Benjamin Franklin's Bastard
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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David Colacci
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By:
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Sally Cabot
About this listen
An absorbing and compelling work of literary historical fiction, set in colonial Philadelphia, that brings to life a little-known chapter of the American Revolution - the story of Benjamin Franklin and his bastard son, and the women who loved them.
Sixteen-year-old Anne is an uneducated serving girl at the Penny Pot tavern when she first meets the commanding Benjamin Franklin. The time she spends with the brilliant young printer teases her curious mind, and the money he provides keeps her family from starving. But the ambitious Franklin is committed to someone else, a proper but infatuated woman named Deborah Read who becomes his common-law wife. At least Anne has William, her cherished infant son, to remind her of his father and to soften some of life's bleakness.
But growing up a bastard amid the squalor of Eades Alley isn't the life Anne wants for her only son. Acutely aware of the challenges facing them, she makes a heartbreaking sacrifice. She will give up William forever, allowing Benjamin and Deborah Franklin to raise him as their own.
Though she cannot be with him, Anne secretly watches out for her beloved child, daring to be close to him without revealing the truth about herself or his birth, and standing guard as Deborah Franklin struggles to accept her husband's bastard son as her own.
As the years pass, the bustling colonies grow and prosper, offering opportunities for wealth and power for a talented man like William's father. Benjamin's growing fame and connections as a scientist, writer, philosopher, businessman, and political genius open doors for the astute William as well, and eventually King George III appoints Benjamin's bastard son to the new position of Royal Governor of New Jersey. Anne's fortunes also rise. A shrewd woman of many talents, she builds a comfortable life of her own - yet nothing fills her with more joy or pride than her son's success and happiness.
But all that her accomplished son has achieved is threatened when the colonies - led by influential men, including his own father - begin the fight for independence. A steadfast, loyal subject of the British Crown, William cannot accept his father's passionate defense of the patriots' cause, and the enduring bond they share fractures, a heart-wrenching break that will forever haunt them and those they love.
A poignant tale of passion, family, love, and war, Benjamin Franklin's Bastard skillfully brings into focus a cast of remarkable characters drawn from real life, and vividly re-creates one of the most remarkable and thrilling periods of history - the birth of the American nation.
©2013 Sally Cabot (P)2013 HarperCollinsPublishersListeners also enjoyed...
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Blindspot
- By a Gentleman in Exile and a Lady in Disguise
- By: Jane Kamensky, Jill Lepore
- Narrated by: John Lee, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 18 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Set in boisterous, rebellious Boston on the eve of the American Revolution, Blindspot ingeniously weaves together the fictional stories of Stewart Jameson, a Scottish portrait painter and notorious libertine, and Fanny Easton, a fallen woman from one of Boston's most powerful families who disguises herself as a boy to become Jameson's defiant and seductive apprentice. Together with an African-born doctor, they investigate the death of the famous revolutionary leader Samuel Bradstreet.
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Disappointing
- By Cariola on 03-06-09
By: Jane Kamensky, and others
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The Twelfth Enchantment
- By: David Liss
- Narrated by: Susan Duerden
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Lucy Derrick is a young woman of good breeding and poor finances. After the death of her beloved father, she is forced to maintain a shabby dignity as the unwanted boarder of her tyrannical uncle, fending off marriage to a local mill owner. But just as she is on the cusp of accepting a life of misery, events take a stunning turn when a handsome stranger - the poet and notorious rake Lord Byron - arrives at her house, stricken by what seems to be a curse, and with a cryptic message for Lucy. Suddenly her unfortunate circumstances are transformed in ways at once astonishing and seemingly impossible.
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A Little Better than Just OK
- By Cariola on 02-10-12
By: David Liss
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The Strangler Vine
- By: M. J. Carter
- Narrated by: Alex Wyndham
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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India, 1837: William Avery is a young soldier with few prospects except rotting away in campaigns in India; Jeremiah Blake is a secret political agent gone native, a genius at languages and disguises, disenchanted with the whole ethos of British rule, but who cannot resist the challenge of an unresolved mystery.
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Don't Waste Time Reading Reviews-Just Buy the Book
- By Tracey Rains on 03-09-17
By: M. J. Carter
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Mary
- Mrs. A. Lincoln
- By: Janis Cooke Newman
- Narrated by: Anne Buelteman
- Length: 26 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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A fascinating and intimate novel of the life of Mary Todd Lincoln, narrated by the First Lady herself. Mary Todd Lincoln is one of history's most misunderstood and enigmatic women. She was a political strategist, a supporter of emancipation, and a mother who survived the loss of three children and the assassination of her beloved husband. She also ran her family into debt, held séances in the White House, and was committed to an insane asylum - which is where Janis Cooke Newman's debut novel begins.
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Intriguing and well-written, Worst editing EVER.
- By Danielle on 03-21-15
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Buddenbrooks
- The Decline of a Family
- By: Thomas Mann
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 26 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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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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March
- By: Geraldine Brooks
- Narrated by: Richard Easton
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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From Louisa May Alcott's beloved classic Little Women, Geraldine Brooks has animated the character of the absent father, March, and crafted a story "filled with the ache of love and marriage and with the power of war upon the mind and heart of one unforgettable man" (Sue Monk Kidd). With "pitch-perfect writing" (USA Today), Brooks follows March as he leaves behind his family to aid the Union cause in the Civil War. His experiences will utterly change his marriage and challenge his most ardently held beliefs.
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Great book, greatly narrated
- By Paula on 07-30-06
By: Geraldine Brooks
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Jack Maggs
- By: Peter Carey
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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With scars on his back and silver in his pocket, the huge figure of Jack Maggs strides across the rich landscape of 19th century London. As this enigmatic man moves through its streets and houses, his single-minded quest to find his son will engender love, deceit, and vengeance in the lives around him.
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Jack Maggs
- By Kathleen on 04-04-05
By: Peter Carey
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Lyon's Bride
- The Chattan Curse, Book 1
- By: Cathy Maxwell
- Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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They call him Lord Lyon, proud, determined - and cursed. He is in need of a bride, but if he falls in love, he dies. His fervent hope is that by marrying - and having a son - without love, perhaps he can break the curse's chains forever. Enter beautiful Thea Martin - a duke's headstrong, errant daughter and society's most brilliant matchmaker. Years ago, she and Lyon were inseparable, until he disappeared from her life without a word. Now she is charged with finding Lyon's bride - a woman he cannot love for a man Thea could love too well.
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Good Story - Wonderful Narrator
- By Lia on 11-19-12
By: Cathy Maxwell
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Winter Collection
- Six Historical Short Stories (A Timeless Romance Anthology, Book 1)
- By: Sarah M. Eden, Heidi Ashworth, Annette Lyon, and others
- Narrated by: Karen Peakes
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Six award-winning authors have contributed brand new stories to A Timeless Romance Anthology: Winter Collection. A collection unlike any other, listeners will love this compilation of six sweet historical romance novellas, set in varying eras, yet all with one thing in common: Romance.
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Winter
- By Manila J. Dobbs on 08-12-23
By: Sarah M. Eden, and others
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To Taste the Wine
- By: Fern Michaels
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Chelsea Myles earns her living as an actress with her uncle's theater troupe, performing cheap plays on the streets of London and picking the customers' pockets. Until one night, a robbery goes awry and Chelsea is left holding a purse with enough gold to buy her passage to Australia, and the chance of a fresh start. Once on board the vessel, Chelsea is intrigued by a fellow passenger, Quaid Tanner, who is returning to his vineyard in Australia. As much as Quaid admires the feisty, courageous Chelsea, circumstances seem destined to keep them apart.
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Great story but too detailed in sex scenes for me
- By Private on 09-23-15
By: Fern Michaels
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All That Makes Life Bright
- The Life and Love of Harriet Beecher Stowe
- By: Josi S. Kilpack
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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When Harriet Beecher marries Calvin Stowe on January 6, 1836, she is sure her future will be filled with romance, eventually a family, and continued opportunities to develop as a writer. Her husband, Calvin, is completely supportive and said she must be a literary woman. Harriet's sister, Catharine, worries she will lose her identity in marriage, but she is determined to preserve her independent spirit.
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This book Really Helped me
- By AM on 08-01-24
By: Josi S. Kilpack
What listeners say about Benjamin Franklin's Bastard
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Linda Likes to Learn
- 02-21-17
Lecherous Franklin shown less than his legend.
Fascinating details of the real man behind the many accomplishments. Flighty as a bumblebee, never 'there' for his family, always in search of the next excitement - whether scientific or sexual - Franklin seems rightly pictured as monumental to the public but manipulative & forgetful of the family that suffered along with his tinkering, extended trips to England & France and inability to understand the wrecked psyches that he left in his wake. Yes, he took care of his bastard son - and the. bastard son of his son - as well as the third bastard in the family. But one must wonder about this bastard legacy that tab thru 3generations. A great historical novel, based on historical facts. Highly recommended
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2 people found this helpful
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- Delah
- 11-25-13
I learned a lot
I had no idea about all of the things I learned about Ben Frank in this book. It was interesting, entertaining and educational all at the same time. I recommend this book.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Mare99
- 03-05-18
F
In most accounts of the Revolutionary War, Benjamin Franklin appears as the American patriot, diplomat, and international playboy that he was. History has been mostly silent on his earlier life and family, and I have wondered why he seemed so alone. This novel, though fictionalized, appealed to me greatly. The framework - the bones, as it were- of what is in the historical record help me understand him better, and the story, the speculations Cabot makes about his personal life, make this an enjoyable and rewarding book. In short, I liked this book very much.
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1 person found this helpful
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- A real person
- 06-20-13
A wonderful adult portrayal of history
Would you listen to Benjamin Franklin's Bastard again? Why?
Maybe, I don't really relisten/reread books but I would consider it to follow more of the historical points.
What about David Colacci’s performance did you like?
Yes I thought it was well read and well animated
If you could rename Benjamin Franklin's Bastard, what would you call it?
William Franklin's mother and her trials in the time of matriarch power
Any additional comments?
I really enjoy historical fiction and I was keen with the way they portrayed the relationships that Franklin and Anne had. It was tasteful and not smutty. I also liked the sprinkling of historical points in the story. My favorite part was the ending and learning about Benjamin and William's relationship in connection to the Revolutionary War.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Kay
- 07-07-14
Get to know a different side of an American hero
Would you listen to Benjamin Franklin's Bastard again? Why?
I don't really listen or read books again - too many new ones out there but on the basis of if this was a good listen - then yes I would. Good story and good narration.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Benjamin Franklin's Bastard?
That Ben Franklin married Deborah Reed out of obligation, duty and pity. Not what I understood from nonfiction books I have read. Interesting take on the author's part.
What about David Colacci’s performance did you like?
He did raise the timbre of his voice for the female characters he didn't do it so much that is was a distraction or irritation. Often male narrators when reading for a female character use an affectation that makes the character sound stupid, false and basically irritating. Colacci did not do this.
If you could take any character from Benjamin Franklin's Bastard out to dinner, who would it be and why?
Separately I would like to have dinner with Benjamin Franklin and Deborah Franklin. I would like to hear Deborah's side of the story in more detail and find out if she was really not as intelligent as the author made her seem. I always thought BF would marry someone of high intelligence not out of pity. And of course dinner with BF would for sure be an interesting experience.
Any additional comments?
Interesting way of looking at one of our founding fathers. I'm sure there was dramatization and fabrication of some events and feelings but still made for an interesting story. Liked the fictional character Ann, William's mother & Benjamin's mistress.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Brad
- 03-13-17
Fictional misfiled as history
This is a novel, and is listed in the wrong section. This should be clearly labeled as what it is.
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