• When Will There Be Good News?

  • A Novel
  • By: Kate Atkinson
  • Narrated by: Ellen Archer
  • Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (1,533 ratings)

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When Will There Be Good News?  By  cover art

When Will There Be Good News?

By: Kate Atkinson
Narrated by: Ellen Archer
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Publisher's summary

On a hot summer day, Joanna Mason's family slowly wanders home along a country lane. A moment later, Joanna's life is changed forever.

On a dark night 30 years later, ex-detective Jackson Brodie finds himself on a train that is both crowded and late. Lost in his thoughts, he suddenly hears a shocking sound.

At the end of a long day, 16-year-old Reggie is looking forward to watching a little TV. Then a terrifying noise shatters her peaceful evening. Luckily, Reggie makes it a point to be prepared for an emergency.

These three lives come together in unexpected and deeply thrilling ways in the latest novel from Kate Atkinson, the critically acclaimed author who Harlan Coben calls "an absolute must-read".

©2008 Kate Atkinson (P)2008 Hachette Audio

What listeners say about When Will There Be Good News?

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    813
  • 4 Stars
    472
  • 3 Stars
    169
  • 2 Stars
    41
  • 1 Stars
    38
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    765
  • 4 Stars
    246
  • 3 Stars
    57
  • 2 Stars
    24
  • 1 Stars
    56
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    692
  • 4 Stars
    318
  • 3 Stars
    105
  • 2 Stars
    17
  • 1 Stars
    12

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

a little confusing

I read,Case Histories,first and thoroughly enjoyed it. I expected this sequel to be as good. In some ways it was, I liked the way she interconnected the characters from the first book. The bad part was that listening I got distracted quite often and felt like I had to relisten to a few secions. I was losing track of who, what and where! My advice is that its enjoyable if you pay enough attention!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

I loved the story and the accent!

In addition to the stupefying story, the reader herself is a great performer. I don't think one can get the same pleasure by just reading the book

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A Very Enjoyable Listen

The Jackson Brody franchise is one of the few series I am following. Why? Start with good writing. Add an interesting protagonist and always a great supporting cast. Finally, a good story with many layers.
Really like the narrator

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story, terrible narration

This story has a complex set of regional dialects. Even a native British speaker would have to work hard to master them all. Why on earth did Audible choose an American narrator for this book? She seems to be making a lot of effort but it is absolutely the worst narration I have ever heard. She doesn't even stick with the same bizarre accent for each character and often changes it from sentence to sentence. If you must use an American narrator for a British book, please oh please just let them use their own American accent instead of butchering English accents like this.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely awful narration but such a great story!

The narrator of this particular story in the Jackson Brodie series is just terrible. She has absolutely no command of the many various British regional accents required. They are regularly interchanged and quite peculiar. However even worse, is the fact that many colloquial words and Kate Atkinson witticisms and humor are completely mangled and lost. I stayed with this book through to the end because I loved the story and wanted to hear the 3rd in the series to its conclusion. Good luck if you give it a go!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very engaging

I absolutely loved this book. The characters, especially Reggie were so well developed and became my friends. The plot was complex and cleverly laid out.

Ms. Archer’s narration was a work of art. She nuanced the story with her clever interpretations and made sure when the author presented funny musings for example in Reggie’s mind that we enjoyed the humor of her thoughts. Ms. Archer’s timing was excellent. I have not checked yet but I hope Ms. Archer will be narrating the next and then next Kate Atkinson books in this series. Can’t wait to follow our lead characters into the next phases of their lives and careers.

I found the ending to be heartbreaking but the story line probably could not have closed in any other way. Still I highly recommend this book.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book, great performance

The story is excellent, absolutely reaching the high bar Atkinson has set for her Jackson Brodie novels. You haven't gotten 3 into this series without knowing what to expect, so rest assured that she continues in the same fashion and pulls off another great web of interconnected stories that all come together in the end with rich, detailed characters, some new and some pulled forward from the previous books. You won't be disappointed.

That said, I went into this audiobook with some trepidation because of a review I read here on Audible blasting the narrator for a bad performance of the Scottish accents. I'm an American but I have spent years working for a company out of the UK and have worked with numerous Scots, Irish and British. My ears have gotten quite accustomed to their accents. Ellen Archer does a fine job. Put that review out of your mind. Is she giving you the best, most realistic accents you've ever heard? No. But that's fine. She does what she needs to do. The various Scots in this story sound like Scots and are distinguishable from one another. (Do you know how difficult that is? To create a cast of characters' worth of different voices while you're reading?) The Irish sound Irish. The Brits sound British. At no point did I feel pulled away from the story because of the narration. On the contrary, I quickly forgot about that bad review and just enjoyed it. Maybe if I was Scottish myself I might get stuck on some of her pronunciations or exaggerations of the accent. I, myself, cringe at times when I hear British voices mangle the American accent when a stray Yank appears in an otherwise British novel (why do they always sound like drunk Texans when that happens?) but I can appreciate the effort and the skill required to pull off so many different voices and move on. It's definitely not a skill I have, and kudos to anybody who can pull that off.

tl;dr The narration is fine. Maybe I would have normally given her 4/5 stars for the performance, but I feel compelled to give her a little extra to counter that other, negative review.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Slow to start, then burns steadily

with a wonderfully intricate plot. No one can write blood and gore in a way that carries moral lessons of love like Atkinson. This one gives us Reggie, the extraordinary. And narrated with great passion.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Best one yet

I'm reading them in order, so can't speak to the later ones, but this is the best yet. Same beautiful writing, same fascinating women, same unmoored Brodie. Even more loose ends to fly together from all directions. And the narration is perfect. A real treat.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Beautifully written

Kate Atkinson is such a wonderful writer! Love her JB series. Ellen Archer does an excellent job in the narration. The Characters and story are beautifully rendered and the narration such a joy to listen too. A series for those who don’t need a straight line in their detective stories, but for those who enjoy the winding and weaving of character studies, moving life experiences and elegantly detailed writing incased in a detective novel.

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