Golden State cover art

Golden State

A Novel

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Golden State

By: Michelle Richmond
Narrated by: Käthe Mazur
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About this listen

Dr. Julie Walker wakes on a summer morning in San Francisco to find a city in chaos. Today Californians are voting on a controversial ballot initiative that will change history. With the future of the state and the nation uncertain, the streets have erupted into violence.

Injured, Julie must make her way across the city by foot to the Veterans Administration Hospital, where her sister, recently returned from Afghanistan, is in labor. At the hospital a brutal scene is unfolding as a man who shares an intimate past with Julie begins to take his revenge. Throughout the ordeal Julie's estranged husband, desperate for reconciliation, sends out coded messages from the radio station where he is the well-known Voice of Midnight.

Five years in the making, Golden State is both a political thriller and a meditation on marriage, love, and loyalty. Like The Year of Fog, it is a page-turner with a philosophical bent.

©2014 Michelle Richmond (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Contemporary Contemporary Romance Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Romance Romantic Suspense Women's Fiction Suspense Emotionally Gripping Hospital City
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Critic reviews

"Nearly every feature of this mesmerizing novel is provocative, as Richmond explores the fragmented, hopeful lives of complex characters... Gripping, multilayered, must-read fiction." ( Library Journal)
"Mesmerizing and intricate, Richmond's dissection of a California on the violent brink of secession from the nation provides the backdrop to her deeper inspection of the uneasy, fragile relationship between siblings...[a] riveting read." ( Booklist)

What listeners say about Golden State

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

original and heartfelt

I liked this story a lot, beautiful prose and an interesting backstory, give it a go!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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intriguing

wasn't sure what to expect, and thought about giving in, but I'm glad I didn't, on reflection an intriguing story

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    4 out of 5 stars

pleasantly surprised by this book

it's definitely an easy read and there's nothing I would say was amazing about it but I finished it which always tells me that at least for me it was a good book. it was very engaging and I find it so interesting reading about marriage and family that's in a very personalised way.

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    3 out of 5 stars

Couldn’t get into it

Came to this book after The Marriage Pact and left disappointed. Too much going on but not coherent and I felt like I was missing too much. Didn’t connect with the story and only finished it as didn’t want to waste the time I’d already spent

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Surprisingly good

I was fully engaged with this story. It was full of emotional intelligence and characters who grew over the years. Never read this author before but I will find other works she’s written.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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Golden State

That has to have been the mother of all bad days!

Overall I liked this book well enough. There was just too much going on though.
I think it would have been better without the political backdrop and the strange hostage storyline. If it had just been about the marriage, the child and the sister, that would have been enough. Those were the strongest parts anyway.
I assume that the author was trying to make a bigger point, bringing everything together but you can make the point just with the main stories and a bit of subtlety.

In saying all of that, there weren't so many things that you lose track of what's going on. It's well written and easy to follow. The book examines some very poignant and complicated elements within different types of relationships.
It held my attention until the end. (Well until the resolution of the hostage situation at least - after that it got a little annoying!)

The narrator did a decent enough job. Often when narrator's need to convey a character as being upset they tend to overact a bit, but even though this narrator did do this a bit, I mostly believed it when she did it.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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Enjoyable

An interesting tale of one woman told over the period of one day. Emotionally rounded and believable characters. Worth a listen as there is so much going on to keep you moving forward.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Very enjoyable

I simply liked the way the story was built. The narration was absolutely spot on!

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Great story

I really enjoyed this; it’s a great story, with loads of adjoining stories. The writing is such that you understand and empathise with all the characters and their emotions. An addictive listen, that couldn’t wait to get back to each time I had to turn it off.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

A very long story - not a page turner

Whilst I enjoyed the first book i read by this writer, this one is bland in comparison, and after 9 gruelling hours i still don't know why the general state of unrest was in the city, it could have been cut down to half the size of book and possibly better because of it.

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