Despite Harry's worries about his family and his household, and his growing sense of foreboding, life continues almost as normal - until one terrible day.

John Updike's masterful Rabbit quintet established Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom as the quintessential American White middle class male. The first book Rabbit, Run was published in 1960 to critical acclaim. Rabbit Redux is the second in the series, published in 1971 and charting the end of the sixties - featuring, among other things, the first American moon landing and the Vietnam War.

Despite its very strong language, sex, and reflection of racist attitudes of the time, Time Magazine said of the book and its author, "Updike owns a rare verbal genius, a gifted intelligence and a sense of tragedy made bearable by wit. A masterpiece."

It's extraordinary how many of its themes reverberate down to the present day.

Abridged by Eileen Horne
Read by Toby Jones
Produced by Clive Brill

A Brill production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in December 2017. Show less