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The Great Believers  By  cover art

The Great Believers

By: Rebecca Makkai
Narrated by: Michael Crouch
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Publisher's summary

PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST

A New York Times TOP 10 BOOK OF 2018

LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE WINNER

ALA CARNEGIE MEDAL WINNER

THE STONEWALL BOOK AWARD WINNER

Soon to Be a Major Television Event, optioned by Amy Poehler

“A page turner.... An absorbing and emotionally riveting story about what it’s like to live during times of crisis.” (The New York Times Book Review)

A dazzling new novel of friendship and redemption in the face of tragedy and loss set in 1980s Chicago and contemporary Paris, by the acclaimed author Rebecca Makkai.

In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an art gallery in Chicago, is about to pull off an amazing coup, bringing in an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings as a gift to the gallery. Yet as his career begins to flourish, the carnage of the AIDS epidemic grows around him. One by one, his friends are dying and after his friend Nico's funeral, the virus circles closer and closer to Yale himself. Soon the only person he has left is Fiona, Nico's little sister.

Thirty years later, Fiona is in Paris tracking down her estranged daughter who disappeared into a cult. While staying with an old friend, a famous photographer who documented the Chicago crisis, she finds herself finally grappling with the devastating ways AIDS affected her life and her relationship with her daughter. The two intertwining stories take us through the heartbreak of the eighties and the chaos of the modern world, as both Yale and Fiona struggle to find goodness in the midst of disaster.

Named a Best Book of 2018 by The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, NPR, San Francisco Chronicle, The Boston Globe, Entertainment Weekly, Buzzfeed, The Seattle Times, Bustle, Newsday, AM New York, BookPage, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Lit Hub, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, New York Public Library, and Chicago Public Library.

©2018 Rebecca Makkai (P)2018 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Makkai knits themes of loss, betrayal, friendship and survival into a powerful story of people struggling to keep their humanity in dire circumstances.” (People Magazine)

“Cultural revolutions of the past painfully reverberate in Rebecca Makkai’s deft third novel, The Great Believers, which captures both the devastation of the AIDS crisis in 1980s Chicago and the emotional aftershocks of those losses.” (Vogue)

"Rebecca Makkai’s The Great Believers is a page turner... among the first novels to chronicle the AIDS epidemic from its initial outbreak to the present - among the first to convey the terrors and tragedies of the epidemic’s early years as well as its course and repercussions...An absorbing and emotionally riveting story about what it’s like to live during times of crisis." (The New York Times Book Review)

Featured Article: Moving Listens About the AIDS Epidemic


The AIDS crisis is a devastating part of history that should never be forgotten. The epidemic led to the death of more than 25 million Americans and contributed to the health struggles of countless others. The audiobooks on this list confront the harsh, heartbreaking realities of the AIDS epidemic. Each of these listens helps commemorate a dark part of our nation’s history and honor those who lost their lives to the bigotry that built barriers to treatment and care.

What listeners say about The Great Believers

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A story for all time

I was so moved by this book that I wrote the author and the narrator. This is one of those books that I will be forever thankful I read it. Truly a story for all time. I’m a blind audio book junkie and Michael Crouch’s performance was amazing.

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66 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Best book for a long time!

Loved!!! The story is poignant and beautifully depicts a subject many may not know or not know from a personal perspective and the way the aids epidemic shaped a generation ... the characters are developed sensitively and unflinchingly: love,guilt, shame,hope . Kudos to the author in weaving the story to capture the humanness in all its flaws/demonstrating eloquently frailty and the longing to make sense of senselessness... narration makes this a top pick for sure !

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42 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

WOW

It's been a while since a novel ripped at my seams and left me bleeding by the side of the road quite like this. It's not an easy book to sit through, granted, but the characters are so realistically drawn and fully fleshed out that you cannot help but fall in love in them--which is a very, very bad thing when you are forced to say goodbye to them. It hurt. I can't remember the last time a novel left me blubbering like this at the end. Wow. Just, wow.

And Michael Crouch is a master storyteller. He inhabits each character so completely that you lose yourself in his voice. The story comes alive under his nimble touch. You forget that you are listening to one man voice a dozen or more characters. He's amazing and never disappoints. Buy this today. Like, immediately. But, be prepared for the emotional roller coaster that's coming!

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30 people found this helpful

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4.47 stars

This book is being mentioned as a possible Pulitzer winner. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it won, though I’m not sure it’s my first choice. The Great Believers is described as a “page turner” in the book’s summary. I wouldn’t necessarily classify it as such, but it is quite good. Half of the novel takes place in the 80s, the other half in 2015. The 80s storyline is where the book shines most. The audiobook narrator is really good. I don’t think anyone will be disappointed with this selection,

Overall rating: 4.47 stars

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20 people found this helpful

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Surely this will become a classic

Beautifully conceived. Deals with the full ramifications of the AIDS crisis and society in general in a warm and humane fashion. I've never read anything that as fully covers what some of us lived through from the late 70s til the first decades of the 21st century and the affect it has had on so many aspects of our lives. Makkai writes fluidly. .. almost a page-turner..a marvel considering the extraordinary amount of research which has gone into this book.

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11 people found this helpful

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Definitely worth the listen!

This was a really good one, both from a storytelling perspective, bringing light to how the AIDS epidemic affected a close-knit group of friends and their family members, and of course the references to Chicago, particularly Boystown, that feel so familiar.

Chapter 34, in particular, really took my breath away, arriving teary-eyed to work that morning.

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10 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Art and AIDS

This was relentlessly bleak. The book had a gossipy tone of being told rather than an active one of action unfurling before you. This style made me feel distanced from the characters and their travails. It started out okay but was too long and suffered in the middle from a lack of good editing.

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10 people found this helpful

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Moving and poignant. A must-listen

Complete. Just completely satisfying, Completely moving, completely perfect in every way. It's not often that I am compelled to rock back and forth, chanting "no, no no, please" while listening to a book. I came to care about the characters so much that I felt true grief. The Great Believers delivers so many deep insights, so much wonderful character development, so much poignancy. One of the best listens I've had for many years.

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8 people found this helpful

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  • 07-14-18

Healing, beautiful, hopeful

Rebecca Makkai is a brilliant writer. Her characters and their circumstances are incredibly fleshed out and nuanced. She paints in a broad spectrum of colors and shades, never in black and white, making Yale and Fiona's stories achingly real. The subject matter is heavy, but do not be deterred: this book is full of life.

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7 people found this helpful

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Absolutely Wonderful

It's been a long time since I was so emotionally involved in a book. The story was riveting; the characters beautifully and realistically portrayed. Although my heart was in my throat throughout most of this novel, I really didn't want it to end.

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6 people found this helpful