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Blackout cover art

Blackout

Written 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.

What the critics say

  • 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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    5 out of 5 stars
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A wonderful trip to WWII

I love this book and its sequel All Clear. I've just finished my third time listening to Blackout and it is just as enjoyable as the first time. Katherine Kellgren does an excellent job narrating - as usual. #Audible1

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Gripping Historical Time Travel Novel (Book 1)

This time travel book was confusing for the first few chapters, with three main characters having completely different stories for most of the novel. These are students of history who travel back in time to experience historical events first hand. The three have different names in Oxford 2040 then they have in England 1940 - and the chapters keep ending on cliff hangers as the book chops between the separate events happening to Michael (Mike, ?Ernest?), Merope (Eileen & ?Mary Kent?) and Polly (?Douglas?).

The sense of time and place is so stong, and it brings to life the time during the London blitz or the horrors of Dunkirk. The conditions are so vividly told, that one can totally believe the stranded historians are experiencing it all first hand. (Mind you there are times I was frustrated by their lack of background research, and I did think Polly's trip to Fleet Street would result in her placing advert for Professor Dunworthy or the Oxford historians to read in the future).

This is not a standalone book. The story incomplete and ends on a completely new situation in the last chapter. However, I need to know more and will be downloading the sequel "All Clear".

Narration was well done and felt very fitting for the 1940s time period.

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Not recommended

The good: The narrator has a lovely voice, and the book was extremely well researched.

The bad: flat characters, I honestly couldn’t tell the two female POV characters apart. A convoluted plot that ends suddenly with no resolution.

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