The Devil's Queen
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Narrated by:
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Kate Reading
About this listen
Catherine de Medici is one of the most maligned monarchs in history: blamed for the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in which hundreds of innocents died. What motivated this Renaissance woman who was born of Florence's most powerful family, and one day came to rule France?
In her latest historical fiction best seller, Jeanne Kalogridis tells the story of Catherine, a tender young girl, destined to be a pawn in Machiavellian games. Left a fabulously rich heiress, imprisoned and threatened by her family's enemies, she was finally married off to a handsome prince of France. Overshadowed by her husband's mistress, the conniving Diane de Poitiers, and now consort to a King, Catherine resorted to sorcery to win his love, enhance her fertility and foil her enemies. Against the lavish and decadent backdrop of the French court, and Catherine's visions induced by the black arts, Kalogoris reveals the great love and desire Catherine bore for her husband Henry, and her stark determination to keep her sons on the throne.
©2009 Jeanne Kalogridis (P)2009 Macmillan AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Escaping an arranged marriage, 17-year-old Ismae finds sanctuary in the St. Mortain convent, where the sisters worship the gods of old. There, Ismae learns that the God of Death has special plans for her—a destiny that will one day compel her to betray the man she loves.
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Slow Start but Finished Strong
- By The Mankers on 10-12-12
By: Robin LaFevers
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Reign of Madness
- By: Lynn Cullen
- Narrated by: Susan Lyons
- Length: 13 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Juana of Castile, third child of the Spanish monarchs Isabel and Fernando, grows up with no hope of inheriting her parents' crowns, but as a princess knows her duty: to further her family's ambitions through marriage. Yet stories of courtly love, and of her parents' own legendary romance, surround her. When she weds the Duke of Burgundy, a young man so beautiful that he is known as Philippe the Handsome, she dares to hope that she might have both love and crowns.
By: Lynn Cullen
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Almost Innocent
- By: Jane Feather
- Narrated by: Rosalind Ashford
- Length: 16 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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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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The Queen's Bastard
- A Novel of Elizabeth I and Arthur Dudley
- By: Robin Maxwell
- Narrated by: Angele Masters
- Length: 17 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Historians have long whispered that Elizabeth "the Virgin Queen's" passionate, lifelong affair with Robin Dudley, Earl of Leicester, may have led to the birth of a son, Arthur Dudley. In this exquisite sequel to The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn, Robin Maxwell fashions a stunning fictional account of the child switched at birth by a lady-in-waiting who foresaw the deleterious political consequences of a royal bastard.
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Story? what Story?
- By A User on 06-08-13
By: Robin Maxwell
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Mademoiselle Boleyn
- By: Robin Maxwell
- Narrated by: Suzan Crowley
- Length: 13 hrs and 2 mins
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When her father is assigned the task of spying on the French Court, the charming and sweetly innocent Anne Boleyn is delighted by the thought of a new adventure. And she is not to be disappointed, for her beautiful sister, Mary, has been handed a mission: to let herself be seduced by the King of France in order to uncover his secrets. Mesmerized by the thrilling passion, intrigue, and betrayal that unfolds, Anne discovers the power of being a woman who catches the eye of a powerful king.
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Intriguing
- By Anonymous User on 11-10-18
By: Robin Maxwell
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Green Darkness
- By: Anya Seton
- Narrated by: Heather Wilds
- Length: 23 hrs and 24 mins
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The marriage of the Englishman Richard Marsdon and his young American wife, Celia, slowly turns tragic as Richard withdraws into himself and Celia suffers a debilitating emotional breakdown. A wise mystic realizes that Celia can escape her past only by reliving it. She journeys back four hundred years to her former life as the servant girl Celia de Bohun during the reign of Edward VI - and to her doomed love affair with the chaplain Stephen Marsdon.
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A different narrator would have made all the difference.
- By J on 06-04-15
By: Anya Seton
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Knight of Desire: All The King's Men Series, Book 1
- By: Margaret Mallory
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
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His surcoat still bloody from battle, William FitzAlan comes to claim the strategic borderlands granted to him by the king. One last prize awaits him at the castle gates: the lovely Lady Catherine Rayburn. Catherine risked everything to spy for the crown. Her reward? Her lands are declared forfeit and she is given this choice: marry FitzAlan or be taken to the Tower. Catherine agrees to give her handsome new husband her body, but she's keeping secrets, and dare not give him her heart.
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Stong Heroine.
- By 🌸DARA on 12-07-13
By: Margaret Mallory
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A Triple Knot
- By: Emma Campion
- Narrated by: Heather Wilds
- Length: 14 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Joan of Kent, renowned beauty and cousin to King Edward III, is destined for a politically strategic marriage. As the king begins a long dynastic struggle to claim the crown of France, plunging England into the Hundred Years' War, he negotiates her betrothal to a potential ally and heir of a powerful lordship. But Joan, haunted by nightmares of her father's execution at the hands of her treacherous royal kin, fears the king's selection and is not resigned to her fate. She secretly pledges herself to one of the king's own knights, one who has become a trusted friend...
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GOOD HISTORICAL FICTION - FOR A CHANGE
- By The Louligan on 10-05-14
By: Emma Campion
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Deryni Rising
- Chronicles of the Deryni, Book 1
- By: Katherine Kurtz
- Narrated by: Jeff Woodman
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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In the kingdom of Gwynedd, the mysterious forces of magic and the superior power of the Church combine to challenge the rule of young Kelson. Now the fate of the Deryni -- a quasi-mortal race of sorcerers -- and, indeed, the fate of all the Eleven Kingdoms, rests on Kelson's ability to quash the rebellion by any means necessary...including the prescribed use of magic!
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WONDERFUL! Thank you Audible!
- By D Spaulding on 06-16-09
By: Katherine Kurtz
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Katherine
- A Novel
- By: Anya Seton
- Narrated by: Lorna Bennett
- Length: 29 hrs and 50 mins
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Set in the vibrant fourteenth century of Chaucer and the Black Death, the story features knights fighting in battle, serfs struggling in poverty, and the magnificent Plantagenets—Edward III, the Black Prince, and Richard II—who rule despotically over a court rotten with intrigue. Within this era of danger and romance, John of Gaunt, the king’s son, falls passionately in love with the already-married Katherine. Their affair persists through decades of war, adultery, murder, loneliness, and redemption.
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my favorite novel brought to life
- By Heather on 10-04-23
By: Anya Seton
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Kushiel's Dart
- By: Jacqueline Carey
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 31 hrs and 5 mins
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The land of Terre d'Ange is a place of unsurpassing beauty and grace. It is said that angels found the land and saw it was good...and the ensuing race that rose from the seed of angels and men live by one simple rule: Love as thou wilt.
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The Kushiel series in order
- By Glen Gaines on 10-27-09
By: Jacqueline Carey
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Sixteenth-century Europe was a hostile world dominated by court politics and patriarchal structures–and yet against all odds, two women rose to power: Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici. Much has been written about these shrewd and strategic sovereigns, but though their l legacies have been heavily scrutinized, nothing has been said of their complicated relationship—thirty years of camaraderie, competition, and conflict that forever changed the face of Europe.
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Narrator didn't get one name right
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Trying to return.
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What listeners say about The Devil's Queen
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Dixie Diva
- 04-21-16
Slow start, great book. Love Jeanne!
I've been a Jeanne Kalogridis fan for years. This is just one more installation of her historic genius.
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- Darlene M. Formanek
- 08-22-12
Excellant!
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes, I did not sleep for days. could not stop listening.
What did you like best about this story?
A better understanding of Catherines place in history
Which scene was your favorite?
When she was being lifted up on the wall.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- Ramona K.
- 10-14-09
Catherine Medici
This book is enjoyable. It has made me want to read more abouth Queen Catherine and her family.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- Taylor
- 03-23-10
Engaging and Entertaining
I enjoyed this audiobook very much. The narrator was excellent, and really conveyed the tone and mood of the book well.
The story was extremely engaging and was one of those "hard to put down" books. I love that all of the French names were pronounced correctly as well. This grand overarching story of Catherine di Medici was an great read.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Frank Kelso
- 07-06-23
The Devils Queen
As a lover of history this turned out to be a fascinating story. Part accurate history part tantalizing myth. Loved it.
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- Allison B
- 01-26-10
Very interesting twist on this infamous queen
I enjoyed this take on Catherine M. History tends to make her out to be an evil, calculating, cold woman. This book gave a refreshing point of view on the struggles of women in the political scene of Renaissance Europe. Her involvement with astrology/occult and her keen intelligence of people, politics and herself, even at times very lurid and gritty, was very provocative.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Amazon Customer
- 08-07-10
I can't continue with this wretched book.
If the author of this book has intended to portray the most insufferable and tiresome child in the whole history of English literature, then she has succeeded beyond her wildest dreams. If the author hoped that the narrator might have the sort of whining voice entirely suitable for such a repellent child, then her hopes are fulfilled. As for me, I cannot continue listening. Absolutely nothing about the pretensions of this unlovable child are of the slightest interest to anyone with an adult mind. If the endless monologues are intended to set the stage for a grown-up who was to become a pivotal figure in English history, then all I can say is that the Tudors were lucky to come to power because the fact that no one did away with this child before she produced a child is a miracle. Save your money. This is not a book worth reading or hearing.
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1 person found this helpful
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- C.
- 03-21-12
Great Reader but...
What disappointed you about The Devil's Queen?
Repetitive, repetitive, repetitive; then it begins to repeat itself. There was such a queen. She may have been a believer in Astrology.
For this reader's taste, far too many visions/dreams, too many times the same thing happens -
Has The Devil's Queen turned you off from other books in this genre?
There's some great historic fiction out there. This isn't one of them.
Have you listened to any of Kate Reading’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
Ms. Reading is a superior reader and made a truly awful book almost bearable.
If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Devil's Queen?
Far too often the Queen (dare I call her Catherine?) has visions. Yuck. She's written as a wily and brilliant negotiator - doing incredibly short-sighted things.
One foreshadowing of her husband's death was plenty. Ditto the rest.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Paige
- 09-18-12
Yawn
I love historical fiction and thought I would like to read about Catherine de Medici. I guess I picked the wrong book. I almost did not go beyond the first part of the download. I could not stand the character as a child and found her to be so simpering and annoying that I wondered why anyone would write about her, let alone want to read about her.
It picked up a bit in the middle section, and then lost me again in the end. Too much intrigue, too much astrology ( and I can't believe I would say that, but I was tired of it), and too much of poor decision making that led to disasterous consequences. It took me quite a bit longer to get through this story because I found my mind wandering and I kept having to repeat sections to get caught up. I'd rather read something that keeps my attention.
Again, it's personal preference but this story just did not hit the mark for me.
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- Splendifermoose
- 06-13-20
Unbalanced, ultimately unsatisfying historical fiction
If you’re interested in Catherine de Medici, actual biographies are far more interesting that this novel, which is an awkward mashup of gruesome supernatural invention and historical summaries seemingly borrowed entirely from history books. The fiction and the history fail to come together in an interesting or satisfying way, with the ending being an abrupt and boring cop out. Between a few graphic scenes of violence, long stretches of the novel seem to exist only out of obligation to history. The fictionalized version of Catherine fails to develop meaningfully as a character through the second half of the novel despite decades passing. The over the top supernatural elements ultimately do not impact the story as the events of French history in the novel could have easily happened without any magical intervention, and as a “secret history” there is simply not enough going on with the characters to make it interesting.
I gave this novel an honest try and listened to the whole thing despite misgivings that kept popping up, and found myself enjoying some individual scenes, but as the book wound down I was looking forward to a big reward for all the craziness that happened much earlier in the book that never materialized. My final feelings for the plot was just “that’s it?”
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