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Gertrude and Claudius
- A Novel
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
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Publisher's summary
Gertrude and Claudius are the "villains" of Hamlet: he the killer of Hamlet’s father and usurper of the Danish throne; she his lusty consort, who marries Claudius before her late husband’s body is cold. But in this imaginative "prequel" to the play, John Updike makes a case for the royal couple that Shakespeare only hinted at. Gertrude and Claudius are seen afresh against a background of fond intentions and family dysfunction, on a stage darkened by the ominous shadow of a sullen, erratic, disaffected prince. "I hoped to keep the texture light," Updike said of this novel, "to move from the mists of Scandinavian legend into the daylight atmosphere of the Globe. I sought to narrate the romance that preceded the tragedy."
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Critic reviews
"Shakespeare’s plays have had many offshoots. Gertrude and Claudius, though, stands in a class of its own: a superlative homage from one imaginative veteran to another." (The Sunday Times London)
"[A] pearl of a book...a game for real stakes...Updike has used Shakespeare to write a free-standing, pleasurable, and wonderfully dexterous novel about three figures in complex interplay." (The New York Times Book Review)
"A living, powerfully physical work...Updike is a superbly skillful writer." (The Wall Street Journal)
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It was a time of legend, as the last shadows of the mighty Roman conqueror faded from the captured Isle of Britain. Meanwhile, across a vast sea, bloody war shattered a peace that had flourished for 2,000 years in the doomed kingdom of Atlantis. This is the remarkable adventure of Charis, the courageous princess from Atlantis who escapes the terrible devastation of her land, and of the fabled seer and druid prince Taliesin, singer at the dawn of the age. It is a story of an incomparable love that joins two astonishing worlds....
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A Classic interpretation of a Classic tale
- By John on 08-11-03
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Betrayed
- By: Bertrice Small
- Narrated by: Jessica Bright
- Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
When Fiona Hay offers Angus Gordon her virtue in exchange for a dowry for her sisters, she so intrigues the rogue that he demands a higher payment: She will be his mistress. Thus begins a battle of wills and sensual delights. Destiny soon draws the ardent lovers into the turbulent court of King James. But soon the king's political schemes force Fiona away from the man she loves...and into the arms of a wild and passionate highlander, The MacDonald of Nairn. Will this coldhearted and callous betrayal forever destroy Fiona's chance at happiness?
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So different from your standard romance novel!
- By Stephanie Epps on 07-07-21
By: Bertrice Small
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Tales from the Hinterland
- The Hazel Wood
- By: Melissa Albert
- Narrated by: Rebecca Soler
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Journey into the Hinterland, a brutal and beautiful world where a young woman spends a night with Death, brides are wed to a mysterious house in the trees, and an enchantress is killed twice - and still lives.
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Does not disappoint
- By Harley Easton on 02-22-21
By: Melissa Albert
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The Memoirs of Mary, Queen of Scots
- By: Carolly Erickson
- Narrated by: Rebekah Germain
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Born Queen of Scotland, married as a young girl to the invalid young King of France, Mary took the reins of the unruly kingdom of Scotland as a young widow and fought to keep her throne. A second marriage to her handsome but dissolute cousin Lord Darnley ended in murder and scandal, while a third marriage to the dashing, commanding Lord Bothwell, the love of her life, gave her joy but widened the scandal and surrounded her with enduring ill repute.
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Fiction being the key word
- By Bonnie-Ann B on 09-25-09
By: Carolly Erickson
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Captive Queen
- A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine
- By: Alison Weir
- Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor
- Length: 19 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Renowned for her highly acclaimed and bestselling British histories, Alison Weir has in recent years made a major impact on the fiction scene with her novels about Queen Elizabeth and Lady Jane Grey. In this latest offering, she imagines the world of Eleanor of Aquitaine, the beautiful twelfth-century woman who was queen of France until she abandoned her royal husband for the younger man who would become king of England.
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Why the Negativity?
- By E. Willaims on 06-28-11
By: Alison Weir
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Bellefleur
- Gothic Saga Series, Book 1
- By: Joyce Carol Oates
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 27 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A wealthy and notorious clan, the Bellefleurs live in a region not unlike the Adirondacks, in an enormous mansion on the shores of mythic Lake Noir. They own vast lands and profitable businesses, they employ their neighbors, and they influence the government. A prolific and eccentric group, they include several millionaires, a mass murderer, a spiritual seeker who climbs into the mountains looking for God, a wealthy noctambulist who dies of a chicken scratch.
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Old School Gothic Literature (Not a beach read)
- By Keijon ford on 05-01-20
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Some Enchanted Evening
- Lost Princesses, Book 1
- By: Christina Dodd
- Narrated by: Heather Wilds
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
One of Scotland's most dangerous men, Robert MacKenzie is dazzled by the enchanting beauty who rides into the town he is sworn to defend. Though he is wary of the exquisite stranger, Clarice stirs emotions within him that Robert buried deeply years before. And now he must have her at any cost, vowing to gain her trust through the powers of his sensuous seduction. Torn between her need to protect her secrets and her aching desire for the dark, tormented earl of Hepburn, Clarice is pulled into Robert's glamorous world . . . and into his perilous plan for justice and revenge.
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Dodd! So glad she put in audible!
- By darlingdeb on 10-15-21
By: Christina Dodd
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Ophelia
- By: Lisa Klein
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In this re-imagining of Shakespeare's famous tragedy, it is Ophelia who takes center stage. A rowdy, motherless girl, she grows up at Elsinore Castle to become the queens most trusted lady-in-waiting. She catches the attention of the captivating, dark-haired Prince Hamlet, and their love blossoms in secret. But bloody deeds soon turn Denmark into a place of madness, and ultimately, Ophelia must choose between her love for Hamlet and her own life.
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nice idea, poorly executed
- By Darryl on 06-11-16
By: Lisa Klein
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Master of Desire
- Brotherhood/MacAllister Series, Book 1
- By: Kinley MacGregor
- Narrated by: Antony Ferguson
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Beautiful Lady Emily dreams of the rapture of love and the joys of marriage. The youngest daughter of an English lord at war, she is shaken by the arrival of a mysterious stranger to her father's castle. Could this breathtaking man be Emily's yearned-for lover? Indeed, Draven de Montague, earl of Ravenswood, has come for Emily...but romance has nothing to do with it.
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I enjoyed the story
- By Cielle on 02-14-21
By: Kinley MacGregor
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Dreamers
- Legacies of the Ancient River, Book 1
- By: Angela Hunt
- Narrated by: Stina Nielsen
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In the land of Pharaoh, Tuya has always been a slave. As a little girl, she was sold as a playmate to a wealthy child who became her best friend. But as she approaches womanhood, beautiful Tuya is betrayed and cast out. Now she belongs to Potiphar, captain of Pharaoh's guard. Yet her heart is owned by handsome Joseph, sold into slavery by his own brothers. Proud, arrogant Joseph dreams of freedom, of his own household, of Tuya as his queen.
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I was so immersed in the story I couldn’t sleep until done.
- By Micah70 on 05-17-23
By: Angela Hunt
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Almost Innocent
- By: Jane Feather
- Narrated by: Rosalind Ashford
- Length: 16 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Growing up behind the impenetrable walls of an English fortress, young Magdalen does not know that she is the illegitimate daughter of a powerful English prince and his murdered French mistress - or that she has been a pawn in the struggle between England and France ever since she slipped from her dying mother's womb. All she knows is that she longs for excitement. And then one day, as if in answer to her prayers, the splendid figure of Guy de Gervais, a true knight in shining armor, rides into her cloistered world and spirits her away.
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Beautiful medieval romance, loved it
- By RomReader on 08-06-19
By: Jane Feather
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Definitely not a mystery
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