The Great Wide Open
Read an extract
Play sample
  • Published: 1 October 2019
  • ISBN: 9780099585213
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 592
  • RRP: $19.99

The Great Wide Open

Formats & editions
EBook
24 Jan 2019
Audiobook
25 Jul 2019
Paperback
1 Oct 2019
Buy from…
Amazon Booktopia Dymocks QBD Readings Find local retailers Find local retailers Abbeys Angus & Robertson Boomerang Collins Fishpond Gleebooks Harry Hartog Kinokuniya Robinsons The Nile Your Bookstore

The latest epic from international bestseller Douglas Kennedy

‘Accomplished…a strangely mesmerising effect…absolutely excellent’
New Statesman

New York, 1980s

Alice Burns – a young book editor – is deep into a manuscript about the morass of family life. The observations within resonate, 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, first love and sexism at an elite college, a spell in 1970s 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.
  • Published: 1 October 2019
  • ISBN: 9780099585213
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 592
  • RRP: $19.99
Categories:
Share…

About the author

Douglas Kennedy

Douglas Kennedy's previous thirteen novels include the critically acclaimed bestsellers The Big Picture, The Pursuit of Happiness, A Special Relationship and The Moment. He is also the author of three highly-praised travel books. The Big Picture was filmed with Romain Duris and Catherine Deneuve; The Woman in the Fifth with Ethan Hawke and Kristin Scott Thomas.

His work has been translated into twenty-two languages. In 2007 he was awarded the French decoration of Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and in 2009 the inaugural Grand Prix de Figaro. Born in Manhattan in 1955, he has two children and currently divides his time between London, Paris, Berlin, Maine and New York.

portrait photo of Douglas Kennedy

Also by Douglas Kennedy

Afraid of the Light
Isabelle in the Afternoon
The Heat of Betrayal
Five Days
The Moment
Leaving the World
The Woman In The Fifth
See all

Praise for The Great Wide Open

Has a strangely mesmerising effect . . . absolutely excellent.

New Statesman

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

Observer

An ambitious tale from a reliably compelling story teller.

Sunday Mirror

This novel is a page-turner with a relentless pace

Kate Saunders, The Times

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

Woman's Weekly

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

Yours Magazine

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

Saga Magazine