What a wondrous book! Transports to other worlds…. imaginative, inventive, creative, and life-affirming. A joy!

A land to live in!

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