Jackdaws, Ken Follett
Jackdaws, Ken Follett
List: $17.50 | Sale: $12.25
Club: $8.75

Jackdaws

Author: Ken Follett

Narrator: Kate Reading

Unabridged: 13 hr 31 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 01/10/2005


Synopsis

D-Day is approaching. They don’t know where or when, but the Germans know it’ll be soon, and for Felicity “Flick” Clariet, the stakes have never been higher. A senior agent in the ranks of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) responsible for sabotage, Flick has survived to become one of Britain’s most effective operatives in Northern France. She knows that the Germans’ ability to thwart the Allied attack depends upon their lines of communications, and in the days before the invasion no target is of greater strategic importance than the largest telephone exchange in Europe.

But when Flick and her Resistance-leader husband try a direct, head-on assault that goes horribly wrong, her world turns upside down. Her group destroyed, her husband missing, her superiors unsure of her, her own confidence badly shaken, she has one last chance at the target, but the challenge, once daunting, is now near impossible. The new plan requires an all-woman team, none of them professionals, to be assembled and trained within days. Code-named the Jackdaws, they will attempt to infiltrate the exchange under the noses of the Germans—but the Germans are waiting for them now and have plans of their own. There are secrets Flick does not know—secrets within the German ranks, secrets among her hastily recruited team, secrets among those she trusts the most. And as the hours tick down to the point of no return, most daunting of all, there are secrets within herself. . . . 

Filled with the powerful storytelling, unforgettable characters, and authentic detail that have become his hallmarks, Jackdaws is Ken Follett writing at the height of his powers.

About Ken Follett

Ken Follett, a Welsh novelist has written important bodies of work, such as: Eye of the Needle, The Key to Rebecca, Pillars of the Earth, World Without End, Whiteout, The Century Trilogy. His genre includes thrillers and historical fiction. As a youth he was never allowed to watch television or movies, so out of boredom, he developed a keen interest in reading.

Follett had various jobs on his pathway to being a novelist. He was a general assignment reporter for the Evening News in London. He found that work to be very unchallenging, so he took a position as managing director of Everest Books and began writing fiction as an evening hobby. With the publication of Eye of the Needle in 1978 he became not only internationally known, but also wealthy. Follett’s next project is a third book in his Kingsbridge series. The first two were The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End, and is to be released in 2017.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Dana on January 19, 2019

This is a heart-racing, brilliantly fast-paced and gripping read. To merely call it 'exciting' would be an understatement. The plot is fantastically well-written, bringing together drama, history and tangible emotion. This is certainly not a book which can be easily put down. Follett not only knows h......more

Goodreads review by Maria on August 08, 2022

Sementes de Verdade* Pegaram em armas, planearam ataques, trataram dos feridos... Preservaram a sanidade numa guerra gerada por sementes de loucura! Lutaram numa guerra de homens sem, contudo, deixar de ser mulheres! Mulheres corajosas!... Grandes Guerreiras que merecem ser recordadas com o maior respeit......more

Goodreads review by David on August 20, 2007

Reading Jackdaws, like other Ken Follett titles I've read, is kind of like riding a moped. It's a lot of fun, but all the same you really don't want to be seen enjoying it. For me reading Follett is one of those guilty pleasures, where you know it isn't the best writing out there, the characters are......more

Goodreads review by Kristen on May 17, 2011

"Exactly fifty women were sent into France as secret agents by the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War. Of those, thirty-six survived the war. The other fourteen gave their lives. This book is dedicated to all of them." So. Damn. Good. Ken Follett is best known for his sweeping e......more

Goodreads review by Anto on March 22, 2022

Da Wikipedia su Ken Follett: Considerato uno dei più grandi narratori al mondo... Quanto è vero! La sua padronanza narrativa non si discute. A qualsiasi suo romanzo mi sia approcciata sono stata fagocitata e ammaliata dalla storia raccontata. "Le gazze ladre" riesce a tenere viva l'attenzione in modo......more


Quotes

Praise for Jackdaws

"[A] celebration of uncommon courage and unlikely heroes." —People

"A very entertaining, very cinematic thriller about a ragtag, all-female band of British agents, code-named Jackdaws, sent to blow up a key telephone exchange in France on the eve of D day . . . adventure, romance, derring-do. . . . [Jackdaws] promises to be one of Follett's most popular novels ever." —Publishers Weekly

"Compelling reading . . . great entertainment." —The Baltimore Sun

"Deeply satisfying." —Entertainment Weekly

"Suspenseful, gripping."New York Post

"With its vivid characters, suspense, patriotism, and examples of supreme bravery, Jackdaws is a fitting tribute to the women of World War II." —The Orlando Sentinel

"Cleverly plotted. . . . The characters are sharply drawn and fully realized [and] the pace is rapid-fire." —Minneapolis Star Tribune

"A sort of distaff dirty (half) dozen. They don't come any tougher, smarter, braver, or for that matter, deadlier than Major Felicity (call her 'Flick') Clairet. Quintessentially female and sexy as all get out, she kills without compunction if that's the way the mission goes." —Kirkus Reviews

"Carried off with the kind of galvanic skill that was the hallmark of Follett's early books . . . a memorable, complex heroine." —Publishing News

"For fans of the sixties movie The Dirty Dozen, this could be called The Perfumed Six. . . . It's certainly pleasant to have the main character be female." —The Buffalo News

"[Follett] is dead on-target . . . updating that World War II workhorse in which a gang of misfits goes behind Nazi lines to do the impossible . . . thoroughly entertaining." —Booklist

"Follett delivers one of his most entertaining thrillers."The Denver Post


Awards

  • Audie Awards