The Great Wide Open

By: Douglas Kennedy

Narrated by: Regina Reagan

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Great Wide Open written by Douglas Kennedy, read by Regina Reagan.

“All families are secret societies. Realms of intrigue and internal warfare, governed by their own rules . . .”

It’s 1980s New York. Heady, excessive times. Alice Burns - a young book editor - is deep into a manuscript about the morass of family life. The observations resonates, perhaps because she has just watched her own family implode.

As she reads she wonders: When did the sadness start? And could it be that unhappiness is a choice?

Thus begins a great American epic which follows Alice as she navigates high school bullying, first love and sexism at an elite college, a spell in 1970's Ireland, and a tragedy that sends her stateside as the US embraces a cowboy actor named Reagan. But it is also the tale of her endlessly complex parents and brothers; how their destinies are written by the lies they tell themselves and others.

The Great Wide Open is an immensely ambitious and compulsive saga; a novel which will speak volumes to anyone who has marvelled at that pain that can only be caused by family itself.

Critic reviews

This novel is a page-turner with a relentless pace (Kate Saunders)

Has a strangely mesmerising effect . . . absolutely excellent.

Kennedy is skilled at zigzag plotting, blending domestic twists with turns created by global affairs.

An ambitious tale from a reliably compelling story teller.

Douglas Kennedy sensitively engages with issues that still affect America to this day and creates a story with realism and heart

A tale of intrigue, secrecy and love stories with heart stopping twists

Love, loss and extreme family dysfunction abound in this epic narrative

Boring book

Boring not nearly as good as his other books. Couldn’t even finish it Almost put me off the author