Early Warning: A novel

by Jane Smiley Narrated by Lorelei King

Overview

From the Pulitzer Prize-winner: the second installment, following Some Luck, of her widely acclaimed, best-selling American trilogy, which brings the journey of a remarkable family with roots in the Iowa heartland into mid-century America

Early Warning opens in 1953 with the Langdon family at a crossroads. Their stalwart patriarch, Walter, who with his wife, Rosanna, sustained their farm for three decades, has suddenly died, leaving their five children, now adults, looking to the future. Only one will remain in Iowa to work the land, while the others scatter to Washington, D.C., California, and everywhere in between.

As the country moves out of post-World War II optimism through the darker landscape of the Cold War and the social and sexual revolutions of the 1960s and '70s, and then into the unprecedented wealth-for some-of the early 1980s, the Langdon children each follow a different path in a rapidly changing world. And they now have children of their own: twin boys who are best friends and vicious rivals; a girl whose rebellious spirit takes her to the notorious Peoples Temple in San Francisco; and a golden boy who drops out of college to fight in Vietnam-leaving behind a secret legacy that will send shock waves through the Langdon family into the next generation.*

Capturing a transformative period through richly drawn characters we come to know and care deeply for, Early Warning continues Smiley's extraordinary epic trilogy, a gorgeously told saga that began with Some Luck and will span a century in America. But it also stands entirely on its own as an engrossing story of the challenges-and rewards-of family and home, even in the most turbulent of times, all while showcasing a beloved writer at the height of her considerable powers.

Editorial Reviews

MAY 2015 - AudioFile

Smiley’s outstanding new novel, second in a trilogy, is a panoramic story of twentieth-century America experienced through generations of an Iowa farm family. It cries out for a narrator with a finely tuned ear for different regional voices and a knack for distinguishing this large cast of characters one from another, especially since the listener lacks the printed family tree the hard copy provides. The fine comic actor Lorelei King is, alas, miscast here. Characters from East Coast to West all speak with King’s own non-standard pronunciation, and she gives her sentences a dozy rhythm, with a habitual breathy softening of the last word in a phrase or sentence that smothers the author’s meaning. This ambitious and impressive book deserves better. B.G. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

MAY 2015 - AudioFile

Smiley’s outstanding new novel, second in a trilogy, is a panoramic story of twentieth-century America experienced through generations of an Iowa farm family. It cries out for a narrator with a finely tuned ear for different regional voices and a knack for distinguishing this large cast of characters one from another, especially since the listener lacks the printed family tree the hard copy provides. The fine comic actor Lorelei King is, alas, miscast here. Characters from East Coast to West all speak with King’s own non-standard pronunciation, and she gives her sentences a dozy rhythm, with a habitual breathy softening of the last word in a phrase or sentence that smothers the author’s meaning. This ambitious and impressive book deserves better. B.G. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171963354
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	04/28/2015
Series:	Last Hundred Years Trilogy , #2
Edition description:	Unabridged

Videos