Queen Anne
The Politics of Passion
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Narrated by:
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Hannah Curtis
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By:
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Anne Somerset
About this listen
She ascended the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland in 1702 at age 37, Britain's last Stuart monarch. Five years later she united two of her realms, England and Scotland, as a sovereign state, creating the Kingdom of Great Britain. She had a history of personal misfortune, overcoming ill health (she suffered from crippling arthritis; by the time she became queen she was a virtual invalid) and living through 17 miscarriages, stillbirths, and premature births in 17 years. By the end of her comparatively short 12-year reign, Britain had emerged as a great power; the succession of outstanding victories won by her general, John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough, had humbled France and laid the foundations for Britain's future naval and colonial supremacy.
While the queen's military was performing dazzling exploits on the continent, her own attention - indeed her realm - rested on a more intimate conflict: the female friendship on which her happiness had for decades depended and which became, for her, a source of utter torment.
At the core of Anne Somerset's riveting new biography, published to great acclaim in England, is a portrait of this deeply emotional, complex bond between two very different women: Queen Anne - reserved, stolid, shrewd; and Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, wife of the queen's great general - beautiful, willful, outspoken, and whose acerbic wit was equally matched by her fearsome temper.
Against a fraught background, the much-admired historian, author of Elizabeth I , tells the extraordinary story of how Sarah goaded and provoked the queen beyond endurance.
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Catherine de Medici
- Renaissance Queen of France
- By: Leonie Frieda
- Narrated by: Sarah Le Fevre
- Length: 21 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Poisoner, despot, necromancer - the dark legend of Catherine de Medici is centuries old. In this critically hailed biography, Leonie Frieda reclaims the story of this unjustly maligned queen to reveal a skilled ruler battling extraordinary political and personal odds - from a troubled childhood in Florence to her marriage to Henry, son of King Francis I of France; from her transformation of French culture to her fight to protect her throne and her sons' birthright. Based on thousands of private letters, it is a remarkable account of one of the most influential women to wear a crown.
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Narrator didn't get one name right
- By Georgina García- Menocal on 09-15-19
By: Leonie Frieda
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The Rival Queens
- Catherine de' Medici, Her Daughter Marguerite de Valois, and the Betrayal That Ignited a Kingdom
- By: Nancy Goldstone
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 16 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Catherine de' Medici was a ruthless pragmatist and powerbroker who dominated the throne for 30 years. Her youngest daughter, Marguerite, the glamorous "Queen Margot," was a passionate free spirit, the only adversary whom her mother could neither intimidate nor control.
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Definitely not a dull bio!
- By Nella on 07-04-15
By: Nancy Goldstone
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Marie Antoinette
- The Journey
- By: Antonia Fraser
- Narrated by: Donada Peters
- Length: 20 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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France's iconic queen, Marie Antoinette, wrongly accused of uttering the infamous "Let them eat cake", was alternately revered and reviled during her lifetime. For centuries since, she has been the object of debate, speculation, and the fascination so often accorded illustrious figures in history. Married in mere girlhood, this essentially lighthearted child was thrust onto the royal stage and commanded by circumstance to play a significant role in European history.
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Annoying Narration
- By LaFemmeRouge on 10-28-06
By: Antonia Fraser
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Mary Queen of Scots
- By: Antonia Fraser
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 25 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Her royal birth gave her claim to the thrones of two nations; her marriage to the young French dauphin promised to place a third glorious crown on her noble head. Instead, Mary Stuart became the victim of her own impulsive heart, scandalizing her world with a foolish passion that would lead to abduction, rape, and even murder. Here is her story, a queen who lost a throne for love, a monarch pampered and adored even as she was led to her beheading, the unforgettable woman who became a legend for all time.
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Shockingly disingenuous.
- By rainjade on 08-14-18
By: Antonia Fraser
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The Six Wives of Henry VIII
- By: Alison Weir
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 22 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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This acclaimed best seller from popular historian Alison Weir is a fascinating look at the Tudor family dynasty and its most infamous ruler. The Six Wives of Henry VIII brings to life England’s oft-married monarch and the six wildly different but equally fascinating women who married him. Gripping from the first sentence to the last and loaded with fascinating details, Weir’s rich history is a perfect blend of scholarship and entertainment.
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Overview AND Sordid Details
- By Troy on 10-29-13
By: Alison Weir
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Victoria
- A Life
- By: A. N. Wilson
- Narrated by: Clive Chafer
- Length: 21 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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The longest reigning British monarch and female sovereign in history, Queen Victoria was a figure of profound paradox who has mystified historians for over a century. Now in this magisterial biography, A.N. Wilson rebukes the conventional wisdom about her life - that she was merely a "funny little woman in a bonnet" who did next to nothing - to show she was in fact intensely involved in state affairs despite a public façade of inaction.
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This book has old and new info
- By Dr. A. on 10-29-14
By: A. N. Wilson
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The Turbulent Crown
- The Story of the Tudor Queens
- By: Roland Hui
- Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
- Length: 22 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Ten remarkable women. One remarkable era. In the Tudor period, 1485 to 1603, a host of fascinating women sat on the English throne. The dramatic events of their lives are told in The Turbulent Crown: The Story of the Tudor Queens.
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a very good listen
- By Evil Guppy on 09-21-19
By: Roland Hui
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Elizabeth and Mary
- Cousins, Rivals, Queens
- By: Jane Dunn
- Narrated by: Donada Peters
- Length: 19 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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In a rich and riveting narrative, Jane Dunn reveals the extraordinary rivalry between the regal cousins. It is the story of two queens ruling on one island, each with a claim to the throne of England, each embodying dramatically opposing qualities of character, ideals of womanliness (and views of sexuality), and divinely ordained kingship.
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Fantastic book
- By Catharina on 05-09-04
By: Jane Dunn
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A Great Improvisation
- Franklin, France, and the Birth of America
- By: Stacy Schiff
- Narrated by: Susan Denaker
- Length: 21 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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"In December of 1776 a small boat delivered an old man to France." So begins an enthralling account of how Benjamin Franklin - 70 years old, without any diplomatic training, and possessed of the most rudimentary French - convinced France, an absolute monarchy, to underwrite America's experiment in democracy. When Franklin stepped onto French soil, he understood he was embarking on the greatest gamble of his career. By virtue of fame, charisma, and ingenuity, Franklin outmaneuvered British spies, French informers, and hostile colleagues....
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Exquisite book
- By Jose Antonio Gonzalez on 11-01-18
By: Stacy Schiff
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George, Nicholas and Wilhelm
- Three Royal Cousins and the Road to World War I
- By: Miranda Carter
- Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor
- Length: 21 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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In the years before the First World War, the great European powers were ruled by three first cousins: King George V of Britain, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Together, they presided over the last years of dynastic Europe and the outbreak of the most destructive war the world had ever seen, a war that set twentieth-century Europe on course to be the most violent continent in the history of the world.
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interesting and entertaining work of history
- By D. Littman on 01-16-11
By: Miranda Carter
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Crown of Blood
- The Deadly Inheritance of Lady Jane Grey
- By: Nicola Tallis
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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"Good people, I am come hither to die, and by a law I am condemned to the same." These were the heartbreaking words of a 17-year-old girl, Lady Jane Grey, as she stood on the scaffold awaiting death on a cold February morning in 1554. Minutes later, her head was struck from her body with a single stroke of a heavy ax. Her death for high treason sent shock waves through the Tudor world and served as a gruesome reminder to all who aspired to a crown that the ax could fall at any time.
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Brilliantly Compelling
- By J.Brock on 11-26-19
By: Nicola Tallis
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What listeners say about Queen Anne
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Kimberly the Librarian
- 10-16-19
Way too long.
Felt way too long, but the author was incredibly thorough. I certainly learned everything about Anne I need to know.
20% of the book was:
Sarah was mad. Sarah was enraged. Sarah was jealous.
Sarah was, in truth, vindictive & cruel.
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- Carol
- 01-20-17
Interesting Content hampered by bad narration
This is a good biography of Queen Anne. But Hannah Curtis is not good.
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11 people found this helpful
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- Lesley
- 04-01-17
Spoilt by a poorly edited, inadequate narration
The information was well researched and interestingly laid down. The narrator, however, realllly reallllllly let it down. She needs to work on breath control because at times, she established a pattern of 3 words (delivered with a downward inflection implying a full stop) 4 words (full stop) thus leaving sentences hanging.
I realise that a person who mispronounces words is a victim of a language-poor environment. They only know of words by reading, not by hearing. I don't wish to demean such readers, but this particular narrator must have been living under a rock not to know how to pronounce such common words as papal (pronounced by Anne Somerset as (p)apple) or papist (pronounced by Ms Somerset as pap ist ) or Ovid as (oh)vid. There were too many of these to list here... so SHAME on the EDITOR who gave himself a mention at the end.
Part of the storyteller's art is NOT to jolt the reader out of the spell of the world they are creating. Poor breathing causing strangely delivered sentences and mispronunciations do just that. I kept being reminded that I was listening. Mind you. I had quite. A few laughs. But I don't think. This was. The intention of. The Writer.
If the information wasn't so well written I would have returned this book. Persevere if you can. There are stretches where the narrator does relax and read in an adequate manner.
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17 people found this helpful
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- Candace Saint
- 07-06-17
A bit dry
Too focused on political machinations of her close advisors in last chapters. Performance was excellent. Extremely well researched .
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- Kindle Customer
- 05-21-22
Fascinating and worth the investment
What is most striking is to hear all the excerpts from letters and speeches of the time, and to realize that flame wars on social media are nothing new. Human nature is constant: there is nothing new under the sun. I am very glad I listened to this book. I learned a great deal about a time period I knew little of, and the account was very well crafted. I did have to rewind and repeat from time to time, to get straight the names and dates, but I now have a more solid grasp of the political and religious concerns of the late 17th & early 18th Centuries in England/Great Britain, of the War of Spanish Succession (a.k.a. Queen Anne's War), and of human nature generally.
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- Mike B
- 01-28-20
terrific history and without revisionist bias
i was concerned taking this title having consumed churchill's marlborough volumes as well as the recent 'the favourite' movie both of which center on queen anne. the concern was that the author and/or reader would impart 2010 societal fashions onto early 1700s life. it does not. the author simply presents the documented history using the correspondence of the principals to tell a fascinating history without inserting a lot of 'analysis.' rare these days and appreciated.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Cyndi
- 11-15-17
Factual to a fault
Interesting and informative. A bit long winded in parts. Narrator slow and clear with good expression.
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- Ashley M
- 06-20-19
Wonderful history on Queen Anne
Rather long but a great history on Queen Anne. gives a really good view on Anne and those around her throughout her life.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 04-10-19
Informative in a cumbersome way
Too long. Too many repetitive details. Chronologically confusing. Being read out loud with clear but monotonous inattentive voice.
I appreciate the writer's effort for her extensive research. But too much information became redundant and tiring to hear. It may attract wider audience if this book has been heavily trimmed or rewritten with precision.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Brian
- 11-12-21
Exhausting, but well done!
I like reading about an underated person/historical figure who never got their due. Queen Anne would probably never be your best buddy on a Saturday night, but she was a person of real consequence. Her best friend turned out to be a nightmare. The narrator has a beautiful voice if your into the British enunciation for each vowel and consonant. Well done novel!!!!!
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