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Golden Age

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About this listen

Golden Age is the third novel in the dazzling Last Hundred Years Trilogy from Jane Smiley, winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

1987. A visit from a long-lost relative brings the Langdons together again on the family farm; a place almost unrecognizable from the remote Iowan farmland Walter and Rosanna once owned. Whilst a few have stayed, most have spread wide across the US, but all are facing social, economic and political challenges unlike anything their ancestors encountered.

Richie Langdon, finally out from under his twin brother's shadow, finds himself running for congress almost unintentionally, and completely underprepared for the world-changing decisions he will have to make. Charlie, the charmer, recently found, struggles to find his way. Jesse's son, Guthrie, set to take over the family farm, is deployed to Iraq, leaving it in the hands of his younger sister, Felicity, who must defend the land from more than just the extremes of climate change.

Moving through the 1990s, to our own moment and beyond, this last instalment sees the final repercussions of time on the Langdon family. After a hundred years of personal change and US history, filled with words unsaid and moments lost, Golden Age brings to a magnificent conclusion the century-long portrait of one unforgettable family.

Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Small Town & Rural

Critic reviews

Jane Smiley is a master of expansive, effortlessly readable sagas, and this is no exception.
The phrase Great American Novel gets bandied about a little too liberally, but rarely is the Great American Novelist in question a woman. It is an accolade that Smiley (who won a Pulitzer for A Thousand Acres) richly deserves (Sam Baker)
With the Last One Hundred Years trilogy, [Smiley] surely confirms her place alongside Roth, Updike and Bellow as one of the truly great chroniclers of 20th-century American life. . . The historical and political canvas of Golden Age is breathtaking in its expansiveness, and there is an epic quality to the trilogy as a whole. But Smiley is equally compelling on the domestic and familial . . . Reading the Last One Hundred Years trilogy [is] such a powerful, moving and rewarding experience; a rare chance to witness, from the sidelines, five generations of a family unfold. (Hannah Beckerman)
All stars
Most relevant
I loved everything about the story , the characters were real - having read the books and loved them I loved having them read . I felt I was in the story and the narrator was perfect, matter of fact, lyrical, moving.

Enthralling

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I am bereft that I have come to the end of this brilliant trilogy. I feel that The Langdons are personal friends and I am really going to miss them.

This was a wonderful story, weaving together families, friends and facts. Jane Smiley is to be applauded for her ability to craft a story that is as fascinating as it is relevant. A living history.

Finally a word for Lorelei King whom I have listened to before and absolutely love her narration.

I am jealous of anyone yet to listen to this trilogy, you have it all before you- enjoy.

A story of yesterday, today and tomorrow

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