The Queen's Secret

A Novel of England's World War II Queen

By: Karen Harper

Narrated by: Bianca Amato

Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

If you love Jennifer Robson or The Crown, you will love New York Times best-selling author Karen Harper’s novel about Elizabeth, The Queen's Secret.

It's 1939. As the wife of King George VI and the mother of the future queen, Elizabeth - “the queen mother” - shows a warm, smiling face to the world. But it’s no surprise that Hitler himself calls her the “Most Dangerous Woman in Europe”. For behind that soft voice and kindly demeanor is a will of steel.

Two years earlier, George was thrust onto the throne when his brother Edward abdicated, determined to marry his divorced, American mistress Mrs. Simpson. Vowing to do whatever it takes to make her husband’s reign a success, Elizabeth endears herself to the British people and prevents the former king and his brazen bride from ever again setting foot in Buckingham Palace.

Elizabeth holds many powerful cards; she’s also hiding damaging secrets about her past and her provenance that could prove to be her undoing.

In this riveting novel of royal secrets and intrigue, Karen Harper lifts the veil on one of the world’s most fascinating families and how its “secret weapon” of a matriarch maneuvered her way through one of the most dangerous chapters of the century.

©2020 Karen Harper (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers

Very interesting story

This story was very interesting and showed the strength of Queen Mum. I am hopeful there’s a follow up/part 2 continuing her story.

Enjoyed it, a great historical story

I enjoyed this very much. The royals are folks just like us…. no different. We all have historical skeletons in closets, but what was horrific years ago, doesn’t seem quite so bad now a days.

Interesting story

I loved the story. The performance was like it was being told by the Queen.

Interesting POV

I enjoyed learning about the Queen Mum, although since this is a historical novel, I don’t know how much of it is fact. Some of the key points in the story are pretty clearly fiction, which disappointed me. In the interest of avoiding spoilers, I won’t provide examples, but it did seem like the author could have had a successful career writing for tabloid newspapers. The narrator did a great job using different voices—one of the best I’ve ever heard.

Great performance, bland story

As others have stated, the story got redundant as the main character would talk over and over about “the secret”. I would have enjoyed more of what the Queen actually experienced during the war. But the performance was wonderful and the main reason I kept going to the anticlimactic end.

An amazing woman

I enjoyed learning more about this wonderful lady. I think quite a bit of the story though is just speculation. I’m sure the real lady was quite wonderful.

UNABLE TO PUT IT DOWN

My first encounter with this author. Superb historical writing. Reads similarly to movie news reels of old. The detail of the Royal Family at start of WWII with the fears, heartache, and loss of life from any war is very real. Excellent portrayal of QEII's mother as War Queen.

Too soap opera-like

I enjoyed most of this book but the repetitious “secrets” storyline got old fast for my taste. The author is known for her historical research so the outlandish of the secrets did make me wonder if there was a thread of truth in them.

Brilliant!

Well written and spoken. I was a child growing up in a part of the empire during the war. It was very insightful to find the royal family experienced the war with compassion for their subjects as well as being and experiencing the hardships too. Enjoyed it immensely.

Queen Mother

I was very disappointed with the character. Quite shallow and selfish. She was a lucky person who seems to have slipped through the cracks