A Place of Greater Safety
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Narrated by:
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Jonathan Keeble
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By:
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Hilary Mantel
About this listen
A tour-de-force of historical imagination, this is the story of three young men at the dawn of the French Revolution. Georges-Jacques Danton: zealous, energetic, debt-ridden. Maximilien Robespierre: small, diligent, and terrified of violence. And Camille Desmoulins: a genius of rhetoric, charming, handsome, but erratic and untrustworthy.
As these key figures of the French Revolution taste the addictive delights of power, they must also come to face the horror that follows.
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First published in 1900, when Thomas Mann was 25, Buddenbrooks is a minutely imagined chronicle of four generations of a North German mercantile family - a work so true to life that it scandalized the author’s former neighbours in his native Lübeck.
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Where Have You Been All My Life, Thomas Mann?
- By Virginia Waldron on 03-30-17
By: Thomas Mann
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Shadow of a Century
- By: Jean Grainger
- Narrated by: Alana Kerr Collins
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Mary Doyle arrives in Dublin in 1913, doomed, she fears, to a life of domestic service. Instead, however, she finds herself deeply affected by the social and political turmoil of a fledgling nation struggling for independence. Suddenly, all that was once inevitable is no longer a certainty as she is embroiled in the very heart of the Easter Rising.
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Loved this book!
- By Amazon Customer on 11-14-20
By: Jean Grainger
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The Course of Honour
- By: Lindsey Davis
- Narrated by: Diana Bishop
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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He has no money, no reputation and no famous ancestors.' The love story of the Emperor Vespasian, who brought peace to Rome after years of strife, and his mistress, the freed slave woman Caenis, this book recreates Ancient Rome's most turbulent period - the reigns of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero and Vespasian's rise to power. As their forbidden romance blossoms, Caenis is embroiled in political intrigue, while Vespasian embarks on a glorious career.
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Great love story
- By Julie on 05-04-20
By: Lindsey Davis
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Resurrection
- By: Leo Tolstoy
- Narrated by: Alastair Cameron
- Length: 16 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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In Tolstoy's final novel, a privileged nobleman by the name of Dmitri Nekhlyudov seeks to make amends for a bad deed he committed in the past. In the process, he discovers that he has been living in a world far removed from the reality of the average person.
By: Leo Tolstoy
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The Fountainhead
- By: Ayn Rand
- Narrated by: Christopher Hurt
- Length: 32 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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One of the 20th century's most challenging novels of ideas, The Fountainhead champions the cause of individualism through the story of a gifted young architect who defies the tyranny of conventional public opinion. The struggle for personal integrity in a world that values conformity above creativity is powerfully illustrated through three characters: Howard Roarke, a genius; Gail Wynand, a newspaper mogul and self-made millionaire; and Dominique Francon, a devastating beauty.
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The Fountainhead
- By Zachary on 06-04-10
By: Ayn Rand
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The Idiot
- By: Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Narrated by: Jefferson Mays
- Length: 27 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Idiot, Prince Myshkin possesses a childlike innocence and trusting nature that leave him vulnerable to abuse by those around him. Returning to St. Petersburg to collect an inheritance, Myshkin realizes he is a stranger in a society obsessed with wealth, manipulation and power.
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Avoid Constance Garnett
- By Anthony on 04-09-17
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Golden Earrings
- By: Belinda Alexandra
- Narrated by: Caroline Lee
- Length: 20 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Catalina, grand-daughter of Spanish refugees, is a disciplined student with the School of the Paris Opera Ballet. Little gets inthe way of her career until the visit of an otherworldly being, who leaves her a mysterious pair of golden earrings. Given a quest, Catalina realises she must explore her own Spanish heritage and makes the connection between the visitor and ‘La Rusa’, a young Andalusian flamenco star. La Rusa died in exile in Paris in 1952, her death ruled as suicide. But as Catalina begins to discover, there were those in the community, who had good reason for wanting La Rusa dead.
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Fabulous story
- By Paddington on 10-19-12
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Instruments of Darkness
- A Novel
- By: Imogen Robertson
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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In the year 1780, Harriet Westerman, the willful mistress of a country manor in Sussex, finds a dead man on her grounds with a ring bearing the crest of Thornleigh Hall in his pocket. Not one to be bound by convention or to shy away from adventure, she recruits a reclusive local anatomist named Gabriel Crowther to help her find the murderer, and historical suspense's newest investigative duo is born.
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Not The Best, But Not Too Bad...
- By MJ on 01-13-13
By: Imogen Robertson
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Madame Tussaud
- A Novel of the French Revolution
- By: Michelle Moran
- Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor
- Length: 15 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Marie Tussaud has learned the secrets of wax sculpting by working alongside her uncle in their celebrated wax museum, the Salon de Cire. From her popular model of the American ambassador Thomas Jefferson to her tableau of the royal family at dinner, Marie's museum provides Parisians with the very latest news on fashion, gossip, even politics. Her customers hail from every walk of life, and word even arrives that the royals themselves are coming to see their likenesses....
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Tales from a turbulent time
- By Tim on 07-23-12
By: Michelle Moran
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The Forsyte Chronicles, Vol. 2
- A Modern Comedy
- By: John Galsworthy
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 34 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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John Galsworthy's magnificent trilogy of power and passion chronicles the wealthy Forsyte family. The complete Chronicles are divided into three volumes, containing nine books and four interludes in total. Volume 2, A Modern Comedy, focuses on Soames's vivacious daughter, Fleur. Soames tries constantly to protect her but is baffled by the carefree attitudes in post-war London. Fleur and her husband Michael Mont host society gatherings, but her previous affair with Jon Forsyte leaves embers of a passion that are ready to ignite - with dreadful consequences.
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Very worthwhile
- By Jonathan Kalkstein on 09-27-22
By: John Galsworthy
What listeners say about A Place of Greater Safety
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Bjerkana
- 07-06-14
Living breathing flesh on history's bare bones
If you've learned about the French Revolution at school, you've probably assembled a jumble of facts about the dramatic actions of the revolutionaries and the mob and the outcome of it all. Hilary Mantel dives beneath that to breathe life into the characters who populated the events.
In this well-researched book, she draws flesh and blood portraits of the leaders of the revolution and what led them to the events of that stormy time. You feel embedded in it, experiencing what drove them from crisis to crisis and directed their actions. You see their relationships, their trials and their temptations. Although the details have to be surmised, they are based on careful analysis of the writings of the real people involved, drawing out their motivations and beliefs.
This is an immensely powerful book, a tour de force, which drew me so into the times that I found it difficult sometimes to relate to my day-to-day 21st century life after a session of listening.
Jonathon Keeble's brilliant performance, complete with consistent and identifiable voices for the characters, enhanced it further, making it an experience I won't readily forget. I felt I lived the times. I look forward to further offerings from this author and this narrator.
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- Jenny
- 09-20-13
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose -
If you could sum up A Place of Greater Safety in three words, what would they be?
Detailed, very detailed
What was one of the most memorable moments of A Place of Greater Safety?
One, and I stress only one, of the most memorable descriptions is that of the execution of Marie Antoinette. Little snippets, like having had her hair dressed up and off her neck because she anticipated that it would be necessary, the executioner hacks it off to the required length anyway - and burns it, so that it will never become a relic.
This may be how it was for Madame Guillotine, or it may be the author's detailing, but this happens over and over again.
What does Jonathan Keeble bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
I don't think I could read the book. It is, like Hilary Mantel's two and soon to be three historical books on the Tudors, a meandering tale that moves from past to present tense; in and out of dialogue; with many characters, each of whom Jonathan Keeble brings to life using a different voice/ accent.It is the narration that gives life and colour to this edition; and helps to sort out the very many characters along the way.
If you could take any character from A Place of Greater Safety out to dinner, who would it be and why?
Lucile Desmoulins, wife of Camille Desmoulins - a clever and observant woman, much underrated initially, as Desmoulins' first love was her mother and he only married Lucile because Annette/Anne would not consider divorcing her husband. Lucile was in the midst of the group - Robespierre, Danton, Desmoulins, Marat and the many other men who drove the French Revolution with their commitment and foresight.
If she was not available - and she was executed before him - I would invite Maximilien Robespierre. Mind you, I doubt if he would accept - he wasn't quite a recluse, but he was not a social adept. Kept his energies focussed on the task in hand, which for him, was to improve the wellbeing and lives of the poor people of France. I liked his gentility and kindness.
Any additional comments?
4 sections and almost 34 hours - the book takes some commitment to read/listen to. And that is one of its remarkable virtues - imagine having written it! It is very detailed and the point of view changes a lot, making it a challenge to keep up with the characters and scene, never mind picking up the thread if you have to stop listening for any length of time.
The writing is so very good. Very Hilary Mantel. It is worth bearing in mind that this was her first - that's right - first novel and was written when she was 22 years old! In the interview that she does at the end of the Kindle version, she tells the interviewer that it nearly killed her; that she put it onto a shelf for decades before it was resurrected by new circumstances in her writing career.
In a word of warning, if you know nothing about the French Revolution, this is not the best book from which to increase your knowledge. It helped that I had some idea of dates and times and events and, to a lesser degree, persons from that cataclysmic time in the history of France. Get out your encyclopaedias, your Baroness Orczy and Jean Plaidy, and there is always good old Google.
Then come to Hilary Mantel, for an entirely new, and surprisingly intimate, perspective on The French Revolution.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Emily
- 12-01-13
No cast of characters available
I'm sure I will love this book when I can get hold of the cast of characters - it is in the print edition and the kindle edition and is vital to keeping track of the story with hundreds of minor characters. Unfortunately the Kindle sample has the list at the end (so it's not in the free sample and you would have to buy the book to get it). The only failing of the audiobook format.
For Hilary Mantel's other books (Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies) a friend sent me a photo of the first few pages of her hard copy and I referred to them frequently as I was listening.
Some solution to this problem from Audible would be much appreciated!!
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5 people found this helpful