The Great Believers

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The Great Believers

By: Rebecca Makkai

Narrated by: Michael Crouch

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About this listen

WINNER OF THE CARNEGIE MEDAL

FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE

FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS

WINNER OF THE STONEWALL BOOK AWARD - BARBARA GITTINGS LITERATURE AWARD

FINALIST FOR THE LA TIMES FICTION AWARD

In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an art gallery in Chicago, is about to pull off an amazing coup: bringing an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings as a gift to the gallery. Yet as his career begins to flourish, the carnage of the AIDs epidemic grows around him. One by one, his friends are dying and after his friend Nico's funeral, he finds his partner is infected, and that he might even have the virus himself. The only person he has left is Fiona, Nico's little sister.

Thirty years later, Fiona is in Paris tracking down her estranged daughter who disappeared into a cult. While staying with an old friend, a famous photographer who documented the Chicago epidemic, she finds herself finally grappling with the devastating ways the AIDS crisis affected her life and her relationship with her daughter. Yale and Fiona's stories unfold in incredibly moving and sometimes surprising ways, as both struggle to find goodness in the face of disaster.

Family Life

Fiction

Friendship

Genre Fiction

Literary Fiction

Literature & Fiction

Heartfelt

Tear-jerking

Thought-Provoking

Chicago

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Critic reviews

an antidote to our general urge to forget what we'd rather not remember, but it's also - which is more important - an absorbing and emotionally riveting story about what it's like to live during times of crisis (Michael Cunningham)

Stirring, spellbinding and full of life (Téa Obreht, New York Times bestselling author of The Tiger’s Wife)

Well imagined, intricately plotted, and deeply felt, both humane and human (Rabih Alameddine, author of The Angel of History and An Unnecessary Woman)

Most relevant

I loved this book, being born in 86 I didn't know much of the Aids crisis part from little bit. This book brought it to life and the male characters are family. Fiona story I was less interested in however enjoyed the ending.