The World of Tomorrow

De: Brendan Mathews

Narrado por: Graham Halstead

Three brothers caught up in a whirlwind week of love, blackmail, and betrayal culminating in an assassination plot, set in prewar New York.

June 1939. Francis Dempsey and his shell-shocked brother Michael are on an ocean liner from Ireland bound for their brother Martin's home in New York City, having stolen a small fortune from the IRA. During the week that follows, the lives of these three brothers collide spectacularly with big-band jazz musicians, a talented but fragile heiress, a Jewish street photographer facing a return to Nazi-occupied Prague, a vengeful mob boss, and the ghosts of their own family's revolutionary past.

When Tom Cronin, an erstwhile assassin forced into one last job, tracks the brothers down, their lives begin to fracture. Francis must surrender to blackmail or have his family suffer fatal consequences. Michael, wandering alone, turns to Lilly Bloch, a heartsick artist, to recover his lost memory. And Martin and his wife, Rosemary, try to salvage their marriage and, ultimately, the lives of the other Dempseys.

From the smoky jazz joints of Harlem to the Plaza Hotel, from the garrets of artists in the Bowery to the shadowy warehouses of mobsters in Hell's Kitchen, Brendan Mathews brings prewar New York to vivid, pulsing life while the sweeping and intricate storytelling of this remarkable debut reveals an America that blithely hoped it could avoid another catastrophic war and focus instead on the promise of the World's Fair: a peaceful, prosperous "World of Tomorrow".

©2017 Brendan Mathews (P)2017 Hachette Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"What a beguiling debut Brendan Mathews has given us in The World of Tomorrow: clever, smart, ambitious, richly textured, and moving." (Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning and New York Times best-selling author of Everybody's Fool)

Good strong story

Epic, engaging, great listen. Expansive multi-plotted engaging historical fiction. Five more words required required.

Fantastic debut

A combination of great writing, memorable characters, well captured historical context and an intricately woven plot made this thoroughly enjoyable.

Well written but in need of serious editing

A truely engaging story never seems too long, and although there is much to admire in The World of Tomorrow, it was seriously over-long. The narrative jumped between multiple characters, and even though the story takes place over the course of a week, there were numerous flashbacks to fill in the backstories of the cast of characters. I admired the book rather than enjoyed it. I will give the author a big star, though, for a great ending.

I obviously really liked this book...

as you can see by my giving it so many stars.

Usually books that entail so many characters as this one can be hard to follow, but the author did a good job of bringing disparate characters together toward the climactic conclusion.

That being said, (not really a spoiler alert)... I was a little disappointed with the fate of certain characters. (I am not saying which ones so I am not spoiling your enjoyment of this good book). It was hardly a "bad ending"; i just didn't get exactly what I wanted or expected-too bad for me.

Wonderful listening experience!

A terrific story from beginning to end. Beautifully written and presented. A treat for the ears.