About Katherine Kellgren
The word that most immediately comes to mind when describing
a Katherine Kellgren performance is delightful.
Top Performances
Greatest Hits
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Dune Messiah
- By: Frank Herbert
- Narrated by: Scott Brick, Katherine Kellgren, Euan Morton, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The second Dune installment explores new developments on the planet Arrakis, with its intricate social order and strange, threatening environment. Dune Messiah picks up the story of the man known as Muad'Dib, heir to a power unimaginable, bringing to fruition an ambition of unparalleled scale: the centuries-old scheme to create a superbeing who reigns not in the heavens but among men. But the question is: DO all paths of glory lead to the grave?
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Good-not-great book, not as fond of the narration
- By Joel D Offenberg on 11-13-09
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Chapterhouse Dune
- By: Frank Herbert
- Narrated by: Euan Morton, Katherine Kellgren, Scott Brick, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The desert planet Arrakis, called Dune, has been destroyed. Now, the Bene Gesserit, heirs to Dune's power, have colonized a green world—and are tuning it into a desert, mile by scorched mile. Chapterhouse Dune is the last book Frank Herbert wrote before his death: A stunning climax to the epic Dune legend that will live on forever.
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Great Story! Horrible way to compile a narration.
- By Chris Carl on 05-23-14
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Masked Ball at Broxley Manor
- A Royal Spyness Novella
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 1 hr and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
At the end of her first unsuccessful season out in society, Lady Georgiana has all but given up on attracting a suitable man - until she receives an invitation to a masked Halloween ball at Broxley Manor. Georgie is uncertain why she was invited, until she learns that the royal family intends to marry her off to a foreign prince, one reputed to be mad.
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Fun, light prequel
- By CMMV on 01-01-15
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Dark Witch
- The Cousins O'Dwyer Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Nora Roberts
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
With indifferent parents, Iona Sheehan grew up craving devotion and acceptance. From her maternal grandmother, she learned where to find both: a land of lush forests, dazzling lakes, and centuries-old legends. Ireland. County Mayo, to be exact. Where her ancestors’ blood and magic have flowed through generations - and where her destiny awaits. Iona arrives in Ireland with nothing but her Nan’s directions, an unfailingly optimistic attitude, and an innate talent with horses.
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Turn the volume down!
- By J. Gilbert on 10-30-13
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Dune Messiah
- By: Frank Herbert
- Narrated by: Scott Brick, Katherine Kellgren, Euan Morton, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
The second Dune installment explores new developments on the planet Arrakis, with its intricate social order and strange, threatening environment. Dune Messiah picks up the story of the man known as Muad'Dib, heir to a power unimaginable, bringing to fruition an ambition of unparalleled scale: the centuries-old scheme to create a superbeing who reigns not in the heavens but among men. But the question is: DO all paths of glory lead to the grave?
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Good-not-great book, not as fond of the narration
- By Joel D Offenberg on 11-13-09
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Chapterhouse Dune
- By: Frank Herbert
- Narrated by: Euan Morton, Katherine Kellgren, Scott Brick, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The desert planet Arrakis, called Dune, has been destroyed. Now, the Bene Gesserit, heirs to Dune's power, have colonized a green world—and are tuning it into a desert, mile by scorched mile. Chapterhouse Dune is the last book Frank Herbert wrote before his death: A stunning climax to the epic Dune legend that will live on forever.
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Great Story! Horrible way to compile a narration.
- By Chris Carl on 05-23-14
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Masked Ball at Broxley Manor
- A Royal Spyness Novella
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 1 hr and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
At the end of her first unsuccessful season out in society, Lady Georgiana has all but given up on attracting a suitable man - until she receives an invitation to a masked Halloween ball at Broxley Manor. Georgie is uncertain why she was invited, until she learns that the royal family intends to marry her off to a foreign prince, one reputed to be mad.
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Fun, light prequel
- By CMMV on 01-01-15
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Dark Witch
- The Cousins O'Dwyer Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Nora Roberts
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
With indifferent parents, Iona Sheehan grew up craving devotion and acceptance. From her maternal grandmother, she learned where to find both: a land of lush forests, dazzling lakes, and centuries-old legends. Ireland. County Mayo, to be exact. Where her ancestors’ blood and magic have flowed through generations - and where her destiny awaits. Iona arrives in Ireland with nothing but her Nan’s directions, an unfailingly optimistic attitude, and an innate talent with horses.
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Turn the volume down!
- By J. Gilbert on 10-30-13
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Timeless Tales of Beatrix Potter
- Peter Rabbit and Friends
- By: Beatrix Potter
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 3 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
Beatrix Potter's amazing universe of animals dressed in human clothing has taught and entertained children for over a century. This volume brings together 21 of Potter's tales and verses in one audiobook. Hear Peter Rabbit outwit old Mr. McGregor, and Squirrel Nutkin come within a tail's length of being an owl's dinner. Listen as a family of mice save the kind tailor of Gloucester, and as Peter and Benjamin Bunny battle a barn cat. Learn how one fierce rabbit is set on the road to honesty.
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A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 10-13-16
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Dracula [Audible Edition]
- By: Bram Stoker
- Narrated by: Alan Cumming, Tim Curry, Simon Vance, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
The modern audience hasn't had a chance to truly appreciate the unknowing dread that readers would have felt when reading Bram Stoker's original 1897 manuscript. Most modern productions employ campiness or sound effects to try to bring back that gothic tension, but we've tried something different. By returning to Stoker's original storytelling structure - a series of letters and journal entries voiced by Jonathan Harker, Dr. Van Helsing, and other characters - with an all-star cast of narrators, we've sought to recapture its originally intended horror and power.
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IS THAT NOT SO?
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 11-05-15
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Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After
- By: Steve Hockensmith
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The story opens with our newly married protagonists, Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy, defending their village from an army of flesh-eating unmentionables. But the honeymoon has barely begun when poor Mr. Darcy is nipped by a rampaging dreadful. Elizabeth knows the proper course of action is to promptly behead her husband (and then burn the corpse, just to be safe). But when she learns of a miracle antidote under development in London, she realizes there may be one last chance to save her true love.
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Best of the Series
- By Amazon Customer on 05-01-11
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Dark and Stormy Knights
- By: Ilona Andrews, Jim Butcher, Shannon K Butcher, and others
- Narrated by: Renee Raudman, Joe Barrett, Marc Vietor, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
It was a dark and stormy knight, and nine dark defenders embarked upon a most perilous quest. They're the ultimate defenders of humanity, modern day knights who do dark deeds for all the right reasons. In this all-star collection, nine of today's hottest paranormal authors bring us thrilling, all-new stories of supernatural knights that are brimming with magic mystery and mayhem.
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Bought this for Dresden, loved the rest!
- By Moon River on 06-27-12
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Queen of Hearts
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
Lady Georgiana Rannoch, 35th in line for the British throne, knows how to play the part of an almost royal - but now she's off to Hollywood, where she must reprise her role as sleuth or risk starring in an all-too-convincing death scene...
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Unbearable
- By Amanda on 09-08-14
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Wolfsbane
- Aralorn, Book 2
- By: Patricia Briggs
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren, Patricia Briggs (introduction)
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
Shapeshifting mercenary Aralorn leads a dangerous existence. Now she must return home for her noble father, the Lyon of Lambshold, has passed away. But when Aralorn and her companion Wolf arrive, they find he's not dead, but ensorcelled by the ae'Magi, using him as a conduit to destroy Aralorn and Wolf. She must overcome this mysterious mist or fall to the blackest of magic.
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Excellent listen that left me longing for the next
- By Siobhan on 11-17-10
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Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
- Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!
- By: Seth Grahame-Smith, Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains." So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem.
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One word - Awesome!
- By Katelyn on 05-22-09
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A Royal Pain
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
The Queen of England has concocted a plan in which penniless aristocrat Lady Georgie is to entertain a Bavarian princess and conveniently place her in the playboy prince's path, in the hopes that he might finally marry.
But queens never take money into account. Georgie has very little, which is why she moonlights as a maid-in-disguise.
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A Royal HOOT!
- By AudioAddict on 03-08-14
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The Confusion
- Books Four & Five of The Baroque Cycle
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble, Katherine Kellgren, Kevin Pariseau, and others
- Length: 34 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
In the year 1689, a cabal of Barbary galley slaves, including one “Half-Cocked Jack” Shaftoe, devises a daring plan to win freedom and fortune. A great adventure ensues that will place the intrepid band at odds with the mighty and the mad, with alchemists, Jesuits, great navies, pirate queens, and vengeful despots across vast oceans and around the globe.
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The Confusion
- By Mr on 11-07-10
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All Clear
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren, Connie Willis (introduction)
- Length: 23 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Three time-traveling historians are visiting World War II England: Michael Davies, intent on observing heroism during the Miracle of Dunkirk; Merope Ward, studying children evacuated from London; and Polly Churchill, posing as a shopgirl in the middle of the Blitz. But when the three become unexpectedly trapped in 1940, they struggle not only to find their way home but to survive as Hitler's bombers attempt to pummel London into submission.
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joint review for Blackout and All Clear
- By Saikungbob on 11-03-10
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The Twelve Clues of Christmas
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me—well, actually, my true love, Darcy O’Mara, is spending a feliz navidad tramping around South America. Meanwhile, Mummy is holed up in a tiny village called Tiddleton-under-Lovey with that droll Noel Coward! And I’m snowed in at Castle Rannoch with my bumbling brother, Binky, and sourpuss sister-in-law, Fig.
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It was a great Christmas Who-Done-It!
- By Felicia The Geeky Blogger on 11-25-12
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Royal Blood
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
Penniless and 34th in line to the throne, Lady Georgiana Rannoch finds herself in a truly draining state of affairs. To escape her hateful brother, Georgie accepts an invitation from the Queen to represent the royals at a wedding in Transylvania. But at the macabre- looking castle, Georgie finds the bride with blood running down her chin, and a wedding guest is poisoned.
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Good Adventurous Fun
- By Dylan on 05-19-16
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On Her Majesty's Frightfully Secret Service
- A Royal Spyness Mystery, Book 11
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
When Darcy runs off on another secret assignment, I am left to figure out how to travel to Italy sans maid and chaperone to help my dear friend Belinda, as she awaits the birth of her baby alone. An opportunity presents itself in a most unexpected way - my cousin the queen is in need of a spy to attend a house party in the Italian lake country. The Prince of Wales and the dreadful Mrs. Simpson have been invited, and Her Majesty is anxious to thwart a possible secret wedding.
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Still good fun!
- By Dylan on 08-03-17
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Malice at the Palace
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
While my beau, Darcy, is off on a mysterious mission, I am once again caught between my high birth and empty purse. I am therefore relieved to receive a new assignment from the queen - especially one that includes lodging. The king's youngest son, George, is to wed Princess Marina of Greece, and I shall be her companion at the supposedly haunted Kensington Palace. My duties are simple: help Marina acclimate to English life, show her the best of London, and, above all, dispel any rumors about George's libertine history.
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Is Darcy becoming another Daniel Sullivan?
- By Archer on 08-08-15
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Odalisque
- Book Three of The Baroque Cycle
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble, Katherine Kellgren, Kevin Pariseau, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
The trials of Dr. Daniel Waterhouse and the Natural Philosophers increase one-hundred fold in an England plagued by the impending war and royal insecurities - as the beautiful and ambitious Eliza plays a most dangerous game as double agent and confidante of enemy kings.
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Imp of the Perverse Embodied in Brilliant Fiction
- By Doug D. Eigsti on 10-28-14
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Heirs and Graces
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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As 35th in line for the throne, Lady Georgiana Rannoch may not be the most sophisticated young woman, but she knows her table manners. It's forks on the left, knives on the right - not in His Majesty's back….
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One of My Favourites in the Series
- By Dylan on 03-14-16
Listener Favorite
"Yes, the narrator is really that good."
"Bloody Jack is a pleasant surprise of good fun. I am happy to have found a new series to lose myself in. This is a slight step away from my usual reading lists, and honestly, I only got the book because it was on-sale and all the reviews just raved on and on about the narration. The story grabs hold almost immediately and there is hardly a dull moment to be found. Our heroine is so likeable that you can’t help but root for her the entire way. But the true gem of this story is Katherine Kellgren (with due respect to the author). Yes, Ms. Kellgren is THAT good...It’s hard to explain. I cringe at calling it “narration” as anyone who listens will immediately realize it’s something more. And no, it’s not a “dramatization”–it’s more subtle than that. It’s a gift. That’s the only way I can explain it. Listening to Ms. Kellgren read this novel was an experience— a 7 hour thrill ride through the streets of London, and over the perilous sea. As a seasoned audio listener, I can appreciate what I have stumbled across here. I am excited again to have found a series worth getting sucked into–and I plan to!"
Go Behind the Scenes
A performance so good you could be entertained by that narrator reading the encyclopedia?More About Katherine Kellgren
With more than 200 audiobooks to her name, the multiple Audie Award-winning actress tackled almost every fictional subgenre, from romance and cozy mysteries, to young adult and even apocalyptic sci-fi (despite being
delightful,she still did a great interpretation of
grim). Kellgren was also known to deliver a mean multicast, even—or especially—when narrating solo. Her inimitable ability at impersonation is on full display in one of her most beloved series at Audible: Her Royal Spyness. In it she delivered a myriad of voices, from Irish brogue, to East-End cockney, to posh upper crust, to the bored American drawl of one very petulant Wallis Simpson. And more than one Audible editor will readily admit that her rendition of Darcy O’Mara (the heroine’s beau) is their #1
book boyfriend.
She was also lauded for her performance of L.A. Meyer’s Bloody Jack series, which not only called on her to deliver endless accents (many of them piratical) but also required her to sing a number of old English sea ballads. The series gained a fervent following across all ages, and Kellgren once shared an anecdote about calling a young fan for her birthday—in the guise of Bloody Jack. The child was apparently on the verge of fainting.
Though born in New York, Katherine Kellgren spent 12 years studying acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, where she honed her incredible fluency with regional accents and dialects. She reportedly recorded her first audiobook as a child using a cassette player, so that her father, whose health was failing, could still enjoy his favorite novel.
Kellgren passed away in early 2018 after a battle with a rare form of cancer.