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Before Versailles
- A Novel of Louis XIV
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
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Before Versailles
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Publisher's summary
Louis XIV is one of the best-known monarchs ever to grace the French throne. But what was he like as a young man—the man before Versailles?
After the death of his prime minister, Cardinal Mazarin, 22-year-old Louis steps in to govern France. He’s still a young man, but one who, as king, willfully takes everything he can get—including his brother’s wife. As the love affair between Louis and Princess Henriette burns, it sets the kingdom on the road to unmistakable scandal and conflict with the Vatican. Every woman wants him. He must face what he is willing to sacrifice for love.
But there are other problems lurking outside the chateau of Fontainebleau: a boy in an iron mask has been seen in the woods, and the king’s finance minister, Nicolas Fouquet, has proven more powerful than Louis ever thought—a man who could make a great ally or become a dangerous foe.
Meticulously researched and brought vividly to life by the gorgeous prose of Karleen Koen, Before Versailles dares to explore the forces that shaped an iconic king and determined the fate of an empire.
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- A Novel of Marie Antoinette
- By: Sena Jeter Naslund
- Narrated by: Susanna Burney
- Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 138
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 91
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Story4 out of 5 stars 91
Marie Antoinette was a child of 14 when she was made to leave her family and country to become the wife of another child, France's 15-year-old King Louis the XVI. Far from home and suddenly thrust not only into the role of a woman and wife, but of a queen, Marie Antoinette lived an astonishing, though short, existence.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Not for history fans
- By Cx30 on 12-09-06
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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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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 265
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 236
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 233
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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2 out of 5 stars
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All history, no romance!
- By Erin on 07-05-13
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The Second Empress
- A Novel of Napoleon's Court
- By: Michelle Moran
- Narrated by: Adam Alexi-Malle, Emma Bering, Tanya Franks
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 259
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 237
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 238
After the bloody French Revolution, Emperor Napoleon’s power is absolute. When Marie-Louise, the 18-year-old daughter of the King of Austria, is told that the Emperor has demanded her hand in marriage, her father presents her with a terrible choice: marry the cruel, capricious Napoleon, leaving the man she loves and her home forever, or say no, and plunge her country into war. Marie-Louise knows what she must do, and she travels to France, determined to be a good wife despite Napoleon’s reputation. But lavish parties greet her in Paris, and at the extravagant French court, she finds many rivals for her husband’s affection....
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5 out of 5 stars
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A brilliant novel!
- By BVerité on 12-08-12
By: Michelle Moran
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A Triple Knot
- By: Emma Campion
- Narrated by: Heather Wilds
- Length: 14 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 82
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 77
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Story4 out of 5 stars 76
Joan of Kent, renowned beauty and cousin to King Edward III, is destined for a politically strategic marriage. As the king begins a long dynastic struggle to claim the crown of France, plunging England into the Hundred Years' War, he negotiates her betrothal to a potential ally and heir of a powerful lordship. But Joan, haunted by nightmares of her father's execution at the hands of her treacherous royal kin, fears the king's selection and is not resigned to her fate. She secretly pledges herself to one of the king's own knights, one who has become a trusted friend...
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4 out of 5 stars
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GOOD HISTORICAL FICTION - FOR A CHANGE
- By The Louligan on 10-05-14
By: Emma Campion
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Isabella: Braveheart of France
- By: Colin Falconer
- Narrated by: Anne Johnstonbrown
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 178
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 155
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Story4 out of 5 stars 153
12-year-old Isabella, a French princess marries the King of England - only to discover he has a terrible secret. Ten long years later she is in utter despair - does she submit to a lifetime of solitude and a spiritual death - or seize her destiny and take the throne of England for herself? Isabella is just twelve years old when she marries Edward II of England. For the young princess it is love at first sight - but Edward has a terrible secret that threatens to tear their marriage - and England apart.
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1 out of 5 stars
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A Bizarre "Reader's Digest" Version of History...
- By Sara on 01-06-15
By: Colin Falconer
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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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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 679
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 511
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 512
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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5 out of 5 stars
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Perfection!
- By Amy M. Walts on 10-20-07
By: Margaret George
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The Sisters of Versailles
- Mistresses of Versailles Series # 1
- By: Sally Christie
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley
- Length: 15 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 327
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 294
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Story4 out of 5 stars 293
Set against the lavish backdrop of the French Court in the early years of the 18th century, The Sisters of Versailles is the extraordinary tale of the five Nesle sisters - Louise, Pauline, Diane, Hortense, and Marie-Anne - four of whom became mistresses to King Louis XV. Their scandalous story is stranger than fiction but true in every shocking, amusing, and heartbreaking detail.Court intriguers are beginning to sense that young King Louis XV, after seven years of marriage, is tiring of his Polish wife.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Best book I've listened to in ages
- By Dr. A. on 01-09-16
By: Sally Christie
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The Serpent Garden
- By: Judith Merkle Riley
- Narrated by: Alison Larkin
- Length: 18 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 60
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 49
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 48
Susanna Dallet is the daughter of a Flemish painter and wife to a philandering husband, living in the court of Henry VIII. When her husband is murdered, Susanna is suddenly left with a household to provide for and nothing to her name. Her days of anonymity are over when Susanna finds that guild rules preventing women from working do not apply at the king’s court, and she manages to secure a position as a miniature-portrait painter. Before long, she has not only made a name for herself, she is close to those who surround Princess Mary. But even in this lofty company, Susanna is not safe....
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3 out of 5 stars
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DON'T FALL FOR THE PRINT VERSION AMAZON REVIEWS
- By The Louligan on 03-06-14
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Push Not the River
- By: James Conroyd Martin
- Narrated by: Dawn Harvey
- Length: 19 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 200
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 171
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Story4 out of 5 stars 174
Push Not the River is the rich story of Poland in the late 1700's - a time of heartache and turmoil as the country's once peaceful people are torn apart by neighboring countries and divided loyalties. It is then, at the young and vulnerable age of seventeen, that Lady Anna Maria Berezowska loses both of her parents and must leave the only home she has ever known.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Save your time; buy something else.
- By AMS on 10-22-15
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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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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 345
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 301
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 300
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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1 out of 5 stars
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Disappointing
- By Michelle on 02-16-13
By: Joanna Hickson
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The Crown
- By: Nancy Bilyeau
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 14 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 251
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 216
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Story4 out of 5 stars 215
In this debut historical thriller, an aristocratic young nun must find a legendary crown in order to save her father’s life and preserve all she holds dear. When novitiate nun Joanna Stafford learns her rebel cousin is condemned by King Henry VIII to be burned at the stake, she makes the decision to break the sacred rule of enclosure and flee her Dominican order in Dartford to stand at her cousin’s side. Arrested for interfering with king’s justice, Joanna, along with her father, Sir Richard Stafford, is sent to the Tower of London.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Torture
- By S. Wells on 03-24-13
By: Nancy Bilyeau
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Green Darkness
- By: Anya Seton
- Narrated by: Heather Wilds
- Length: 23 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 268
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 237
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Story4 out of 5 stars 239
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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3 out of 5 stars
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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 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 330
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 292
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Story4 out of 5 stars 291
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
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Insatiable
- By: Virginia Henley
- Narrated by: Jill Tanner
- Length: 18 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 183
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 112
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Story4 out of 5 stars 115
New York Times best-selling author Virginia Henley writes titillating romance novels. In the prim and proper days of England’s past, sexy vixen Catherine “Cat” Seton Spencer designs dresses for Queen Elizabeth. But in her spare time, she makes the rounds in London looking to satisfy her unquenchable lust. Little does Cat know, she’s on a collision course with the roguish Patrick Hepburn, Lord Stewart of Scotland—and he means to claim her as his own.
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5 out of 5 stars
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wish there were more stars to give it!
- By debbie on 09-29-10
By: Virginia Henley
What listeners say about Before Versailles
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Cariola
- 07-19-11
Great Story, Not So Great Narrator
I am a big fan of Karleen Koen. She takes such care with her work that, unlike Philippa Gregory, she takes 4-5 years to complete a novel--no turning out formulaic pap for her! Her latest novel is a wonderful story set in the whirl of the French court. But when I first began the audiobook, I was physically startled by the extremely mismatched reader. He has a flat voice and dry style fit for reading hard-boiled mysteries, not a historical novel that takes place in the elegance of Louis XIV's world. I can think of a dozen narrators who would have been more appropriate, inculding the wonderful women who read Koen's Dark Angels and Through a Glass Darkly. Perhaps the producer felt a male narrator would be better for this story . . . but why not Samuel West or Simon Vance? Who chose this guy? What a mistake! I guess this confirms that one should ALWAYS listen to the audio sample, even for books by well-loved authors whose previously recorded books were excellent. This is the second book I've listened to recently that was nearly ruined by a bad or inappropriate narrator.
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14 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
- Gingerhair772
- 07-06-11
Good book ...horrible reader.....
I'm not one to write a review but I really think it is warranted in this case. The writing is great I'm a big fan on Ms. Koen but the narration is terrible. The narration is just distractingly bad and it is preventing me from even finishing. I will not purchase anything with this reader again.
I am kind of shocked that such a miss match of material and reader was allowed to go forward.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Elizabeth A. Morris
- 06-05-16
Tedious
Perhaps a much better read than listen. I feel the reader was not appropriate for this novel. It was just plain tedious to get through.
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3 people found this helpful