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Blackout

By: Connie Willis
Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren, Connie Willis
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Publisher's Summary

In her first novel since 2002, Nebula and Hugo award-winning author Connie Willis returns with a stunning, enormously entertaining novel of time travel, war, and the deeds - great and small - of ordinary people who shape history.

Oxford in 2060 is a chaotic place. Scores of time-traveling historians are being sent into the past, to destinations including the American Civil War and the attack on the World Trade Center. Michael Davies is prepping to go to Pearl Harbor. Merope Ward is coping with a bunch of bratty 1940 evacuees and trying to talk her thesis adviser, Mr. Dunworthy, into letting her go to VE Day. Polly Churchill's next assignment will be as a shopgirl in the middle of London's Blitz. And 17-year-old Colin Templer, who has a major crush on Polly, is determined to go to the Crusades so that he can catch up to her in age. But now the time-travel lab is suddenly canceling assignments for no apparent reason and switching around everyones schedules. And when Michael, Merope, and Polly finally get to World War II, things just get worse. For there they face air raids, blackouts, unexploded bombs, dive-bombing Stukas, rationing, shrapnel, V-1s, and two of the most incorrigible children in all of history to say nothing of a growing feeling that not only their assignments but the war and history itself are spiraling out of control. Because suddenly the once-reliable mechanisms of time travel are showing significant glitches, and our heroes are beginning to question their most firmly held belief: that no historian can possibly change the past.

BONUS AUDIO: In an exclusive introduction, author Connie Willis discusses her fascination with WWII and the historic context of Blackout.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Blackout is the first volume of a two-part novel. To find out what happens to the time-traveling historians from Oxford, we invite you to download the concluding volume, All Clear.

©2010 Connie Willis (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic Reviews

  • Nebula Award, Best Novel, 2010
  • Hugo Award, Best Novel, 2011
  • Best SF and Fantasy Books of 2010: Readers' Choice (SF Site)

“If you're a science-fiction fan, you'll want to read this book by one of the most honored writers in the field; if you're interested in World War II, you should pick up Blackout for its you-are-there authenticity; and if you just like to read, you'll find here a novelist who can plot like Agatha Christie and whose books possess a bounce and stylishness that Preston Sturges might envy.” ( The Washington Post)

What listeners say about Blackout

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A great storyline,, but a VERY annoying narrator.

this is a fantastic storyline worth listening to
the narrator was however, so annoying

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A wonderful romp through a difficult time in history

This is such a wonderful story. I enjoyed it so much and didn’t want it to finish. The narrator gets 20 out of 10 for me as she brought the story so much to life with a great deal of good humour and drama.

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a fraction too slow

but I promise the second book, Blackout, picks up very well! Just remember it's a comedy not a tragedy

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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Great story. Needs another narrator

Fantastic story! Worth putting up with the narrator but it would be great if the narrator of To Say Nothing of the Dog could do this too. Mispronounced words (paaarsage and paaarsengers in particular) and very flat during the exciting bits. Still worthwhile to listen to the story though.

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Interesting concept, wearying, repetitive prose

I found the writing style irritating.....characters from 2060s England inexplicably speaking in 1960's English....the character with the American accent who constantly translates American into British English as part of his dialogue.....professional historians who seem to be ill-prepared and amateurish in their responses
Luckily this was on Audible so i was able to push the speed up to x2 just to skip forward and finish it

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