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Cloud Cuckoo Land

A Novel

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Cloud Cuckoo Land

Written by: Anthony Doerr
Narrated by: Marin Ireland, Simon Jones
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About this listen

 AudioFile Magazine’s Best Audiobooks of 2021

On the New York Times bestseller list for over 20 weeks * A New York Times Notable Book * A National Book Award Finalist * Named a Best Book of the Year by Fresh Air, Time, Entertainment Weekly, Associated Press, and many more

“If you’re looking for a superb novel, look no further.” —The Washington Post

From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of All the Light We Cannot See, comes the instant New York Times bestseller that is a “wildly inventive, a humane and uplifting book for adults that’s infused with the magic of childhood reading experiences” (The New York Times Book Review).

Among the most celebrated and beloved novels of recent times, Cloud Cuckoo Land is a triumph of imagination and compassion, a soaring story about children on the cusp of adulthood in worlds in peril, who find resilience, hope, and a book.

In the 15th century, an orphan named Anna lives inside the formidable walls of Constantinople. She learns to read, and in this ancient city, famous for its libraries, she finds what might be the last copy of a centuries-old book, the story of Aethon, who longs to be turned into a bird so that he can fly to a utopian paradise in the sky. Outside the walls is Omeir, a village boy, conscripted with his beloved oxen into the army that will lay siege to the city. His path and Anna’s will cross.

In the present day, in a library in Idaho, octogenarian Zeno rehearses children in a play adaptation of Aethon’s story, preserved against all odds through centuries. Tucked among the library shelves is a bomb, planted by a troubled, idealistic teenager, Seymour. This is another siege.

And in a not-so-distant future, on the interstellar ship Argos, Konstance is alone in a vault, copying on scraps of sacking the story of Aethon, told to her by her father.

Anna, Omeir, Seymour, Zeno, and Konstance are dreamers and outsiders whose lives are gloriously intertwined. Doerr’s dazzling imagination transports us to worlds so dramatic and immersive that we forget, for a time, our own. Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Inspiring Thought-Provoking Heartfelt Feel-Good

What the critics say

"Marin Ireland and Simon Jones sparkle as they narrate this immersive time-traveling novel. They vividly deliver the stories that weave through this audiobook. A gifted mimic, Ireland performs subtle and effective emulations of Australian, Italian, and English accents. When she slows down to enunciate the classical Greek sprinkled throughout the text, her reading shimmers with meaning. Both Ireland and Jones are masters of pacing and cadence, which matters in an interwoven narrative that shifts in time from the fall of Constantinople (1450s) to present-day small-town Idaho and to a future set on a spacecraft. From accounts of myths to misbegotten environmental terrorism, Doerr's novel pulls out all the stops, and the narrators create an enduring listening experience."
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There is much to say for a brilliant imagination in a story that feels too close to real! Understand that it is dystopian & you will be transported from ancient times to a not unimaginable future. The courageous heroes are children.

Dystopian…I struggled to get into the story. Then suddenly I couldn’t put it down! A brilliant interplay of times

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I did not want this book to end and had tears in my eyes when it did. So moving and thought-provoking and magical. A modern-day epic masterpiece. Deep gratitude to my daughter for the recommendation and now I hope to convince my book club to read it. EVERYONE SHOULD. Thank you, Anthony Doerr!

Extraordinary and Brilliant

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Five stars are reserved for books that move me, make me think, astound me with sentences woven so utterly perfect that I must pause to digest and wonder at the author's seemingly divine skill with words, books that challenge my assumptions of both the everyday and the as yet unknown, or perhaps the already forgotten. This book deserves all of its stars and more. The narration is perfection. The story is captivating, heartbreaking, inspiring, heartwarming, tragic. I loved every word.

A masterpiece

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This book is fantastic, every minute of it.
Also listen to Anthony Doerr's ; All the light we cannot see. Both books are insightful, exciting and intelligently creative.

Amazing work

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Beautiful and haunting. this may be one of my favorite books of all time. Twisting through time and place this novel is a true masterpiece.

I can't express how much I enjoyed this book.

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