11/22/63: A Novel
THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND MODERN CLASSIC FROM MASTER STORYTELLER STEPHEN KING
A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR
WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE
On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? In this brilliantly conceived tour de force, Stephen King—who has absorbed the social, political, and popular culture of his generation more imaginatively and thoroughly than any other writer—takes readers on an incredible journey into the past and the possibility of altering it.
It begins with Jake Epping, a thirty-five-year-old English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, whose life is upended when his friend Al, who owns the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to the past, a particular day in 1958. And the dying Al enlists Jake to take over the mission that has become his obsession—to prevent the Kennedy assassination.
So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson, in the world of Ike and JFK and Elvis, of big American cars and sock hops and cigarette smoke everywhere and to the small town of Jodie, Texas, where Jake falls dangerously in love. Every turn leads eventually to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and to Dallas, where the past becomes heart-stoppingly suspenseful, and where history might not be history anymore. Time-travel has never been so believable. Or so terrifying.
A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR
WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE
On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? In this brilliantly conceived tour de force, Stephen King—who has absorbed the social, political, and popular culture of his generation more imaginatively and thoroughly than any other writer—takes readers on an incredible journey into the past and the possibility of altering it.
It begins with Jake Epping, a thirty-five-year-old English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, whose life is upended when his friend Al, who owns the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to the past, a particular day in 1958. And the dying Al enlists Jake to take over the mission that has become his obsession—to prevent the Kennedy assassination.
So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson, in the world of Ike and JFK and Elvis, of big American cars and sock hops and cigarette smoke everywhere and to the small town of Jodie, Texas, where Jake falls dangerously in love. Every turn leads eventually to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and to Dallas, where the past becomes heart-stoppingly suspenseful, and where history might not be history anymore. Time-travel has never been so believable. Or so terrifying.
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Community Reviews
What Bookclubbers are saying about this book
✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI
Readers say *11/22/63* is a captivating blend of historical fiction, sci-fi, romance, suspense, and mystery, showcasing Stephen King’s storytelling ma...
“We never know which lives we influence, or when, or why. Not until the future eats the present, anyway. We know when it's too late.”
If you could go back in time to stop something terrible from happening, would you do it, no matter the cost?
I wasn’t expecting an epic romance from Stephen King, but in 11/22/63, Stephen King blends sci-fi with a slow-burn romance, and then throw in historical fiction and suspense, and it’s just a melting pot of genres, and King mastered them all! Through the eyes of Jake Epping, we’re dropped into the late 1950s on a mission to prevent the assassination of JFK Jr., but the real heart of the story lies with Sadie Dunhill. Jake & Sadie’s love story adds a devastating emotional weight that turns this into so much more than a “change-the-past” plot.
This story is tender, suspenseful, and quietly heartbreaking. It settled right into my heart, and I think it will stay there for a long time.
Favorite Quotes:
“If there is love, smallpox scars are as pretty as dimples. I'll love your face no matter what it looks like. Because it's yours.”
“But I believe in love, you know; love is a uniquely portable magic. I don’t think it’s in the stars, but I do believe that blood calls to blood and mind calls to mind and heart to heart.”
“For a moment everything was clear, and when that happens you see that the world is barely there at all. Don't we all secretly know this? It's a perfectly balanced mechanism of shouts and echoes pretending to be wheels and cogs, a dreamclock chiming beneath a mystery-glass we call life. Behind it? Below it and around it? Chaos, storms. Men with hammers, men with knives, men with guns. Women who twist what they cannot dominate and belittle what they cannot understand. A universe of horror and loss surrounding a single lighted stage where mortals dance in defiance of the dark.”
“If you've ever been homesick, or felt exiled from all the things and people that once defined you, you'll know how important welcoming words and friendly smiles can be.”
If you could go back in time to stop something terrible from happening, would you do it, no matter the cost?
I wasn’t expecting an epic romance from Stephen King, but in 11/22/63, Stephen King blends sci-fi with a slow-burn romance, and then throw in historical fiction and suspense, and it’s just a melting pot of genres, and King mastered them all! Through the eyes of Jake Epping, we’re dropped into the late 1950s on a mission to prevent the assassination of JFK Jr., but the real heart of the story lies with Sadie Dunhill. Jake & Sadie’s love story adds a devastating emotional weight that turns this into so much more than a “change-the-past” plot.
This story is tender, suspenseful, and quietly heartbreaking. It settled right into my heart, and I think it will stay there for a long time.
Favorite Quotes:
“If there is love, smallpox scars are as pretty as dimples. I'll love your face no matter what it looks like. Because it's yours.”
“But I believe in love, you know; love is a uniquely portable magic. I don’t think it’s in the stars, but I do believe that blood calls to blood and mind calls to mind and heart to heart.”
“For a moment everything was clear, and when that happens you see that the world is barely there at all. Don't we all secretly know this? It's a perfectly balanced mechanism of shouts and echoes pretending to be wheels and cogs, a dreamclock chiming beneath a mystery-glass we call life. Behind it? Below it and around it? Chaos, storms. Men with hammers, men with knives, men with guns. Women who twist what they cannot dominate and belittle what they cannot understand. A universe of horror and loss surrounding a single lighted stage where mortals dance in defiance of the dark.”
“If you've ever been homesick, or felt exiled from all the things and people that once defined you, you'll know how important welcoming words and friendly smiles can be.”
When this book first came out, I bought it for my dad, knowing he would love it. (He did.) But I refused to read it myself because I was still scarred from a college English course that made us write papers on Kennedy for the entire semester. (I’m still so scarred, I don’t remember a single fact from those papers lol.)
20+ years later, I finally decided I was ready to try this book and I am so glad I did. This was truly an excellent book. Even tho it’s a hefty 1100 pages, this book reads very quickly and kept me entertained.
As a born & raised Texan, I especially loved when George got down to Texas and started exploring the area. I knew just about everywhere he went. And when he talked about Ruth Paine, the woman who housed Marina Oswald & their children the last few months, and her house in Irving (my hometown) on 5th Street, I immediately gasped because I knew exactly where that was.
I loved Sadie and the townsfolk of the fictional Jodie, TX the most. I had to mark down a smidge of a point for the ending. I wanted a happily ever after lol. Either way, I loved this book and am ready to watch the tv show now.
Finally got thru this one- Could changing the past really have a devastating effect on the present? What if JFK had never been assassinated? Would today be better or worse? We'll never know...
Whoa!!! It is honestly difficult to put this novel into a short review. If you like history, if you like time-travel, if you like romance, if you like suspense and mystery...you will love this book! I originally started reading this book for two reasons: 1) it sounded super interesting at the idea of someone getting to change the past and see how it affected the future and 2) I wanted to say that I read a Stephen King novel. Chapter after chapter, I was sucked in more and more, wondering why certain details were important and then shocked when those details were brought back in ways I could have never imagined. There are often books that do so well throughout the story but then end so poorly but this is not the case. I honestly think that the last chapter what the best part. The past truly harmonizes with itself!
I highly recommend this book to everyone! It is quite a feat but any Stephen King novel will be. I listened to the audiobook while reading along with the novel and this added so much more character and imagery to the story so I would recommend that readers do the same.
Get ready to enter an adventure that will bring every emotion to the surface and will make you feel like you are living the past right along with Mr. George Amberson!
I highly recommend this book to everyone! It is quite a feat but any Stephen King novel will be. I listened to the audiobook while reading along with the novel and this added so much more character and imagery to the story so I would recommend that readers do the same.
Get ready to enter an adventure that will bring every emotion to the surface and will make you feel like you are living the past right along with Mr. George Amberson!
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