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Wideacre
- Wideacre, Book 1
- Narrated by: Emma Powell
- Length: 26 hrs and 41 mins
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Publisher's summary
Featuring a foreword recorded exclusively for Audible by Philippa Gregory and an interview with the author.
Philippa Gregory's first story in the best-selling Wideacre trilogy. A compelling tale of passion and intrigue set in the 18th century. From the author of The Other Boleyn Girl and The Virgin's Lover.
Wideacre Hall, set in the heart of the English countryside, is the ancestral home that Beatrice Lacey loves. But as a woman of the 18th century, she has no right of inheritance. Corrupted by a world that mistreats women, she sets out to corrupt others.
Sexual and willful, she believes that the only way to achieve control over Wideacre is through a series of horrible crimes, and no-one escapes the consequences of her need to possess the land.
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In the vein of Wicked, The Woodcutter, and Boy, Snow, Bird, a luminous re-imagining of a classic tale, told from the perspective of Agnes, Cinderella’s "evil" stepmother. We all know the story of Cinderella. Or do we? As rumors about the cruel upbringing of beautiful newlywed Princess Cinderella roil the kingdom, her stepmother, Agnes, who knows all too well about hardship, privately records the true story...
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Not what I was expecting...
- By IonyWinter on 07-15-19
By: Danielle Teller
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The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie
- Mackenzies Series, Book 1
- By: Jennifer Ashley
- Narrated by: Angela Dawe
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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It was whispered all through London Society that Ian Mackenzie was mad, that he’d spent his youth in an asylum, and was not to be trusted - especially with a lady. For the reputation of any woman caught in his presence was instantly ruined. Yet Beth found herself inexorably drawn to the Scottish lord, whose hint of a brogue wrapped around her like silk and whose touch could draw her into a world of ecstasy.
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Perfect
- By Pookie_Plans on 03-09-21
By: Jennifer Ashley
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The Wild Child
- By: Mary Jo Putney
- Narrated by: Barbara Rosenblat
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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More pagan than lady, Meriel spends her days running barefoot through her English estate, cultivating her flowers and her mystical connection to nature. She is mute and, according to most people, mad. But handsome Dominic Renbourne, who has been sent by his twin to court her, senses in Meriel a kindred spirit. He manages to inspire her trust, and against his better judgement, her passion.
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Where is China Bride, the 2nd book?
- By KaitlynRAH on 10-24-18
By: Mary Jo Putney
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The Girl in the Castle
- A Novel
- By: Santa Montefiore
- Narrated by: Genevieve Swallow
- Length: 17 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Born on the ninth day of the ninth month in the year 1900, Kitty Deverill grows up in Castle Deverill, on the sunning green hills of West Cork, Ireland - the same place her ancestors have always dwelt. She isn't fully Irish, as the son of the local veterinarian likes to tease her; but this doesn't stop Kitty and Jack O'Leary from falling in love....
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Explicitness
- By Billie on 04-28-17
By: Santa Montefiore
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The Fire Rose
- By: Mercedes Lackey
- Narrated by: Kate Black-Regan
- Length: 13 hrs
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Accepting employment as a governess after hard times hit her family, medieval scholar Rosalind Hawkins is surprised when she learns that her mysterious employer has no children and only wants her to read to him through a speaking tube.
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Great story, poorly presented
- By Che on 02-26-10
By: Mercedes Lackey
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Lauralee
- By: Linda Lael Miller
- Narrated by: Nina Alvamar
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
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If Lauralee had her way, all the saloons in the great Northwest would be closed down. Her crusade was successful - except for the prosperous saloon that McCallum was determined to save from her indignation. But their conflict could not quell their growing attraction for each other. Slowly the proud, powerful man melted Lauralee's defiant heart...yet as she surrendered to a rich and wild desire, her joy was shadowed by the haunting mystery of McCallum's brother's death...a mystery whose shocking outcome could forever destroy their love!
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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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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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Lamp Black, Wolf Grey
- A Novel
- By: Paula Brackston
- Narrated by: Marisa Calin
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
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Performance
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Story
Artist Laura Matthews finds her new home in the Welsh mountains to be a place so charged with tales and legends that she is able to reach through the gossamer-fine veil that separates her own world from that of myth and fable. She and her husband, Dan, have given up their city life and moved to Blaencwm, an ancient longhouse high in the hills. Here, she hopes that the wild beauty will inspire her to produce her best art and will give her the baby they have longed for.
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Just plain silly
- By Jennifer S Lewis on 08-10-18
By: Paula Brackston
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The French Affair
- By: M. C. Beaton
- Narrated by: Vanessa Benjamin
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
It was true. The lovely young widow Lady Charteris - Delphine to her friends - had agreed to abide by her parents' wishes and marry the Comte Saint-Pierre. Delphine's parents had long since died in the Terror, but when she learned of their wishes for her, she believed it her duty to respect their wishes. Delphine would marry, but it would be a marriage in name only. But when Delphine saw Jules Saint-Pierre, she got the shock of her life: he was the same man she had seen juggling in the streets at a local fair.
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Bait and switch
- By Laurie S on 03-07-18
By: M. C. Beaton
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The River of No Return
- By: Bee Ridgway
- Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
- Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
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Bee Ridgway’s wildly inventive debut novel, The River of No Return, blends romance, conspiracy, and time travel for a tale sure to intrigue listeners. When soldier and aristocrat Nick Falcott is sent from a Napoleonic battlefield in 1815 to modern-day London, he never expects to go back - until the Guild calls for him. Returning home as if from the dead, Nick reunites with his lost love, Julia Percy, and enlists her help in finding a mysterious object known as the Talisman.
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great book, but sudden ending ruined the good will
- By Shelly on 04-27-14
By: Bee Ridgway
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Douglass' Women
- By: Jewell Parker Rhodes
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
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The best-selling author of Voodoo Dreams focuses on two women who loved the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Anna, a free woman of color, was his rescuer, his loving wife and mother to his children. Ottilie Assing, a white German woman, became his intellectual soul mate and mistress. At times, they all lived under the same roof.
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Captivating
- By MJ on 02-09-24
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For centuries, the Vikings have swept out of the Norse countries and fallen on whatever lands they could reach aboard their longships, and few could resist the power of their violent onslaught. They came at first to plunder and then to settle, an encroachment fiercely resisted wherever they went. Such was the case in the southern lands of Ireland. En route to the Viking longphort there, known as Dubh-linn, Thorgrim Night Wolf and Ornolf the Restless stumble across an Irish ship.
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On a muggy August day in 2001, Alexandra Lind was unexpectedly thrown backwards in time, landing in the year of Our Lord 1658. Catapulted into an unfamiliar and frightening new existence, Alex could do nothing but adapt. After all, while time-traveling in itself is a most rare occurrence, time-traveling with a return ticket is even rarer. Fortunately for Alex, she lands at the feet of Matthew Graham. No woman could ask for a better guide or protector in this strange new world of hers.
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Nestled into the cliffs in southern Italy's Amalfi coast, Positano is an artist's vision, with rows of brightly hued houses perched above the sea and picturesque staircases meandering up and down the hillside. Santina, still a striking woman despite old age and the illness that saps her last strength, is spending her final days at her home, Villa San Vito. The magnificent 18th-century palazzo is very different from the tiny house in which she grew up. And as she decides its fate, she must confront the choices that led her here so long ago.
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What listeners say about Wideacre
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Ruth
- 11-11-17
Refreshing
I enjoy fiction from this time period and found the story refreshing in a genre oversaturated with the same boring plots. Honestly I don't understand all the negative reviews. Incest? A character with bad intentions? Come on people, this is storytelling, not a handbook on morality!
Normally main female characters in historical fiction fit one of two personalities - 1) the modest mouse with hidden fire or 2) the fierce heroine with a soft side - and Beatrice fits neither. While I hold no sympathy for her, I also found myself intrigued and curious by her obsession with the land.
I think you have to approach this book with a different kind of perspective. Don't expect so much innocent goodness and just let yourself listen openly. The book brings up a lot of the darkness in humanity which we are afraid of, and I appreciated the author's ability to unveil this while simultaneously painting such a beautiful portrait of the countryside. I found her writing lovely.
Overall I saw a lot of contrasts in this book and would definitely recommend it for someone who wants something different from the same old storyline.
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- Melissa R. H.
- 06-05-18
Well-written; No Pearl Clutching Necessary
I didn't think I was going to like this story after getting close to the core of it. It's absolutely NOT your average period piece romance. And if you're looking for just a straight up love story - this is likely not for you.
Beatrice Lacey, the main character who tells her own story, isn't likable past a certain point in the book. She then becomes far less so as the story goes on. A lot of people have problems with a main character who isn't purely good-intentioned, as some other reviewers clearly do.
She becomes blinded by and solely focused on the singlular goal of owning her beloved childhood home, Wideacre, where she knows every tree, every rock, and every blade of grass, as well as everyone who works the land personally, having been raised like a son by her father, in that she was schooled in the running of the estate.
As a fiercely independent woman in the 18th century (where she has no rights to property and no opportunities to do much more than get married and idly embroider in some sitting room), it all leads her to bad, cold and cruel behavior over the years and then cold and cruel behavior to keep bad secrets hidden away.
But if you can accept that everyone has the potential to do bad/inappropriate things under just the right circumstances, you might like this book, as I did. I find fictional characters who only do right or only do wrong to be boring and unrealistic, in general.
Yes, there is incest. If you have trauma attached to that subject and don't want to read about a mutual incestuous relationship: fair warning; definitely not a book for you as it is featured throughout..
Everyone else - it's creepy and I probably would have toned it down just because it seems to go on for too long with a strange amount of desire on Beatrice's part being that she finds the person dull and cowardly. But, otherwise, not a dealbreaker like I thought it might be. It's not something that happens randomly or just because Beatrice happens to really be into this person; it's part of her plan to get to what she wants with no other direct, normal routes open to her as a woman.
The story is very interesting (I couldn't stop listening) and written wonderfully. It's so descriptive, you feel like you're there. The narrator was a HUGE standout too, for me. She was just brilliant and got every accent and every inflection right on! I was actually sad to learn she didn't do either of the other books in the series...
It's also layered. The plight of the changing life of the 18th century villager features prominently; the changing from the old system where wealthy land owner worked WITH farm workers, allowed them pieces of common land on the property to grow/graze their own food, provided harvest feasts for them, helped those in need, and generally acknowledged that the land was partially theirs because of the labor they put into it; the un-capitalistic principles of acknowledging labor for what it is - everything - and that workers are humans with needs, not programmable machines.
Overall, I quite liked it.
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54 people found this helpful
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- The Louligan
- 09-19-17
26 HOURS OF INCEST IS 25.75 HOURS TOO MUCH!
I have always enjoyed Philippa Gregory's books of historically based fiction. A great way to learn about the Tudors, Plantagenets, Stuarts, etc. But this book is just too TOO!!! Too much murder, too much obsession, too much BDSM, too much psychopathy and way too much incest. The latter is overdone, uncomfortable, and adds nothing to the overall plot. It can't be called MAKING LOVE, if both parties are of legal age and KNOW their sexual behavior is unacceptable. Especially between an adult brother and sister, with no prior psychological or socio-economic reasons for their actions. The main character is only 18! Even if she was born a bad seed, with a severe personality disorder, it makes no sense that her sexual sociopathy would appear in her late teens, particularly in an era that many of the young women of her age, class and breeding are married with children. Her older brother, more worldly AND married, becoming suddenly sexually attracted to his sister defies common sense. The bondage/sadism aspect also has no historic background within the family makeup. Lord knows, Gregory had HOURS to give the reader a backstory first.
The other problem with this book is that the entire story line takes place in a two year period. TWENTY-SIX HOURS of "Fifty Shades of Grey" meets "Flowers In The Attic" is ridiculous! This same story - if it really needed to be told - could have been done in less than 10 hours. That's with every act of incest and other crimes included. There is so much mind-numbing minutiae in this book that screams "ABRIDGE ME NOW!" The narrator brings nothing to this already flawed work. The length of the book overwhelms her pleasant but uninspiring voice.
If this is the first of a series, I cannot see its successors being any better. In fact, the preview at the end suggests more of the same among the unsuspecting next generation of Wildacre cousins who are actually sister and brother and the result of incest. Enough, already! Most of us are appalled enough with Cersei and Jaime Lannister in "Game of Thrones". But this work is not even close to "GOT"! I sure hope it never becomes a mini-series! 😝
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50 people found this helpful
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- Dr Karen
- 09-30-21
Disgusting!
Sibling incest, Patricide, greed, murder. Terrible story, then the book crashed in chapter 10. Won’t reload. Good thing I didn’t want to finish!
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22 people found this helpful
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- Megan
- 10-04-17
Probably decent if you can get past the incest.
It was hard for me to get over the incest throughout the book. The strong female lead I wanted to love was heartless and cruel. I couldn't relate to any of the characters in the book. This is not up to the usual bar of Philippa Gregory's other works.
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22 people found this helpful
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- Robin Johnson
- 02-28-18
Its a Page Turner
As others have mentioned the subject matter in this book and lengths to which Beatrice goes to keep Wideacre for herself and her family becomes abhorrent but it is so well written and narrated that I still enjoyed it...especially the surprising ending when she got what she deserved. You just never knew what she would do next and that made it a page turner for me. This book is not for the faint of heart, but if you are looking for something different and a protagonist who stops at NOTHING to get what she wants and thinks she deserves you just might like this book. Just starting book 2 tonight and will be interested to see where Philippa takes us next with Wideacret!!
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20 people found this helpful
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- Nola Craven
- 09-21-17
Love to hate
I loved this book. I find Beatrice to be an interesting character who you want to love and feel compassion for. However, on a regular basis she make decision that as a reader you find morally wrong and can not find compassion for her poor decisions. The warring thoughts and hopes that she would redeem herself keep my interest to the end. Very well developed characters.
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19 people found this helpful
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- Marissa
- 09-28-21
A dark and twisted view of life
I am so upset I started listening to this book. The author clearly has some kind of unresolved mental issues that she is dealing with and wrote a book so full of dysfunction, hateful actions, and pain that makes it seem like everyone in the world is fully twisted without redemption. I couldn’t get through more than a few chapters (the first 30 minutes of which were basically a giant explanation of some hills and trees) before I was so disturbed I had to turn it off.
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13 people found this helpful
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- ailey
- 10-31-17
Was a huge fan!
I have read many books by this author. Needless to say, I found this seriously lacking. In fact, more than disappointed. Frankly, almost disgusting. I am no prude, but this was WAY too much. I waited, hoping, to be proven true. I was wrong. I doubt I will listen nor read another book by this author.
What a waste of time and money!!!!!
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10 people found this helpful
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- C
- 10-12-21
illicit relationship
You lost me with the illicit sexual relationship between brother and sister. Absolutely disgusting. I wanted a love story, not incest.
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9 people found this helpful