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  • Edge of Eternity

  • The Century Trilogy, Book 3
  • Written by: Ken Follett
  • Narrated by: John Lee
  • Length: 36 hrs and 51 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (335 ratings)

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Edge of Eternity

Written by: Ken Follett
Narrated by: John Lee
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Publisher's Summary

Edge of Eternity is the sweeping, passionate conclusion to Ken Follett's extraordinary historical epic, The Century Trilogy.

Throughout these books, Follett has followed the fortunes of five intertwined families - American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh - as they make their way through the twentieth century. Now they come to one of the most tumultuous eras of all: the enormous social, political, and economic turmoil of the 1960s through the 1980s, from civil rights, assassinations, mass political movements and Vietnam to the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, presidential impeachment, revolution - and rock and roll.

East German teacher Rebecca Hoffman discovers she's been spied on by the Stasi for years and commits an impulsive act that will affect her family for the rest of their lives. George Jakes, the child of a mixed-race couple, bypasses a corporate law career to join Robert F. Kennedy's Justice Department, and finds himself in the middle not only of the seminal events of the civil rights battle, but a much more personal battle of his own. Cameron Dewar, the grandson of a senator, jumps at the chance to do some official and unofficial espionage for a cause he believes in, only to discover that the world is a much more dangerous place than he'd imagined. Dimka Dvorkin, a young aide to Nikita Khrushchev, becomes a prime agent both for good and for ill as the United States and the Soviet Union race to the brink of nuclear war, while his twin sister, Tania, carves out a role that will take her from Moscow to Cuba to Prague to Warsaw - and into history.

As always with Follett, the historical background is brilliantly researched and rendered, the action fast-moving, the characters rich in nuance and emotion. With the hand of a master, he brings us into a world we thought we knew but now will never seem the same again.

©2014 Ken Follett (P)2014 Penguin Audio

What the critics say

"[Follett] is a commanding storyteller who has taken on an impossibly large task and accomplished it with passion, intelligence, and skill. Like its predecessors, Edge of Eternity is a solid, rigorously researched work of popular fiction. It's an honest entertainment that brings back vivid, sometimes painful, memories of the not-too-distant past." (The Washington Post)

"Edge of Eternity is as compulsively readable a mighty page-turner as its two predecessors." (The Seattle Times)  

"Hugely ambitious, the trilogy serves as a massive history lesson as well as an example of good, old-fashioned storytelling." (The New York Daily News

What listeners say about Edge of Eternity

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Author's politics get in the way of the story

The first two novels were well researched historical fiction novels; this one seems more like a reflection of the authors political leaning through his life. The one main character with right of centre leanings is an unlikable character. This causes story issues as once he got to the Nixon-Ford era, he no longer had characters who were believable insiders. His solution to this was to jump over much of the Nixon era and focus only on Watergate. He did a similar thing with Reagan, having only a single major event from that era take place in the novel.
With how important to the story the assassinations of the 1960s were, it seems like a glaring omission as he misses the assassination attempt on Reagan, and oddly enough John Lennon's assassination, which likely would have greatly effected two main characters in the music business. Basically the first 60% of the novel is well researched and flows well, then the rest of it seems to jump around making the story harder to follow especially in audiobook form.
By skipping all the Republican eras he does a disservice to the story. The Cold War is a much longer period than each World War so its understandable that timeframes were accelerated to fit one novel, but the manor it was done in, turned many characters into unbelievable idealogues. This series would have been better served as a quartet with all the time frames covered.

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4 people found this helpful

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Best book of the trilogy.

I love this book. I think I like this book best because I’ve been alive for the majority of these events. I am most wish you would write another series based on the troubles in the Middle East that started almost to soon as this book ended. I would recommend this book, and this series, to anybody who likes history. It is well researched, information packet, and has characters that you come to love.

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what an ending

a great capstone to an amazing trilogy. the reader, the narrative, all a+ in my book

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Extraordinary story

Loved it, must listen to the whole series. Beautiful written! And well commentated! Would definitely recommend.

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Great listen

Start at the beginning it’s worth the time fantastic narration. The trilogy is very entertaining

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Emotionally gripping

I have never been much of a history buff, but after discovering Ken Follett I find myself wanting to know and learn more about world and political events. Well written, well read. Thank you for the time and research put in to the creation of this trilogy.

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Well read

The author obviously spent many research hours in order to write a story which encompasses three generations of political turmoil.
Well done!!

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Read and enjoy

Enjoyable series that covers so many important aspects of history. This is recommended for you.

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Epic

Another amazing story from Ken Follett! This series is another captivating exploration of recent history. John Lee’s narration is stunning as usual.

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Excellent!

Wonderful storyline and characters that tie into real life history. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and John Lee's performance was excellent.

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