The Great When

The Long London Quintet, Book 1

By: Alan Moore

Narrated by: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith

Bloomsbury presents The Great When by Alan Moore, read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith.

Nominated for Best Performance: Narrator at The Speakies (The British Audio Awards).

This audiobook features an exclusive essay, The True History of What Didn’t Happen, written and read by Alan Moore.

‘I was in the wrong London. It was horrible. I’d fallen in by accident, and it was all alive and trying to eat me.’

The year 1949, the city London.

Hapless second-hand bookseller Dennis stumbles through a city still shaking off the war. While out procuring inventory, Dennis’s life changes forever when he chances upon a novel that shouldn’t exist; an entirely fictional book from inside another novel.

The book hails from The Great When, a magical shadow-London, where reality blurs with fiction and concepts like Crime, Poetry and Riot are incarnated as mystical beings that stalk the streets. This discovery brings terrible danger, as the book’s presence leaves the doorway open between the two Londons, and The Great When must remain a secret.

Soon Dennis finds himself in the city’s occult underbelly, negotiating sorcerers, gangsters, and murderers – some imaginary, some all too real, and all with plans of their own. If Dennis cannot return the book and close the gate, he risks dire repercussions...

Neither London will ever be the same again.

History collides with magic in The Great When. Dark, ridiculous, propulsive, Sunday Times bestseller Alan Moore opens the gates to capital metafictional chaos in the genre-busting first instalment of the Long London series.

'It does what fantasy does best which is show us something beyond our experience… this shows us something absolutely new' Susanna Clarke

'A breathless time-travelling classic. Savage, humane, comic, terrifying' Iain Sinclair

'Brilliant and so powerfully imaginative’ Adam Curtis

'A weird book and a complete joy' Mariana Enríquez

‘A masterful step from one of our very best, uncompromising storytellers; Moore peels back the layers of London and reveals not only the history we know, but the histories that could have been, and, underneath it all, both the dark and beautiful truths about who we are as a nation.’ Heather Parry©2024 Alan Moore (P)2024 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

The Great Now

Alan Moore still keeping the standards high. Great characters, rich story and filled with magic. highly recommended.

Utterly dreadful, complete waste of time and money

Ugh... the premise for this book is brilliant, unfortunately the execution is one of the worst listens I've ever had. What an utter waste of time as nothing of any significance happens and I couldn't care less about any of the characters. I almost gave up after a couple of hours of listening, but unfortunately I had paid for this so couldn't return it (as you can now only return items that you've used a credit for). Hence, I persevered, but I really wish I hadn't. The story goes nowhere and then to cap it off the final chapter of the actual novel is an utter kick in the teeth of nonsense drivel to finish the story. To compound that though, there is then an additional chapter of what I can only presume is the ridiculously pretentious ravings of the author about writing fantasy - utter twaddle.
To make matters worse, the narration is very weak too - not much distinguishing the characters apart from the extremely annoying coughing of one of the main characters - almost impossible to listen to...
AVOID AT ALL COSTS