
Lessons
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $25.79
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Simon McBurney
-
By:
-
Ian McEwan
Both epic and intimate, the story of one man’s life across generations and historical upheavals: a deeply affecting novel about love, loss, ambition, and resolution from the best-selling author of Atonement.
When the world is still counting the cost of the Second World War and the Iron Curtain has closed, eleven-year-old Roland Baines's life is turned upside down. 2,000 miles from his mother's protective love, stranded at an unusual boarding school, his vulnerability attracts piano teacher Miss Miriam Cornell, leaving scars as well as a memory of love that will never fade.
Now, when his wife vanishes, leaving him alone with his tiny son, Roland is forced to confront the reality of his restless existence. As the radiation from Chernobyl spreads across Europe, he begins a search for answers that looks deep into his family history and will last for the rest of his life.
From the Suez Crisis to the Cuban Missile Crisis, the fall of the Berlin Wall to the current pandemic and climate change, Roland sometimes rides with the tide of history, but more often struggles against it. Haunted by lost opportunities, he seeks solace through every possible means—music, literature, friends, sex, politics and, finally, love cut tragically short, then love ultimately redeemed. His journey raises important questions for us all. Can we take full charge of the course of our lives without damage to others? How do global events beyond our control shape our lives and our memories? And what can we really learn from the traumas of the past?
Epic, mesmerizing and deeply humane, Lessons is a chronicle for our times—a powerful meditation on history and humanity through the prism of one man's lifetime.
©2022 Ian McEwan (P)2022 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...




















Featured Article: Best of the Year—The 15 Best Fiction Listens of 2022
To say it’s a challenge to select the top fiction listens of the year (and this year especially!) is an understatement. But as hard as it is, it’s an even greater honor for our team to be able to listen deeply to so many amazing stories and then highlight the best of the best to you. Fiction is a big category—one that includes everything from epic family sagas to clever short stories, from historical fiction to near-future speculative works.
People who viewed this also viewed...


















The last three chapters are emotional and worth the price of the book alone. Highly recommend.
Beautiful
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Heading
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Pleasant surprise.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Smart, exciting and heart rending
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I’m roughly McEwan’s age so I should identify with much of his reactions to the social mores and world events of the protagonist’s life. But though I recognize them I don’t think he gets across the zeitgeist of the 60s and 70s.
Got bored by chapter 4.
Disappointing - a boomer’s reflections
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Needed editing
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Solid 4 star experience
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
good but not my cup of tea
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Amazing moments, memorable novel
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Excellent!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.