-
Beyond Black
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
- Length: 17 hrs and 14 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $27.81
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
A Place of Greater Safety
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 33 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
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.
-
-
Disaster
- By Frank Dudley Berry Jr. on 08-01-13
By: Hilary Mantel
-
Shrines of Gaiety
- A Novel
- By: Kate Atkinson
- Narrated by: Jason Watkins
- Length: 15 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1926, and in a country still recovering from the Great War, London has become the focus for a delirious new nightlife. In the clubs of Soho, peers of the realm rub shoulders with starlets, foreign dignitaries with gangsters, and girls sell dances for a shilling a time. The notorious queen of this glittering world is Nellie Coker, ruthless but also ambitious to advance her six children, including the enigmatic eldest, Niven, whose character has been forged in the crucible of the Somme. But success breeds enemies, and Nellie’s empire faces threats from without and within.
-
-
Stellar Performance
- By bookworman55 on 10-25-22
By: Kate Atkinson
-
The Last Garden in England
- By: Julia Kelly
- Narrated by: Shiromi Arserio, Marisa Calin, Danielle Cohen, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Present day: Emma Lovett, who has dedicated her career to breathing new life into long-neglected gardens, has just been given the opportunity of a lifetime: to restore the gardens of the famed Highbury House estate, designed in 1907 by her hero Venetia Smith. But as Emma dives deeper into the gardens’ past, she begins to uncover secrets that have long lain hidden.
-
-
Lovely and slow but warning 1 narrator is horrible
- By E. Read on 06-30-21
By: Julia Kelly
-
Piranesi
- By: Susanna Clarke
- Narrated by: Chiwetel Ejiofor
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Piranesi lives in the House. Perhaps he always has. In his notebooks, day after day, he makes a clear and careful record of its wonders: the labyrinth of halls, the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides that thunder up staircases, the clouds that move in slow procession through the upper halls. On Tuesdays and Fridays Piranesi sees his friend, the Other. At other times he brings tributes of food to the Dead. But mostly, he is alone.
-
-
Fascinating Social Study
- By Henry V on 02-26-21
By: Susanna Clarke
-
Matrix
- A Novel
- By: Lauren Groff
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cast out of the royal court by Eleanor of Aquitaine, deemed too coarse and rough-hewn for marriage or courtly life, seventeen-year-old Marie de France is sent to England to be the new prioress of an impoverished abbey, its nuns on the brink of starvation and beset by disease. At first taken aback by the severity of her new life, Marie finds focus and love in collective life with her singular and mercurial sisters. In this crucible, Marie steadily supplants her desire for family, for her homeland, for the passions of her youth with something new to her.
-
-
Wonderful story well written and narratives
- By ReallyNelie on 09-25-21
By: Lauren Groff
-
Lessons
- By: Ian McEwan
- Narrated by: Simon McBurney
- Length: 17 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the world is still counting the cost of the Second World War and the Iron Curtain has closed, eleven-year-old Roland Baines's life is turned upside down. 2,000 miles from his mother's protective love, stranded at an unusual boarding school, his vulnerability attracts piano teacher Miss Miriam Cornell, leaving scars as well as a memory of love that will never fade.
-
-
Narrator Simon McBurney gets my 100% rating
- By Peggy M on 09-26-22
By: Ian McEwan
-
A Place of Greater Safety
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 33 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
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.
-
-
Disaster
- By Frank Dudley Berry Jr. on 08-01-13
By: Hilary Mantel
-
Shrines of Gaiety
- A Novel
- By: Kate Atkinson
- Narrated by: Jason Watkins
- Length: 15 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1926, and in a country still recovering from the Great War, London has become the focus for a delirious new nightlife. In the clubs of Soho, peers of the realm rub shoulders with starlets, foreign dignitaries with gangsters, and girls sell dances for a shilling a time. The notorious queen of this glittering world is Nellie Coker, ruthless but also ambitious to advance her six children, including the enigmatic eldest, Niven, whose character has been forged in the crucible of the Somme. But success breeds enemies, and Nellie’s empire faces threats from without and within.
-
-
Stellar Performance
- By bookworman55 on 10-25-22
By: Kate Atkinson
-
The Last Garden in England
- By: Julia Kelly
- Narrated by: Shiromi Arserio, Marisa Calin, Danielle Cohen, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Present day: Emma Lovett, who has dedicated her career to breathing new life into long-neglected gardens, has just been given the opportunity of a lifetime: to restore the gardens of the famed Highbury House estate, designed in 1907 by her hero Venetia Smith. But as Emma dives deeper into the gardens’ past, she begins to uncover secrets that have long lain hidden.
-
-
Lovely and slow but warning 1 narrator is horrible
- By E. Read on 06-30-21
By: Julia Kelly
-
Piranesi
- By: Susanna Clarke
- Narrated by: Chiwetel Ejiofor
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Piranesi lives in the House. Perhaps he always has. In his notebooks, day after day, he makes a clear and careful record of its wonders: the labyrinth of halls, the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides that thunder up staircases, the clouds that move in slow procession through the upper halls. On Tuesdays and Fridays Piranesi sees his friend, the Other. At other times he brings tributes of food to the Dead. But mostly, he is alone.
-
-
Fascinating Social Study
- By Henry V on 02-26-21
By: Susanna Clarke
-
Matrix
- A Novel
- By: Lauren Groff
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cast out of the royal court by Eleanor of Aquitaine, deemed too coarse and rough-hewn for marriage or courtly life, seventeen-year-old Marie de France is sent to England to be the new prioress of an impoverished abbey, its nuns on the brink of starvation and beset by disease. At first taken aback by the severity of her new life, Marie finds focus and love in collective life with her singular and mercurial sisters. In this crucible, Marie steadily supplants her desire for family, for her homeland, for the passions of her youth with something new to her.
-
-
Wonderful story well written and narratives
- By ReallyNelie on 09-25-21
By: Lauren Groff
-
Lessons
- By: Ian McEwan
- Narrated by: Simon McBurney
- Length: 17 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the world is still counting the cost of the Second World War and the Iron Curtain has closed, eleven-year-old Roland Baines's life is turned upside down. 2,000 miles from his mother's protective love, stranded at an unusual boarding school, his vulnerability attracts piano teacher Miss Miriam Cornell, leaving scars as well as a memory of love that will never fade.
-
-
Narrator Simon McBurney gets my 100% rating
- By Peggy M on 09-26-22
By: Ian McEwan
-
A Slow Fire Burning
- A Novel
- By: Paula Hawkins
- Narrated by: Rosamund Pike
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a young man is found gruesomely murdered in a London houseboat, it triggers questions about three women who knew him. Laura is the troubled one-night-stand last seen in the victim’s home. Carla is his grief-stricken aunt, already mourning the recent death of yet another family member. And Miriam is the nosy neighbor clearly keeping secrets from the police. Three women with separate connections to the victim. Three women who are – for different reasons – simmering with resentment. Who are, whether they know it or not, burning to right the wrongs done to them.
-
-
This book should have a DISCLAIMER!
- By Amazon Customer on 09-06-21
By: Paula Hawkins
-
Too Close
- A Novel
- By: Natalie Daniels
- Narrated by: Clara Salaman, Sara Stewart
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Working as a dedicated forensic psychiatrist for many years, Emma is not shocked so easily. Then she is assigned to work with Connie, a wife and mother accused of a despicable crime. Connie is suffering from dissociative amnesia - or at least seems to be. Now it is up to Emma to decide whether Connie can stand trial for her sins. But there is something about Connie that inexorably pulls Emma into her orbit. Too Close is a masterfully written riveting listen about the powerful - yet dangerous - closeness between women.
-
-
Absolutely worth it!
- By PollyAnna2 on 09-17-19
By: Natalie Daniels
-
The Housewarming
- By: S. E. Lynes
- Narrated by: Tamsin Kennard
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ava only left her daughter in the pushchair for five minutes. The buckle was fastened, and she was sure it was safe. But when she came downstairs, the door was open and Abi was gone - she walked down the road, past the Lovegoods' house, and was never seen again. A year later, the Lovegoods throw a housewarming party, showing off the results of their renovation. Ava doesn’t want to go. She can’t bear to look down that end of the road, to see the place where Abi vanished, and she doesn’t want to spend time with people who don’t share her grief.
-
-
Just Ok
- By Wendi on 12-03-20
By: S. E. Lynes
-
Because You Loved Me
- By: Beth Moran
- Narrated by: Paula Masterton
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marion Miller needs a fresh start. Her childhood in Northern Ireland wasn’t easy, with a father who passed away when she was young and a mother who got lost in grief. Now grown-up and with family relations as tense as ever, Marion heads to England, to find out the truth about her father’s mysterious past – and hopefully an extended family who will love her as much as he did.
-
-
Just as good as always! Love, Beth Moran
- By judegeorgia on 02-22-23
By: Beth Moran
-
Keri 3: The Original Child Abuse True Story
- By: Kat Ward
- Narrated by: Bridget Thomas
- Length: 17 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this much-publicised third volume, Kat recounts her early-mid teen years; no longer a small child, but a girl on the cusp of adolescence. Still traumatized by her early experiences, but not entirely without that sense of vague hope that is the inalienable property of youth. Now at Duncroft Approved School for “emotionally disturbed girls”, her life had come to resemble that of a prisoner; a good day was a bad one and a bad day was horrific.
-
-
please bring the rest of series!
- By Snow Dunn on 09-30-19
By: Kat Ward
-
All the Lonely People
- By: Mike Gayle
- Narrated by: Ben Onwukwe
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In weekly phone calls to his daughter in Australia, widower Hubert Birdpaints a picture of the perfect retirement, packed with fun, friendship, and fulfillment. But it's a lie. In reality, Hubert's days are all the same, dragging on without him seeing a single soul. Until he receives some good news - good news that in one way turns out to be the worst news ever, news that will force him out again, into a world he has long since turned his back on.
-
-
For all the lonely and not-so-lonely people
- By R. Sharma on 08-22-21
By: Mike Gayle
-
Thrown Away Child
- By: Louise Allen
- Narrated by: Sarah Moule
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thrown Away Child is a memoir covering Louise Allen’s abusive childhood in a foster home, how she survived - using her love of art as a sanctuary - and how she hopes to right old wrongs now by fostering children herself and campaigning for the improvement of foster care services. It is a compelling and inspirational story. This book gives a voice to the many children who grew up unhappily in care.
-
-
Wow!
- By Stacy on 06-09-22
By: Louise Allen
-
Can You See Her?
- An Absolutely Compelling Psychological Thriller
- By: S. E. Lynes
- Narrated by: Tamsin Kennard
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rachel is afraid she may have done something terrible. She's sitting in a room, being asked whether she killed someone. She doesn't understand how her life has changed so completely. When she was younger, heads would turn when she walked into a room. Her children needed her; her husband adored her. But somehow the years wore that all away. She was so busy raising her children, looking after her parents....
-
-
Amazing...listen till the very end!
- By Amazon Customer on 07-25-20
By: S. E. Lynes
-
Her Last Promise
- By: Kathryn Hughes
- Narrated by: Rachel Atkins
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tara Richards was just a girl when she lost her mother. Years later, when Tara receives a letter from a London solicitor, its contents shake her to the core. Someone has left her a key to a safe deposit box. In the box lies an object that will change everything Tara thought she knew and lead her on a journey to deepest Spain in search of the answers that have haunted her for 40 years. Violet Skye regrets her decision to travel abroad leaving her young daughter behind. As the sun dips below the mountains, she reminds herself she is doing this for their future.
-
-
Excellent character development
- By Mary Doyle on 01-14-20
By: Kathryn Hughes
-
The Lies We Hide: An Absolutely Gripping and Darkly Compelling Novel
- By: S. E. Lynes
- Narrated by: Tamsin Kennard
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thirty years ago, Nicola Watson lived with her parents and older brother in a respectable suburb. Now a successful lawyer in the city, with a life poles apart from her dark beginnings, Nicola has returned home for her mother’s funeral. All Carol wanted was to protect her children, but escaping her husband was only the beginning of the story. And when Nicola learns the truth of what her mother did, it will change everything she thought she knew about herself and her family. A gripping, emotional story of family secrets, and the strength of a mother’s love in the darkest times.
-
-
So well done
- By GCS18 on 03-13-20
By: S. E. Lynes
-
Good Eggs
- A Novel
- By: Rebecca Hardiman
- Narrated by: Alana Kerr Collins, Gary Furlong, Siobhan Waring
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a home aide arrives to assist a rambunctious family at a crossroads, simmering tensions boil over in this “witty, exuberant debut” (People) that is an “absolute delight from start to finish” (Sarah Haywood, New York Times best-selling author) perfect for fans of Where’d You Go, Bernadette and Evvie Drake Starts Over.
-
-
This story will lift you up
- By Anita on 03-26-21
By: Rebecca Hardiman
-
The Optician's Wife
- By: Betsy Reavley
- Narrated by: Beverley A. Crick
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Can you ever really know someone? When Deborah, an unpopular 17-year-old, meets the charming and handsome Larry, he sweeps her off her feet. The trouble is, Larry has a secret. Then a series of grisly murders casts a shadow over everything. As Deborah's world starts to fall apart, she begins to suspect the man she loves of a terrible betrayal. And to keep their marriage alive, sacrifices must be made.
-
-
What a Trip!
- By David on 02-12-17
By: Betsy Reavley
Publisher's Summary
Alison Hart, a medium by trade, tours the dormitory towns of London's orbital ring road with her flint-hearted sidekick, Colette, passing on messages from beloved dead ancestors. But behind her plump, smiling persona hides a desperate woman: she knows the terrors the next life holds but must conceal them from her wide-eyed clients. At the same time she is plagued by spirits from her own past, who infiltrate her body and home, becoming stronger and nastier the more she resists....
More from the same
What listeners say about Beyond Black
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sue C
- 11-15-18
Unusual,unlikely unforgettable
This is the first Mantel book I have read. I do not read new fiction until after the wave of enthusiasm from the reviewers has died down,and a book is holding its own.This was particularly true following the two years in succession when Mantel won the Booker Prize.
Beyond Black ,an earlier book, presents a biography of Alison a morbidly obese, kind woman with a rotten history of childhood who has the unlikely ‘profession’ as a medium in the outer suburbs of London . Alison is accompanied by spirits from her past, including one who seems to be her side kick who handles the finances.
Against this unlikely and haunting background ,we follow the life of this equally unlikely heroine following a tale which invokes another unlikely combination of unbearable terror ,sympathy and empathy. Even more unlikely, Alison’s daily life invokes laughter of the ‘out loud’ variety. We laugh with Alison not at her: This gives the reader time to draw breath. We laugh with humor not ridicule.
The end of the book arrives without a flourish and with an appropriate conclusion.
I loved this book and was irritated when I realized that I really had to get some sleep. I hope I have conveyed the essence of the book. I did not want to be guilty of ‘Spoiler Alerts’. Suffice it to say that as Woolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies are not available to Audible listeners in Canada I bought two six disc C.D.s, copied them and found out how to transfer them to my iPad.
Anna Bentinck ,the perfect reader,always catches the exact tone and voice a book deserves. Her voice itself keeps one in the book,one's mind never wanders. It is true that if she read aloud the instructions for a device that came with 'Some Assembly Required'.we would still be enthralled by her voice.We might also complete the assembly.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Bjerkana
- 08-28-19
Totally engaging
I chose this book as a fan of Hilary Mantel's writing but a short way into it I confronted the topic of the spirit world in terms which normally would have had me tossing the book away. However, I decided to persevere because Anna Bentinck's narration was so outstanding and soon I found myself deeply into "willing suspension of disbelief". Despite the content of the story departing fundamentally from my own belief system, the writing, characterisation and above all the performance were so excellent that the book was one of my most enjoyed titles from Audible.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Ova C
- 08-05-18
Sad, Beautiful and Dreamlike
Hilary Mantel is a master. This book took me away from the first chapter and I was very much feeling like I was looking at Alison from an arms distance. She is so in flesh and bone, the way Mantel tells all the characters in this book is outstanding.
This is one of the books that will leave a mark on you. Don't read this if you're after a surprise ending, mysteries, or an action packed thriller. Read it if you want to breathe a slice of Alison's life- she is a medium, she is obese, and had a difficult childhood. She is bullied all the time and both by the dead, and the living.
This is a story of two women and English wastelands, suburbs. The people everyone thinks and the people no one cares about.
A well earned 5 stars. Amazing.
45 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Rachel
- 07-02-18
The Ghosts of Childhood
A medium, her sidekick and her link with the other side of the veil - a despicable old man. As usual Hilary Mantel is stunningly good. I read this story years ago and revisited as an audible book. Anna Betinck does a wonderful job and the book is a many layered exploration of childhood abuse transformed into a medium's shtick. There is no judgement of the protagonist but a peeling back of her reasons and hidden memories. I found this a fascinating insight into how suppressed memories can find their expression in the strangest ways.
34 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- cath
- 10-07-18
Wonderful narration
I love this scary, funny book but Anna Betinck’s fabulous narration brings all the characters to life: even the dead ones. A brilliant listen.
20 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- smoker
- 02-07-18
Tedious
Would you try another book written by Hilary Mantel or narrated by Anna Betinck?
I've listened to Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies so I can't say I would not listen to other books by Hilary Mantel but I will definitely steer clear of any follow up to Beyond The black. The characters were weak as was the book. It may have been better to get it down to about half the size as it appears to be stuffed full of waffle and repetition. The idea may have been interesting, indeed it was the idea that attracted me to the book, but it died in the book. Anna Betinck did her best but there was no way any narrator could have improved the listen.
What will your next listen be?
Adam Bede - George Eliot.
What character would you cut from Beyond Black?
Almost all of them
18 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Inkypen
- 06-25-18
Darkly funny
This book is a rollercoaster of sad, creepy, horrific and laugh-out-loud funny. Best book I've read for ages!
17 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- C and/or A
- 01-26-18
Genius of Mantel and Betinck
The genius of the Writer and the Narrator both makes this an all-star book .
16 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Terry
- 09-22-18
So good
I often wonder if I'm really enjoying a book if I keep checking how much longer I have before it's finished but I loved this book. Considering the sometimes very dark topics, I definitely see why Hillary Mantel wins awards, the written dialogue is the best I've ever heard. The narrator is outstanding - she totally brought Colette to life to the point where I could believe she really exists!
11 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- gepocock
- 06-17-18
Weird and wonderful
I have to say that it was a pleasure to listen to the narrator# once you have it a go. Not at all as I expected. Definitely one to remember.
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Misspelt
- 05-27-18
A so-so rambling story.
Modern day take on people who claim to see ghosts. A couple of interesting sections but not enough to keep any moment. Very well narrated.
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Paul D
- 06-16-18
Unusual and dark
Dark and rather odd 'plot' but wonderful writing and a masterful reading that held the interest to the end
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 01-29-22
lovely twist in the tail
wonderfully crafted story, as you expect from Mantel. Bentinck does a great job as narrator, she gives you exactly the experience you want from an audio book.
More from Hilary Mantel
-
The Mirror & the Light
- A Novel
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Ben Miles
- Length: 38 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story begins in May 1536: Anne Boleyn is dead, decapitated in the space of a heartbeat by a hired French executioner. As her remains are bundled into oblivion, Cromwell breakfasts with the victors. The blacksmith’s son from Putney emerges from the spring’s bloodbath to continue his climb to power and wealth, while his formidable master, Henry VIII, settles to short-lived happiness with his third queen, Jane Seymour.
-
-
Ben Miles is not as good a reader...
- By EllenP on 03-13-20
By: Hilary Mantel
-
Wolf Hall
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Simon Slater
- Length: 24 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Divorced, beheaded, died...
- By Tim on 09-30-11
By: Hilary Mantel
-
Bring Up the Bodies
- A Novel
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Though he battled for seven years to marry her, Henry is disenchanted with Anne Boleyn. She has failed to give him a son and her sharp intelligence and audacious will alienate his old friends and the noble families of England. When the discarded Katherine dies in exile from the court, Anne stands starkly exposed, the focus of gossip and malice. At a word from Henry, Thomas Cromwell is ready to bring her down.
-
-
Mantel Pulls the History out of the History
- By Darwin8u on 11-22-12
By: Hilary Mantel
-
Bring Up the Bodies
- A Novel
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Ben Miles
- Length: 16 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Though he battled for seven years to marry her, Henry is disenchanted with Anne Boleyn. She has failed to give him a son, and her sharp intelligence and audacious will alienate his old friends and the noble families of England. When the discarded Katherine dies in exile from the court, Anne stands starkly exposed, the focus of gossip and malice. At a word from Henry, Thomas Cromwell is ready to bring her down. Over three terrifying weeks, Anne is ensnared in a web of conspiracy, while the demure Jane Seymour stands waiting her turn for the poisoned wedding ring.
-
-
Ben is a great narrator
- By J. Mar on 07-22-20
By: Hilary Mantel
-
The Mirror & the Light
- A Novel
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Ben Miles
- Length: 38 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story begins in May 1536: Anne Boleyn is dead, decapitated in the space of a heartbeat by a hired French executioner. As her remains are bundled into oblivion, Cromwell breakfasts with the victors. The blacksmith’s son from Putney emerges from the spring’s bloodbath to continue his climb to power and wealth, while his formidable master, Henry VIII, settles to short-lived happiness with his third queen, Jane Seymour.
-
-
Ben Miles is not as good a reader...
- By EllenP on 03-13-20
By: Hilary Mantel
-
Wolf Hall
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Simon Slater
- Length: 24 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Divorced, beheaded, died...
- By Tim on 09-30-11
By: Hilary Mantel
-
Bring Up the Bodies
- A Novel
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Though he battled for seven years to marry her, Henry is disenchanted with Anne Boleyn. She has failed to give him a son and her sharp intelligence and audacious will alienate his old friends and the noble families of England. When the discarded Katherine dies in exile from the court, Anne stands starkly exposed, the focus of gossip and malice. At a word from Henry, Thomas Cromwell is ready to bring her down.
-
-
Mantel Pulls the History out of the History
- By Darwin8u on 11-22-12
By: Hilary Mantel
-
Bring Up the Bodies
- A Novel
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Ben Miles
- Length: 16 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Though he battled for seven years to marry her, Henry is disenchanted with Anne Boleyn. She has failed to give him a son, and her sharp intelligence and audacious will alienate his old friends and the noble families of England. When the discarded Katherine dies in exile from the court, Anne stands starkly exposed, the focus of gossip and malice. At a word from Henry, Thomas Cromwell is ready to bring her down. Over three terrifying weeks, Anne is ensnared in a web of conspiracy, while the demure Jane Seymour stands waiting her turn for the poisoned wedding ring.
-
-
Ben is a great narrator
- By J. Mar on 07-22-20
By: Hilary Mantel
-
A Place of Greater Safety
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 33 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
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.
-
-
Disaster
- By Frank Dudley Berry Jr. on 08-01-13
By: Hilary Mantel
-
Mantel Pieces
- Royal Bodies and Other Writing from the London Review of Books
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Olivia Dowd, Hilary Mantel - introduction
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1987, when Hilary Mantel was first published in the London Review of Books, she wrote to the editor, Karl Miller, ‘I have no critical training whatsoever, so I am forced to be more brisk and breezy than scholarly.’ This collection of 20 reviews, essays and pieces of memoir from the next three decades tells the story of what happened next.
By: Hilary Mantel
-
Learning to Talk
- Stories
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck, Jane Collingwood, Patrick Moy
- Length: 3 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the wake of Hilary Mantel’s brilliant conclusion to her award-winning Wolf Hall Trilogy, this collection of loosely autobiographical stories locates the transforming moments of a haunted childhood. Sharp and funny, these drawn-from-life stories begin in the 1950s in an insular northern village “scoured by bitter winds and rough gossip tongues.” For the child narrator, the only way to survive is to get up, get on, get out.
By: Hilary Mantel
-
Fludd
- A Novel
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Gordon Griffin
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One dark and stormy night in 1956, a stranger named Fludd mysteriously turns up in the dismal village of Fetherhoughton. He is the curate sent by the bishop to assist Father Angwin - or is he? In the most unlikely of places, a superstitious town that understands little of romance or sentimentality, where bad blood between neighbors is ancient and impenetrable, miracles begin to bloom. Fludd becomes lover, gravedigger, and savior, transforming his dull office into a golden regency of decision, unashamed sensation, and unprecedented action.
-
-
Small, tight irreverant novel that wryly inverts
- By Darwin8u on 07-21-13
By: Hilary Mantel
-
A Change of Climate
- A Novel
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Sandra Duncan
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ralph and Anna Eldred are an exemplary couple, devoting themselves to doing good. 30 years ago as missionaries in Africa, the worst that could happen did. Shattered by their encounter with inexplicable evil, they returned to England, never to speak of it again. But when Ralph falls into an affair, Anna finds no forgiveness in her heart, and 30 years of repressed rage and grief explode, destroying not only a marriage but also their love, their faith, and everything they thought they were.
-
-
Beautifully written
- By Patricia S. on 10-11-15
By: Hilary Mantel
-
The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher: Stories
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Jane Carr
- Length: 4 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the two-time Man Booker award-winning author, comes a collection of short stories. Ranging from a ghost story to a vampire story to a near-memoir to mini-sagas of family and social fracture. Each story brilliantly unsettles the listener with Mantel’s classic wicked humor and unsparing eye, in an unmistakably Mantel way.
-
-
Superhuman Prose that Defies Gravity
- By Darwin8u on 02-16-15
By: Hilary Mantel
-
An Experiment in Love
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Jane Collingwood
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Carmel McBain is the only child of working-class Irish-Catholic parents. Her mother aspires to something more for her than what life in their depressed mill town has to offer, determined that Carmel slip through England's rigid social barriers. And so, early on, she pushes Carmel, first to gain a scholarship to the local convent school, then to sit the exams for a place at London University. It sets her on a lonely journey that will take her as far as possible from where she began, uprooting her from the ties of class and place, of family and faith, and ultimately from her own self.
-
-
Great Sixties Proto Feminist Lit
- By A reader on 11-06-20
By: Hilary Mantel
-
Vacant Possession
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Sandra Duncan
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ten years have passed since Muriel Axon was locked away for society's protection, but psychiatric confinement has only increased her malice and ingenuity. At last free, she sets into motion an intricate plan to exact revenge on those who had her put away. Her former social worker, Isabel, and her old neighbors have moved on, but Muriel, with her talent for disguise, will infiltrate their homes and manipulate their lives, until all her enemies are brought together for a gruesome finale.
-
-
Strange
- By zizzaka on 05-09-21
By: Hilary Mantel