All Clear

By: Connie Willis

Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren, Connie Willis (introduction)

Length: 23 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

In Blackout, award-winning author Connie Willis returned to the time-traveling future of 2060, the setting for several of her most celebrated works, and sent three Oxford historians to World War II England: Michael Davies, intent on observing heroism during the Miracle of Dunkirk; Merope Ward, studying children evacuated from London; and Polly Churchill, posing as a shopgirl in the middle of the Blitz. But when the three become unexpectedly trapped in 1940, they struggle not only to find their way home but to survive as Hitler's bombers attempt to pummel London into submission.

Now the situation has grown even more dire. Small discrepancies in the historical record seem to indicate that one or all of them have somehow affected the past, changing the outcome of the war. The belief that the past can be observed but never altered has always been a core belief of time-travel theory, but suddenly it seems that the theory is horribly, tragically wrong.

Meanwhile, in 2060 Oxford, the historians' supervisor, Mr. Dunworthy, and 17-year-old Colin Templer, who nurses a powerful crush on Polly, are engaged in a frantic and seemingly impossible struggle of their own - to find three missing needles in the haystack of history.

Told with compassion, humor, and an artistry both uplifting and devastating, All Clear is more than just the triumphant culmination of the adventure that began with Blackout. It's Connie Willis' most humane, heartfelt novel yet - a clear-eyed celebration of faith, love, and the quiet, ordinary acts of heroism and sacrifice too often overlooked by history.

BONUS AUDIO: Includes an introduction written and read by author Connie Willis.

Also listen to the first book, Blackout.

©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)

"By the time the three historians and Mr. Dunworthy have unraveled the mystery and arrived at the full-on, three-hanky finale, you’ll no longer be a disinterested observer. Drawn in Willis’s skillful storytelling, you’ll be back in 1941, wondering what’s about to happen next." ( The Village Voice)

"Katherine Kellgren's delightful English accent is perfect for the many characters she portrays." ( AudioFile)

“As vivid an evocation of England during World War II as anyone has ever written.... 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)

Time travel at it's best!

A great ending to a great series! Wish there would be more, but then that's the mark of a great book!

Excellent narration and complex storyline; caveat

Overall good story with complex, interwoven story lines. Excellent narration. The characters seemed obsessed with deceiving one another with almost no apparent cause, despite supposedly being friends and mutually trapped in a dangerous situation. This happened to to a point that it seemed pathological and made it difficult to suspend disbelief at times.

Stands up to repeat listens

Connie Willis is great and Blackout/All Clear may be her best. The historical detail is what makes this pair of books so wonderful. Time travelling is dealt with in an imaginative way and the characters are quite likable. Willis' literary allusions are charming, not irritating, and have induced me to follow up on the references and quotations. Sometimes her comedy of errors style can drag a bit, but the real test was that I have listened to Blackout/All Clear more than once so they must be pretty good.

Great second book

This is the conclusion to Blackout. Be sure to read Blackout first. Both are great stories intertwining WWII with a time travel twist.

Best time travel book ever!!

Third time reading this book!! Love it more each time!!! Delightful, thrilling, and amazing. The historical detail is wonderful. If you love WW 2, this book will take you there!!!

Bombing history lesson

Is there anything you would change about this book?

This story was dragged out over 2 books. If you want a day by day, bomb by bomb history, then give it a go. The key to the story was the change in dates and they didn't do a good job with the transition of character's time frame because of a person's name change when they change times. If you're reading, pay attention to who is in what year. No spoiler alert needed.

Would you recommend All Clear to your friends? Why or why not?

I don't recommend this book. Not enough substance in characterization and story line to require it to have 2 books to tell the story.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Narrator did a good job with the character's age and genders.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

no

Any additional comments?

Doomsday Book was wonderful. That is why I tried this dillogy.

Outstanding performance! Bravo!

I love time travel novels, and Connie Willis is my FAV time travel author! If you're new to CW, I recommend The Doomsday book first, and then the two books in this series (although not required). Outstanding performance all around! This has been my second listen, and this time, like last, the voices of the Hodbins will stay with me for quite some time.

Falls short of its promise

Blackout and All Clear are one very long book. The premise is interesting - time traveling historians go back to WW2. The story suffers from far to much repetition - how many times do we need to hear that the drops don't open? How often do the characters need to think the retrieval team has arrived and they haven't? The author could easily have reduced the length by a third. Another distraction is that the characters, professional historians and time travelers, keep making the worst possible judgements at the worst times - such as repeatedly concealing vital information.

There are two positives. The description of life in Britain during the war is well researched and illuminating. The narrator does an excellent job creating a large number of characters.

Overall, a fascinating idea that is not well executed.

Great story

You can read fifty books about the war but if you want to know what it felt like to live through it, this tale is the one for you!

Great Ending

loved how everything pulled together and was explained! Impossible to talk about things without spoilers though.