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Wolf Hall
- Narrated by: Simon Slater
- Length: 24 hrs and 14 mins
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Publisher's summary
In the ruthless arena of King Henry VIII's court, only one man dares to gamble his life to win the king's favor and ascend to the heights of political powerEngland in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years, and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe opposes him. The quest for the king's freedom destroys his adviser, the brilliant Cardinal Wolsey, and leaves a power vacuum. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell is a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people and a demon of energy: he is also a consummate politician, hardened by his personal losses, implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph? In inimitable style, Hilary Mantel presents a picture of a half-made society on the cusp of change, where individuals fight or embrace their fate with passion and courage.
With a vast array of characters, overflowing with incident, the novel re-creates an era when the personal and political are separated by a hairbreadth, where success brings unlimited power but a single failure means death.
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The marriage of the Englishman Richard Marsdon and his young American wife, Celia, slowly turns tragic as Richard withdraws into himself and Celia suffers a debilitating emotional breakdown. A wise mystic realizes that Celia can escape her past only by reliving it. She journeys back four hundred years to her former life as the servant girl Celia de Bohun during the reign of Edward VI - and to her doomed love affair with the chaplain Stephen Marsdon.
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A different narrator would have made all the difference.
- By J on 06-04-15
By: Anya Seton
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The Autobiography of Henry VIII
- By: Margaret George
- Narrated by: David Case
- Length: 41 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Margaret George's novel brings into focus the larger-than-life King Henry VIII, monarch of prodigious appetites for wine, women, and song.
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Perfection!
- By Amy M. Walts on 10-20-07
By: Margaret George
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A Vision of Light
- A Margaret of Ashbury Novel, Book 1
- By: Judith Merkle Riley
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Margaret of Ashbury wants to write her life story. However, like most women in 14th-century England, she is illiterate. Three clerics contemptuously decline to be Margaret’s scribe, and only the threat of starvation persuades Brother Gregory, a Carthusian friar with a mysterious past, to take on the task. As she narrates her life, we discover a woman of startling resourcefulness.
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Old fashioned heroine
- By Margaret on 06-22-13
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The Agincourt Bride
- By: Joanna Hickson
- Narrated by: Catherine Harvey
- Length: 16 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When her own first child is tragically still-born, the young Mette is pressed into service as a wet-nurse at the court of the mad king, Charles VI of France. Her young charge is the princess, Catherine de Valois, caught up in the turbulence and chaos of life at court. Mette and the child forge a bond, one that transcends Mette’s lowly position. But as Catherine approaches womanhood, her unique position seals her fate as a pawn between two powerful dynasties.
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Disappointing
- By Michelle on 02-16-13
By: Joanna Hickson
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Empress
- Godspeaker, Book 1
- By: Karen Miller
- Narrated by: Josephine Bailey
- Length: 20 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In a family torn apart by poverty and violence, Hekat is no more than an unwanted mouth to feed, worth only a few coins from a passing slave trader. But Hekat was not born to be a slave. For her, a different path has been chosen. It is a path that will take her from stinking back alleys to the house of her God, from blood-drenched battlefields to the glittering palaces of Mijak. This is the story of Hekat, slave to no man.
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depressing and left me feeling empty
- By Bonnie on 09-16-09
By: Karen Miller
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A Place of Greater Safety
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 33 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
It is 1789, and three young provincials have come to Paris to make their way. Georges-Jacques Danton, an ambitious young lawyer, is energetic, pragmatic, debt-ridden - and hugely but erotically ugly. Maximilien Robespierre, also a lawyer, is slight, diligent, and terrified of violence. His dearest friend, Camille Desmoulins, is a conspirator and pamphleteer of genius. A charming gadfly, erratic and untrustworthy, bisexual and beautiful, Camille is obsessed by one woman and engaged to marry another, her daughter.
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Disaster
- By Frank Dudley Berry Jr. on 08-01-13
By: Hilary Mantel
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The Winthrop Woman
- By: Anya Seton
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 27 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In 1631 Elizabeth Winthrop, newly widowed with an infant daughter, set sail for the New World. Against a background of rigidity and conformity she dared to befriend Anne Hutchinson at the moment of her banishment from the Massachusetts Bay Colony; dared to challenge a determined army captain bent on the massacre of her friends, the Siwanoy Indians; and, above all, dared to love a man as her heart and her whole being commanded.
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Historical Fiction that Aged Very Well
- By Lulu on 11-26-14
By: Anya Seton
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The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.
- By: Sandra Gulland
- Narrated by: Kim Handysides
- Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In this first of three books inspired by the life of Josephine Bonaparte, Sandra Gulland has created a novel of immense and magical proportions. We meet Josephine in the exotic and lush Martinico, where an old island woman predicts that one day she will be queen. The journey from the remote village of her birth to the height of European elegance is long, but Josephine's fortune proves to be true.
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Performance...ugh
- By Lisa on 02-17-18
By: Sandra Gulland
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Royal Mistress
- By: Anne Easter Smith
- Narrated by: Heather Wilds
- Length: 15 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Jane Lambert, the quick-witted and alluring daughter of a silk merchant, is twenty-two and still unmarried. When Jane’s father finally finds her a match, she’s married off to the dull, older silk merchant William Shore. Marriage doesn’t stop Jane from flirtation, however, and when the king’s chamberlain, Will Hastings, comes to her husband’s shop, Will knows King Edward will find her irresistible.
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All history, no romance!
- By Erin on 07-05-13
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The Speckled Monster
- A Historical Tale of Battling Smallpox
- By: Jennifer Lee Carrell
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 19 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The Speckled Monster is both a hair-raising tale of courage in the face of the deadliest disease that has ever struck mankind, and a gripping account of the birth of modern immunology. Jennifer Lee Carrell's dramatic story follows two parents who, after barely surviving the agony of smallpox themselves, flouted 18th century European medical tradition by borrowing folk knowledge from African slaves and Eastern women in frantic bids to protect their children. Their heroic struggles gave rise to immunology.
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Wish it was another 19 hours long!
- By Book reader on 06-10-14
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The School of Mirrors
- A Novel
- By: Eva Stachniak
- Narrated by: Ell Potter
- Length: 16 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
During the reign of Louis XV, impoverished but lovely teenage girls from all over France are sent to a discreet villa in the town of Versailles. Overseen by the King’s favorite mistress, Madame de Pompadour, they will be trained as potential courtesans for the King. When the time is right, each girl is smuggled into the palace of Versailles, with its legendary Hall of Mirrors.
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Fascinating but pedophilia nonetheless.
- By Barbara W. on 05-10-22
By: Eva Stachniak
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Hand of Isis
- By: Jo Graham
- Narrated by: Gigi Shane
- Length: 16 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Charmian is handmaiden to Cleopatra. She is also an oracle, gifted with ancient memories that may hold the key to preserving Egypt. Through blood and fire, war and peace, love and death, she will face a desperate struggle that will remake the future of the world.
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Reader does not know how to pronounce words
- By Gail N. on 07-31-19
By: Jo Graham
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February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln’s beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. “My poor boy, he was too good for this earth,” the president says at the time. “God has called him home.”
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Oscar is a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd who—from the New Jersey home he shares with his old world mother and rebellious sister—dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, finding love. But Oscar may never get what he wants. Blame the fukú—a curse that has haunted Oscar’s family for generations, following them on their epic journey from Santo Domingo to the USA.
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Winner, The Man Booker Prize, 2015 Deftly spanning decades and continents and peopled with a wide range of characters - assassins, journalists, drug dealers, and even ghosts - A Brief History of Seven Killings is the fictional exploration of that dangerous and unstable time and its bloody aftermath, from the streets and slums of Kingston in the 1970s, to the crack wars in 1980s New York, to a radically altered Jamaica in the 1990s.
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Cloud Atlas
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Cloud Atlas begins in 1850 with Adam Ewing, an American notary voyaging from the Chatham Isles to his home in California. Along the way, Ewing is befriended by a physician, Dr. Goose, who begins to treat him for a rare species of brain parasite.... Abruptly, the action jumps to Belgium in 1931, where Robert Frobisher, a disinherited bisexual composer, contrives his way into the household of an infirm maestro who has a beguiling wife and a nubile daughter....
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thoroughly enjoyed
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In Atonement, three children lose their innocence, as the sweltering summer heat bears down on the hottest day in 1935, and their lives are changed forever. Cecilia Tallis is of England's priviledged class; Robbie Turner is the housekeeper's son. In their moment of intimate surrender, they are interrupted by Cecilia's hyperimaginative and scheming 13-year-old sister, Briony. And as chaos consumes the family, Briony commits a crime, the guilt of which she shall carry throughout her life.
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What listeners say about Wolf Hall
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Science and art
- 12-04-10
Great historical fiction and great literature
There is a lot of entertaining historical fiction out there, but not all historical fiction is also great literature. This is! There is wonderful detail and grit. I felt as though I was looking at the world of Henry VIII from inside the head and through the eyes of Thomas Cromwell. I really enjoy historical fiction and this is the best account I have ever read of the times of Ann Boleyn and Henry VIII.
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- Elena
- 07-26-12
For History Buffs
Wolf Hall is a substantial commitment of time and patience. It describes the amazing rise to power of Thomas Cromwell in 16th century England. Although a fiction, it gives a strong factual foundation of historical events and attempts to unveil the insight into the psychology and brain of this extraordinary man. His relationship with his family, a series of personal tragedies, support of his mentor cardinal Wolsey and ultimately the relationship with Henry VIII (the one with many wives) and the Boleyn family are described from the Cromwellls perspective.
At the end I felt historically enriched, but the book did not leave a lasting impression, which is unfortunate after 24 hours of listening...
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- Jaime
- 12-24-12
Amazing performance
What did you like best about this story?
Even though it is a story familiar to most, the perspective of Cromwell gives Henry VIII and his break from Rome a new twist. Cromwell is so clever, ambitious and flawed that he reminds me of one of my favorite fictional characters - Tyrion Lannister.
What about Simon Slater’s performance did you like?
One of the best performances. With so many characters to keep track of, Simon Slater does a wonderful job of making each voice distinct and genuine.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Sure -but way too long. Despite it's length, I was sad when it was over.
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- FrequentFlyer
- 08-28-13
If Only History Was Like This in High School....
While it is hard to imagine, I was sorry to have this book end, even after 24 hours of narration. And that was even more surprising because, like others, I had a hard time in the beginning of the story becoming engaged. I needed some time to hear the rhythm of Simon Slater's voice and sort through the characters, but very soon I was engrossed in both the story and the performance. I found myself stealing away to listen more to the story and couldn't wait until my next session with Simon as Cromwell, Henry, and the rest of the characters. The story is the perfect balance between fiction and history. I learned a lot about Henry and the period that he seeks a divorce from Catherine, but was never bored. I do wish I had printed out the list of characters - it would help with following the story. I highly recommend this selection. I am only disappointed that there wasn't other books narrated by Simon Slater that I am interested in.
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- EOS STUDIO
- 04-27-17
The narrator should be nominated....
The narrator should be nominated for an Oscar. He did perfect justice to the text containing an enormous amount of singular characters. One can only try to imagine how the author, Hillary Mantel, put together this complex character study and history and made it come so alive. Bravo!
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- JustBill
- 06-12-16
Book of the Year
Would you listen to Wolf Hall again? Why?
The Tudors leave Hitler in the dust when it comes to brutality.
What did you like best about this story?
Egos are best left in the closet when it comes to the English Monarchy.
Have you listened to any of Simon Slater’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
Excellent performance and might be the best performance in Audible history.
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
Timidity in good men actually drive history.
Any additional comments?
Thank goodness Princess Diana watered down the genetics of the Windsors.
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- New Yorker
- 03-16-15
Well built characters
This book developed the characters well and provides an excellent view of the history of the period. A very enjoyable read.
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- Peter
- 10-08-12
political intrigue, yes please.
What did you love best about Wolf Hall?
All I can say is wow at how this story develops and yet stay incredibly interesting throughout.
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- Rachel
- 07-22-15
Engaging
I had to remind myself that this is fiction. The performance made the distinction of each character easy to follow. And the story was engaging.
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- W. G. Ellis
- 03-02-15
Meet Thomas Cromwell
I kept having to remind myself that this is a novel. But it is an historical novel, and Hilary Mantel seems to have researched the subject: Thomas Cromwell. The narration is wonderful, although it takes some time to get used to the tense, and the various characters.
I plan to read the print version, which should list any references cited by the author. The audio version introduced the characters and the subtle humor--of which there is a good deal--and I expect to enjoy the print version more because of it.
On to the sequel!
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