The first instalment in the Pulitzer Prize-winner's masterpiece - a trilogy following one family over a hundred years.
Last Hundred Years: A Family Saga Series
This sweeping saga chronicles the lives of an American family across an entire century. It follows generations through their triumphs and hardships, from wartime struggles to personal heartbreaks. The narrative delves deep into the cycles of birth, love, and loss, all while mirroring pivotal moments in American history. It's a compelling exploration of how personal and historical events intertwine, shaping the destinies of individuals and the legacy of a family.
Recommended Reading Order
- 1
- 2
Early Warning
- 812 pages
- 29 hours of reading
"Early Warning" opens in 1953 with the Langdon family at a crossroads. Their stalwart patriarch, Walter, who with his wife, Rosanna, sustained their farm for three decades, has suddenly died, leaving their five children, now adults, looking to the future. Only one will remain in Iowa to work the land, while the others scatter to Washington, D.C., California, and everywhere in between. As the country moves out of post World War II optimism through the darker landscape of the Cold War and the social and sexual revolutions of the 1960s and 70s, and then into the unprecedented wealth for some of the early 1980s, the Langdon children each follow a different path in a rapidly changing world. And they now have children of their own: twin boys who are best friends and vicious rivals; a girl whose rebellious spirit takes her to the notorious Peoples Temple in San Francisco; and a golden boy who drops out of college to fight in Vietnam leaving behind a secret legacy that will send shock waves through the Langdon family into the next generation.
- 3
Golden Age
- 720 pages
- 26 hours of reading
The final novel in Jane Smiley's masterpiece - the Last Hundred Years trilogy