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This Rough Ocean
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Oxford, Spring - 1354. When the series of accidents to the building of the chapel at Queen’s College begin, they do not appear a cause for concern, but they grow more serious, and stonemasons are injured. Nicholas Elyot becomes involved after it is discovered that an intruder has reached the college by way of his garden. When Jordain Brinkylsworth’s youngest student goes missing, it seems at first that his disappearance is unconnected, yet he is one of the ‘poor boys’ supported by Queen’s. Surely this serious and studious boy cannot be responsible for the troubles?
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With heavy heart...
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The Troubadour's Tale
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When Nicholas Elyot and his friends set out to spend the Christmas season in the country, they are prepared for a hard journey in winter. They are also wary of violence on the road, for these are troubled times after the Great Pestilence, when bands of dispossessed and desperate men roam the countryside of England. It is not surprising, therefore, when the troubadours hired to provide entertainment at Leighton Manor are attacked in Wychwood. Yet why should this group draw the attention of outlaws, who are searching for something? Is one of the troubadours not quite what he seems?
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Loved it
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The Merchant's Tale
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Oxford, Autumn 1353. St. Frideswide's Fair is a great annual event in Oxford, bringing together merchants and buyers from all over England and Wales, and from as far away as Flanders and France. Yet the earnings from the fair, granted to the Priory of St. Frideswide centuries before, are resented by the town, and resentment can turn to violence. Under the unscrupulous Prior de Hungerford, even more trouble is brewing.
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4th in remarkable hist. fiction mystery series
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The Huntsman's Tale
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Oxford, late summer, 1353. On hearing that his cousin is short-handed for the harvest, Nicholas Elyot takes a group of friends back to the family farm to help. When a deer hunt in Wychwood ends in tragedy, suspicion is directed toward the huntsman, a boyhood friend of Nicholas. But the victim has made many other enemies, any one of whom could have shot the fatal arrow. Can Nicholas uncover the real killer before it is too late?
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Excellent Medieval Mystery
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A Plague on Both Your Houses
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Matthew Bartholomew, unorthodox but effective physician to Michaelhouse college in medieval Cambridge, is as worried as anyone about the pestilence that is ravaging Europe and seems to be approaching England. But he is distracted by the sudden and inexplicable death of the Master of Michaelhouse - a death the University authorities do not want investigated.
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Great Intro to a new series
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The Novice's Tale
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When the novice Emma Thorgold goes missing from Godstow Abbey in the summer of 1353, the hunt is on throughout the Oxfordshire countryside. Bookseller Nicholas Elyot and scholar Jordain Brinkylsworth are anxious to help the girl, but her stepfather has other intentions. Why is he so determined to shut her away for life? Or worse? And will she be found unharmed?
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Simply Lovely
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The Stonemason's Tale
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Oxford, Spring - 1354. When the series of accidents to the building of the chapel at Queen’s College begin, they do not appear a cause for concern, but they grow more serious, and stonemasons are injured. Nicholas Elyot becomes involved after it is discovered that an intruder has reached the college by way of his garden. When Jordain Brinkylsworth’s youngest student goes missing, it seems at first that his disappearance is unconnected, yet he is one of the ‘poor boys’ supported by Queen’s. Surely this serious and studious boy cannot be responsible for the troubles?
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With heavy heart...
- By N. Brown on 09-19-18
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Overall
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Performance
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When Nicholas Elyot and his friends set out to spend the Christmas season in the country, they are prepared for a hard journey in winter. They are also wary of violence on the road, for these are troubled times after the Great Pestilence, when bands of dispossessed and desperate men roam the countryside of England. It is not surprising, therefore, when the troubadours hired to provide entertainment at Leighton Manor are attacked in Wychwood. Yet why should this group draw the attention of outlaws, who are searching for something? Is one of the troubadours not quite what he seems?
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Loved it
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The Merchant's Tale
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Oxford, Autumn 1353. St. Frideswide's Fair is a great annual event in Oxford, bringing together merchants and buyers from all over England and Wales, and from as far away as Flanders and France. Yet the earnings from the fair, granted to the Priory of St. Frideswide centuries before, are resented by the town, and resentment can turn to violence. Under the unscrupulous Prior de Hungerford, even more trouble is brewing.
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4th in remarkable hist. fiction mystery series
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The Huntsman's Tale
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Overall
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Oxford, late summer, 1353. On hearing that his cousin is short-handed for the harvest, Nicholas Elyot takes a group of friends back to the family farm to help. When a deer hunt in Wychwood ends in tragedy, suspicion is directed toward the huntsman, a boyhood friend of Nicholas. But the victim has made many other enemies, any one of whom could have shot the fatal arrow. Can Nicholas uncover the real killer before it is too late?
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Excellent Medieval Mystery
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A Plague on Both Your Houses
- The First Chronicle of Matthew Bartholomew
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- Length: 13 hrs and 2 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Matthew Bartholomew, unorthodox but effective physician to Michaelhouse college in medieval Cambridge, is as worried as anyone about the pestilence that is ravaging Europe and seems to be approaching England. But he is distracted by the sudden and inexplicable death of the Master of Michaelhouse - a death the University authorities do not want investigated.
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Great Intro to a new series
- By Wilkie Collins on 01-12-18
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The Novice's Tale
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When the novice Emma Thorgold goes missing from Godstow Abbey in the summer of 1353, the hunt is on throughout the Oxfordshire countryside. Bookseller Nicholas Elyot and scholar Jordain Brinkylsworth are anxious to help the girl, but her stepfather has other intentions. Why is he so determined to shut her away for life? Or worse? And will she be found unharmed?
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The Play's the Thing
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When Kit Alvarez returns from Muscovy, it is to discover that her post as physician at St. Thomas' hospital has been given to another. Trying to eke out the small income she earns from some of Dr. Nuñez's private patients, she undertakes paid work as a copyist with James Burbage's company. But the players' companies find themselves under threat. Two of Burbage's men are murdered. One of Henslowe's men is attacked. And two important new plays go missing, one by Will Shakespeare and one by Christopher Marlowe.
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Great series
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The Bookseller's Tale
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Oxford, Spring 1353. When young bookseller Nicholas Elyot discovers the body of student William Farringdon floating in the river Cherwell, it looks like a drowning. Soon, however, Nicholas finds evidence of murder. Who could have wanted to kill this promising student? As Nicholas and his scholar friend Jordain try to unravel what lies behind William's death, they learn that he was innocently caught up in a criminal plot.
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Held my interest, excellent historical background
- By Marcheta on 04-07-17
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The Secret World of Christoval Alvarez
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It is the year 1586. England is awash with traitors, plotting to assassinate the Queen and bring about a foreign invasion. The young physician Christoval Alvarez, a refugee from the horrors of the Portuguese Inquisition, is coerced into becoming a code-breaker and agent in Sir Francis Walsingham's secret service. In the race to thwart the plot, who will triumph - the ruthless conspirators or the equally ruthless State?
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Good Story, Somewhat Distracting Narration
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Voyage to Muscovy
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An agent sent to Muscovy to investigate suspected treason amongst employees of the Muscovy Company has disappeared without trace. Sir Francis Walsingham, who began the investigation, is dead, but the directors of the Company know that the agent must be found, dead or alive. The perfect opportunity comes when the Tsar, Emperor of All the Russias, asks for an English physician to treat his young half-brother. Christoval Alvarez, physician and former Walsingham agent, is the obvious choice, but is loathe to travel to this violent and barbarous land.
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Suffer the Little Children: The Chronicles of Christoval Alvarez, Volume 5
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In Elizabethan London, no child is safe. Children are misused and exploited by parents, masters, strangers, and society at large. Even the children of the rich are in danger. When a five-year-old heiress to great estates is kidnapped, Christoval Alvarez, the players of James Burbage's company, and a disreputable group of child beggars all become involved in the search. At Seething Lane, matters are approaching a crisis.
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Great details
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The Portuguese Affair
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The year after defeating the Spanish Armada, England retaliates. The expedition to Portugal sets out to destroy what remains of Spain's Atlantic fleet, drive the Spanish out of Portugal, put the claimant Dom Antonio of Aviz on the throne, and seize the Azores. But from the time the English fleet, led by Drake and Norreys, reaches Plymouth, things start to go wrong. Christoval Alvarez, sent to carry out two missions by Walsingham, has a more important private plan in mind.
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A bleak and disturbing tale, very dark
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Bartholomew Fair
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When Bartholomew Fair, London's largest public festival, is threatened in 1589 by 500 armed soldiers dismissed from service without pay, the authorities act swiftly and decisively to prevent trouble. Yet other trouble is brewing. Young physician and code-breaker Christoval Alvarez stumbles upon a sinister troupe of Italian puppeteers bent on making mischief, but it soon becomes apparent that more than mischief is in the air.
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The Enterprise of England
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Facing the threat of King Philip's Enterprise of England - Spanish invasion and annexation of the country - Sir Francis Walsingham's secret service spreads a network of agents across Europe. After caring for hundreds of maimed and wounded soldiers returning from the fall of Sluys, young physician and code-breaker Christoval Alvarez is sent on two dangerous missions to Amsterdam, where, amongst the friendly Hollanders, treason and treachery lurks.
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I loved the story
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Lethal Pursuit
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Private enquiry agents Cyrus Barker and Thomas Llewelyn receive in the mail an unexplained key stamped with the letter Q. Barker, recognizing it for what it is, uses the key to unlock an anonymous door in the alleyway, which opens to an underground tunnel leading to Downing Street. The Prime Minister has a small task for Cyrus Barker. A Foreign Office agent stole a satchel in Eastern Europe, but was then himself murdered at Charing Cross. The satchel contains a document desperately wanted by the German government, but while the agent was killed, the satchel remains in English hands.
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Another great story on the series
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Season of the Raven
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It's 1194, and Sir Faucon de Ramis, the shire's newly appointed keeper of the pleas, must do his duty and make an official declaration of the cause of a miller's death. Saddled with a clerk who names Faucon his "penance", the shire's first crowner must thread the tangled relationships between the sheriff, the village of Priors Holston, and the priory that once ruled it. As a simple task takes a turn to the political, what seems obvious isn't, and what appears safe turns out to be more dangerous than he could imagine.
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If you like Brother Cadfael you will like this
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An Unholy Alliance
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In 1350 the people of Cambridge are struggling to overcome the effects of the Black Death - and with a high mortality rate among priests and monks, the townsfolk are vulnerable to sinister cults that have sprung up. At Michaelhouse, Matthew Bartholomew is training new physicians when the body of a friar is found in the massive chest that the university uses to store precious documents. While investigating, Bartholomew stumbles across a derelict church being used as a meeting place for the mysterious sect he believes is at the heart of a web of blackmail.
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An unholy alliance
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The Testament of Mariam
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"Today I had word that my brother Ya'aqôb is dead." When this news reaches Mariam, living in exile in the province of Gaul, memories of her girlhood in faraway Palestine are painfully awakened. For years she has blocked them from her mind, but as illness and old age overtake her, she begins to relive the time when she defied all propriety and convention and followed her charismatic brother Yeshûa and her betrothed Yehûd'a in their daring but perilous adventure.
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Narrator
- By Linda on 01-09-18
Publisher's Summary
It is December, 1648, and England faces one of the greatest crises in its history. Bands of renegade soldiers and broken men roam the countryside, looting, burning, and raping. In Parliament, former allies are torn apart after six years of bloody conflict. Will there be peace instead of war, or a military takeover of the country?
John Swynfen, a rising young MP and one of the leaders of the moderate party, is working for peace, but only if safeguards can be established to protect Parliament and control the powers of the king. Ranged against him and his friends are Oliver Cromwell and his son-in-law Henry Ireton, intent on seizing power by the sword and destroying not only the monarchy but the elected government. Within a few weeks, London is occupied by Cromwell's army, parliamentary government is in ruins, the king is executed. And John Swynfen is a prisoner.
Anne Swynfen travels home from Westminster to Staffordshire with her young children through a desperate winter. There, uncertain whether she will ever see her husband again, she takes charge of the large estate, where starvation looms due to bad harvests, and violent danger threatens from outlaws and the armies of both sides. While she struggles against prejudice to do a man's job, John is shot, beaten, shackled, humiliated, and tortured. Tempted by golden promises if he recants, threatened with death if he does not, he tries to cling to his sanity and his beliefs. When he finally escapes, he begins a terrible journey home across war-torn England to find his wife.
This is a story about keeping faith - many kinds of faith - in the face of terror, anguish, and despair.
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Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Cate F.
- Richmond, VA USA
- 01-27-18
Epic Love Story. Beautifully written & narrated.
An English Odysseus suffers the ordeals of imprisonment, torture, and wandering in frozen wilderness on his journey home. His Penelope, Ann Swinfen, suffers her own ordeals as she fights to preserve their family and estate.
It took me a bit of time to enter into the story as I am not very familiar with the events of the period. Once I did the time flew and I listened every possible moment to this long and gripping tale. Highly recommended!
4 of 4 people found this review helpful
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- mimi
- 12-01-18
Wonderful
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I spent every available minute listening. It is a great historical novel.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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- Kindle Customer
- Starke, FL, United States
- 11-11-18
The overcoming power of love
This book was fantastic. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time worrying for the poor Swinfens. I enjoyed hearing about both the husband’s and the wife’s difficult journeys. They were both compelling characters and I enjoyed both points of view equally.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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- Thel
- Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
- 04-19-18
A Great Story
A terrific story; the characters were upper crust but then as the story progresses, they are less so. I thoroughly enjoyed the scope of this book. And I liked that the main character was a woman; she had the struggles which no man in the 17th century could understand. How lonely was her life.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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- stefani
- Albany, NY
- 03-13-18
Don't miss this true story!
Incredible story! It took awhile to get into the story but then it took off. The narrator is fantastic as always.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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- High Altitude Gardener
- 10-05-19
Genuine historical fiction at its best
This book astonished me. A rich evocation of 17th century England and a pitch perfect cross section of characters brought to life skillfully and beautifully by narrator/performer Philip Battley. If, like me, you are a genuine lover of rich historical fiction set in Britain and beautifully written, then this book is for you. If you have read this author's Oxford mystery series (which I enjoyed) then you may be surprised that this book, although not a mystery, is even better than those (and those were very good).
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- prc
- 06-30-19
Never Fails to Impress
You have to love this author. Unbeleivable research, nail biting suspense. Just Keep pumping them out!
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- SMC
- 11-14-18
A great storyteller, thoroughly enjoyed it
Loved this tale, it was a great eyeopener on the historical time period, and the description of the characters and their lives was vivid.
It takes quite a lot to keep me interested in an almost 24 hour listen as it is in-car commute mostly, and at first the narrator's style did not suit me, however by adjusting the speed to 1,25 it soon became familiar and I couldn't wait for my next "episode"
Nothing negative for me, if you love historical novels with a basis on fact and real characters you will love this book and end up knowing a bit more about the tumultuous Cromwellian era.
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- Annie
- 03-23-18
A wonderful gripping read
Would you listen to This Rough Ocean again? Why?
Yes. The historic detail of the period portrayed is educational and the minutiae of domestic life in the seventeenth century is fascinating
What did you like best about this story?
The contrast between the lives of Ann and John
What does Philip Battley bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?
His various different accents were spot on
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The end, without giving anything away
Any additional comments?
A wonderful book, for anyone who is a fan of Norah Lofts, this book is a must. Can't wait to try some of her other novels.