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Summary and Reviews of When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson

When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson

When Will There Be Good News?

A Novel

by Kate Atkinson
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus (10):
  • Readers' Rating (4):
  • First Published:
  • Sep 24, 2008, 400 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Jan 2010, 416 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

Three lives come together in unexpected and thrilling ways in Kate Atkinson's When Will There Be Good News?

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 thirty 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."

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Reviews

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When Will There Be Good News is very readable, although complex, it is not the kind of complexity wherein you must go back and read and reread again. The characters and their unfolding relationships to each other become a part of you. You will yearn for everyone to end their lives happy and unscarred even as quite horrible actions and events unfold all over Edinburgh. Kate Atkinson’s newest book is not a quiet ride…it is a roller coaster of surprises and thrills and chills that will leave you feeling a bit breathless as you read its final chapter...continued

Full Review (440 words)

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(Reviewed by Patty Magyar).

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Beyond the Book



About the Author
Kate Atkinson was born in York, England in 1951 and studied English Literature at Dundee University in Scotland. After graduating in 1974, she researched a postgraduate doctorate on American Literature. She later taught at Dundee University and began writing short stories in 1981. She started writing for women's magazines after winning the 1986 Woman's Own Short Story Competition.

Her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum (1995), won the 1995 Whitbread Book of the Year award. Set in Yorkshire, the book has been adapted for radio, theater and TV. This was followed by Human Croquet (1977), Abandonment (2000), Emotionally Weird (2000), Not the End of the World (2002), Case Histories (2004), One Good...

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