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The Last Empress
- Narrated by: Alexandra O'Karma
- Length: 14 hrs and 54 mins
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The Last Empress
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-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 367
At the age of 16, in a nationwide selection for royal consorts, Cixi was chosen as one of the emperor's numerous concubines. When he died in 1861, their five-year-old son succeeded to the throne. Cixi at once launched a palace coup against the regents appointed by her husband and made herself the real ruler of China - behind the throne, literally, with a silk screen separating her from her officials who were all male.
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2 out of 5 stars
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An insult to audiobooks. Get a print version.
- By Reademandweep on 02-23-15
By: Jung Chang
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Equal of the Sun
- A Novel
- By: Anita Amirrezvani
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 736
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 661
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Story4 out of 5 stars 664
Iran in 1576 is a place of peace, wealth, and dazzling beauty. But when the Shah dies without having named an heir, the court is thrown into tumult. Princess Pari, the Shah's daughter and closest adviser, knows more about the inner workings of the state than almost anyone, but the princess's maneuvers to instill order after her father's sudden death incite resentment and dissent. Pari and her trusted servant, a eunuch able to navigate the harem as well as the world beyond the palace walls, are in possession of an incredible tapestry....
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4 out of 5 stars
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A Woman in a Man's World
- By JGrace on 06-26-13
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Victoria: The Queen
- An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire
- By: Julia Baird
- Narrated by: Lucy Rayner
- Length: 21 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 53
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 45
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 44
When Victoria was born, in 1819, the world was a very different place. Revolution would threaten many of Europe’s monarchies in the coming decades. In Britain, a generation of royals had indulged their whims at the public’s expense, and republican sentiment was growing. The Industrial Revolution was transforming the landscape, and the British Empire was commanding ever larger tracts of the globe. In a world where women were often powerless, during a century roiling with change, Victoria went on to rule the most powerful country on earth with a decisive hand.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Masterpiece!!
- By DKSTRYKER on 01-07-24
By: Julia Baird
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Nefer the Silent
- Stone of Light, Volume 1
- By: Christian Jacq
- Narrated by: Ezra Knight
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 14
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 7
Deep in the heart of the Upper Egyptian desert lies a forbidden village, where bands of artisans prepare the tombs of the Pharaohs. Guarded by a handful of elite soldiers, the hidden city shelters the most precious of treasures: the Stone of Light, a legendary stone of magical power. When a devious military officer schemes to infiltrate the city and capture the sacred gem, his subversive plot is thwarted by an unlikely hero: a desert wanderer who falls into a maze of treachery and betrayal, desire and danger.
By: Christian Jacq
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Peter the Great
- His Life and World
- By: Robert K. Massie
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 43 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,194
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,010
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 999
This superbly told story brings to life one of the most remarkable rulers––and men––in all of history and conveys the drama of his life and world. The Russia of Peter's birth was very different from the Russia his energy, genius, and ruthlessness shaped. Crowned co-Tsar as a child of ten, after witnessing bloody uprisings in the streets of Moscow, he would grow up propelled by an unquenchable curiosity, everywhere looking, asking, tinkering, and learning, fired by Western ideas.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Narrater ruins everything
- By BrendaLouQuilts on 12-30-11
By: Robert K. Massie
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Ramses
- The Son Of Light
- By: Christian Jacq
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 122
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 86
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Story4 out of 5 stars 86
An epic re-creation of the exhilarating and mysterious time when the Sun King ruled Egypt, Ramses, the Son of Light, has become the rage in France. With over two million copies sold, it is the greatest publishing phenomenon to hit the shelves there in 20 years. Rameses is only 14 when his father, the Pharaoh Seti, begins testing his true mettle. Being the younger of two sons, the proud Ramses has a problem with being relegated to second place.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Teenager drama with little insight into Egyptian culture
- By Consuelo on 10-24-17
By: Christian Jacq
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The Family
- By: Mario Puzo, completed by Carol Gino
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 14 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 198
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 127
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 127
Mario Puzo first answered the question 'What is a family?' with the creation of the Corleones in his landmark best seller The Godfather. Now, 30 years later, Puzo enriches us all with his ultimate vision of the subject: the story of the greatest crime family in Italian history, the Borgias.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding look at the Papacy
- By Gary on 11-12-08
By: Mario Puzo, and others
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Aavarana
- The Veil
- By: Sandeep Balakrishna - translator, S. L. Bhyrappa
- Narrated by: Deepti Gupta
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 37
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 32
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Story5 out of 5 stars 32
Aavarana: The Veil by S. L. Bhyrappa is a story of a free-spirited and rebellious young woman, Lakshmi, who marries the man she is deeply in love with. Amir, her husband, requests she convert to Islam, and she reluctantly agrees. Despite her father being completely against the marriage, she breaks ties with him and changes her name to Razia. However, things change for the worse, and she discovers a different side to Amir. He is not the progressive and liberal person she thought he was.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent Narration
- By Vikram on 04-10-23
By: Sandeep Balakrishna - translator, and others
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The Iron King
- The Accursed Kings, Book 1
- By: Maurice Druon
- Narrated by: Peter Joyce
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 661
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 606
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 605
From the publishers that brought you A Game of Thrones comes the series that inspired George R.R. Martin’s epic work. France became a great nation under Philip the Fair - but it was a greatness achieved at the expense of her people, for his was a reign characterised by violence, the scandalous adulteries of his daughters-in-law, and the triumph of royal authority.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Historical Goodie
- By Syd Young on 08-03-13
By: Maurice Druon
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Master and God
- A Novel of the Roman Empire
- By: Lindsey Davis
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 15 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 82
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 74
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 73
Lindsey Davis’ Master and God is a vastly entertaining historical novel set in the reign of the Emperor Domitian in first-century Rome. It is on the one hand a love story between Gaius Vinius Clodianus, a valiant but reluctant member of the Praetorian Guard, whose military career is as successful as his marital history is disastrous, and Flavia Lucilla, daughter of a freed slave and hairdresser to the ladies of the imperial household. A devastating fire in Rome brings them together....
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3 out of 5 stars
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Info Dump with Romance
- By S. Lev-Ami on 10-03-12
By: Lindsey Davis
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Desert Queen
- The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia
- By: Janet Wallach
- Narrated by: Jean Gilpin
- Length: 20 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 272
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 231
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 235
Turning her back on her privileged life in Victorian England, Gertrude Bell (1868-1926), fired by her innate curiosity, journeyed the world and became fascinated with all things Arab. Traveling the length and breadth of the Arab region, armed with a love for its language and its people, she not only produced several enormously popular books based on her experiences but became instrumental to the British foreign office. When World War I erupted, and the British needed the loyalty of the Arab leaders, it was Gertrude Bell's work and connections that helped provided the brain for T. E. Lawrence's military brawn.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Great beginning, then gets boring
- By Msz on 03-31-16
By: Janet Wallach
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To the Scaffold
- The Life of Marie Antoinette
- By: Carolly Erickson
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 125
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 108
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 107
To this day Marie Antoinette remains one of history’s most misunderstood heroines. How she triumphed over the petty jealousies and backstairs rivalries of the court, how she sustained a good-hearted but malleable king, and how she was transformed from French queen to Austrian “whore,” is the story told with skill and fascinating detail.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Davina Porter is a treasure!
- By Missee on 04-08-19
By: Carolly Erickson
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Shalimar the Clown
- By: Salman Rushdie
- Narrated by: Aasif Mandvi
- Length: 18 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 570
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 240
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Story4 out of 5 stars 237
When Maximilian Ophuls is murdered outside his daughter's home by his Kashmiri Muslim driver, it appears to be a political killing. Ophuls is the former U.S. ambassador to India and America's leading figure in counter-terrorism. But there is much more to Ophuls and his assassin, a mysterious man calling himself "Shalimar the Clown", than meets the eye. One woman is at the center of their shared history, a history of betrayal and deception.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Incredible
- By Barry on 12-07-05
By: Salman Rushdie
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The Virgin's Daughter
- Tudor Legacy, Book 1
- By: Laura Andersen
- Narrated by: Rosalind Ashford
- Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 185
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 171
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Story4 out of 5 stars 167
Perfect for fans of Philippa Gregory and Alison Weir, The Virgin's Daughter is the first book in a captivating new saga about the next generation of Tudor royals, which poses the thrilling question: What if Elizabeth I, the celebrated Virgin Queen, gave birth to a legitimate heir?
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5 out of 5 stars
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Intriguing premise, good story, great storytelling
- By RC on 06-10-15
By: Laura Andersen
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Antoinette's Sister
- By: Diana Giovinazzo
- Narrated by: Marisa Calin
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 289
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 256
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 256
As Marie Antoinette took her last breath as queen of France in Paris, another formidable monarch - Antoinette’s dearly beloved sister, Charlotte - was hundreds of miles away, in Naples, fighting desperately to secure her release from the revolutionaries who would take her life. Little did Charlotte know, however, that her sister’s execution would change the course of history - and bring about the end of her own empire.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Started off good, but I lost interest as time went
- By Tess of the D'urbervilles on 02-02-22
By: Diana Giovinazzo
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The Romanovs
- 1613-1918
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Simon Beale
- Length: 28 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,305
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,172
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,167
This is the intimate story of 20 tsars and tsarinas, some touched by genius, some by madness, but all inspired by holy autocracy and imperial ambition. Simon Sebag Montefiore's gripping chronicle reveals their secret world of unlimited power and ruthless empire building, overshadowed by palace conspiracy, family rivalries, sexual decadence, and wild extravagance, with a global cast of adventurers, courtesans, revolutionaries, and poets, from Ivan the Terrible to Tolstoy and Pushkin.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Scholarly but gripping
- By William on 06-16-16
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The Boleyn King
- Boleyn Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Laura Andersen
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 332
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 294
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Story4 out of 5 stars 293
Just seventeen years old, Henry IX, known as William, is a king bound by the restraints of the regency yet anxious to prove himself. With the French threatening battle and the Catholics sowing the seeds of rebellion at home, William trusts only three people: his older sister Elizabeth; his best friend and loyal counselor, Dominic; and Minuette, a young orphan raised as a royal ward by William’s mother, Anne Boleyn.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Great idea, bad story
- By S. D. Ristick on 09-22-14
By: Laura Andersen