
The Guardian of Secrets
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $34.96
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
John Sackville
-
By:
-
Jana Petken
About this listen
Three generations struggle in this suspenseful and compelling saga, which begins in 1912, Kent, England, and ends during the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War.
After fleeing from an abusive husband accused of murder, Celia Merrill becomes embroiled in a Spanish Civil War. Celia’s two sons march under opposing banners, whilst her twin daughters take different paths; one to the Catholic Church and the other to the battlefields. And in the shadow of war, a sinister villain from the past resurfaces.
©2014 Jana Petken (P)2022 Cherry Hill PublishingListeners also enjoyed...
-
From the Ashes of Amiens
- By: Jana Petken
- Narrated by: Tracy Thibodeau
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
January 1944—a senior member of the French Resistance betrays his comrades to the Abwehr and Gestapo, but who? Within hours, the Germans arrest hundreds of suspected resistance fighters and incarcerate them in the infamous Amiens prison. When a Resistance spy inside the prison informs his leaders, Dominique Ponchardier and Boniface Monier, of German plans to conduct mass executions within weeks, they are helpless to respond. In a last-ditch effort to free their Résistants awaiting death or deportation to labor camps, they turn to the British for help.
-
-
What a wonderful story . . . .
- By Becky Ballinger on 10-16-22
By: Jana Petken
-
Swearing Allegiance
- By: Jana Petken
- Narrated by: Alistair Davis
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An Irish Easter uprising lays waste to Dublin and fractures a British Empire struggling to supply men and arms to defeat Germany. In Dublin’s ruins, the affluent Carmody family is not only forced to confront the rebellion’s devastating effects on its personal lives, but also the terrible secrets and lies uncovered in the midst of grief. Jenny, self-entitled and strong-willed, sees her wedding plans and grand ambitions disintegrate. She faces a dismal life in one of London’s munitions factories - until a cataclysmic event changes her life and perception of love forever.
By: Jana Petken
-
The German Half-Bloods
- The Half-Bloods Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Jana Petken
- Narrated by: Alistair Davis
- Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dieter Vogel, a German industrialist, believes in protecting his family at all costs, but in a bid to keep his English wife and children safe, he is plunged into a well of deceit that tears the family apart. Doctor Paul Vogel is coerced into working in the Nazi eugenics program and soon discovers that sterilizing handicapped and mentally-ill Germans is just a prelude to a more lethal plan against those the Reich deem unworthy of life. Paul, trapped by the SS, seeks help from the unlikeliest of people and is plunged into a world of espionage and murder.
-
-
Couldn't finish.
- By mlfarr on 09-27-19
By: Jana Petken
-
Agent in Berlin
- The Wolf Pack Spies 1
- By: Alex Gerlis
- Narrated by: Duncan Galloway
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To live among wolves, first you must become one… An unmissable new spy thriller from best-selling master of the genre, Alex Gerlis. War is coming to Europe. British spymaster Barnaby Allen begins recruiting a network of agents in Germany. With diplomatic relations quickly unravelling, this pack of spies soon comes into their own: the horse-loving German at home in Berlin's underground; the young American sports journalist; the mysterious Luftwaffe officer; the Japanese diplomat and the most unlikely one of all... the SS officer's wife.
-
-
I Love WWII Spy Novels…But
- By Gary L. Richardson on 03-29-22
By: Alex Gerlis
-
The Lion's Den
- The Lion's Den Series, Book 1
- By: Eoin Dempsey
- Narrated by: Joff Manning
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A broken family. A new opportunity in a country on the precipice of unspeakable evil. November 1932. Seamus Ritter, a widower with four children, returns from riding the rails in an America crippled by the great depression. Realizing that his homecoming will not be how he envisioned it, and in a desperate attempt to make amends with his 16-year-old daughter, Maureen, Seamus accepts an invitation to come and work for his long-lost uncle in Berlin. With little other choice, Seamus takes the ship to Germany with his family.
-
-
Care
- By Thomas B. Martin on 11-28-22
By: Eoin Dempsey
-
The Scarlet Papers
- By: Matthew Richardson
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh, Lucy Scott
- Length: 14 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Only she knows the truth. Only he can tell the world. Vienna, 1946. A brilliant German scientist spirited out of the ruins Nazi Europe in search of a new life. Moscow, 1964. A rising star of the British diplomatic service whose job is not what it seems. London, the present day. A once promising academic offered an opportunity to seal his place in history. Their stories, their lives, and the fate of the world, are bound by a single document: The Scarlet Papers. The devastating secrets contained within teased by a brief invitation: Tomorrow 11AM. Take a cab and pay in cash. Tell no one.
-
-
Interesting story but WAY TOO LONG
- By imbucki on 01-24-25
-
From the Ashes of Amiens
- By: Jana Petken
- Narrated by: Tracy Thibodeau
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
January 1944—a senior member of the French Resistance betrays his comrades to the Abwehr and Gestapo, but who? Within hours, the Germans arrest hundreds of suspected resistance fighters and incarcerate them in the infamous Amiens prison. When a Resistance spy inside the prison informs his leaders, Dominique Ponchardier and Boniface Monier, of German plans to conduct mass executions within weeks, they are helpless to respond. In a last-ditch effort to free their Résistants awaiting death or deportation to labor camps, they turn to the British for help.
-
-
What a wonderful story . . . .
- By Becky Ballinger on 10-16-22
By: Jana Petken
-
Swearing Allegiance
- By: Jana Petken
- Narrated by: Alistair Davis
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An Irish Easter uprising lays waste to Dublin and fractures a British Empire struggling to supply men and arms to defeat Germany. In Dublin’s ruins, the affluent Carmody family is not only forced to confront the rebellion’s devastating effects on its personal lives, but also the terrible secrets and lies uncovered in the midst of grief. Jenny, self-entitled and strong-willed, sees her wedding plans and grand ambitions disintegrate. She faces a dismal life in one of London’s munitions factories - until a cataclysmic event changes her life and perception of love forever.
By: Jana Petken
-
The German Half-Bloods
- The Half-Bloods Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Jana Petken
- Narrated by: Alistair Davis
- Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dieter Vogel, a German industrialist, believes in protecting his family at all costs, but in a bid to keep his English wife and children safe, he is plunged into a well of deceit that tears the family apart. Doctor Paul Vogel is coerced into working in the Nazi eugenics program and soon discovers that sterilizing handicapped and mentally-ill Germans is just a prelude to a more lethal plan against those the Reich deem unworthy of life. Paul, trapped by the SS, seeks help from the unlikeliest of people and is plunged into a world of espionage and murder.
-
-
Couldn't finish.
- By mlfarr on 09-27-19
By: Jana Petken
-
Agent in Berlin
- The Wolf Pack Spies 1
- By: Alex Gerlis
- Narrated by: Duncan Galloway
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To live among wolves, first you must become one… An unmissable new spy thriller from best-selling master of the genre, Alex Gerlis. War is coming to Europe. British spymaster Barnaby Allen begins recruiting a network of agents in Germany. With diplomatic relations quickly unravelling, this pack of spies soon comes into their own: the horse-loving German at home in Berlin's underground; the young American sports journalist; the mysterious Luftwaffe officer; the Japanese diplomat and the most unlikely one of all... the SS officer's wife.
-
-
I Love WWII Spy Novels…But
- By Gary L. Richardson on 03-29-22
By: Alex Gerlis
-
The Lion's Den
- The Lion's Den Series, Book 1
- By: Eoin Dempsey
- Narrated by: Joff Manning
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A broken family. A new opportunity in a country on the precipice of unspeakable evil. November 1932. Seamus Ritter, a widower with four children, returns from riding the rails in an America crippled by the great depression. Realizing that his homecoming will not be how he envisioned it, and in a desperate attempt to make amends with his 16-year-old daughter, Maureen, Seamus accepts an invitation to come and work for his long-lost uncle in Berlin. With little other choice, Seamus takes the ship to Germany with his family.
-
-
Care
- By Thomas B. Martin on 11-28-22
By: Eoin Dempsey
-
The Scarlet Papers
- By: Matthew Richardson
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh, Lucy Scott
- Length: 14 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Only she knows the truth. Only he can tell the world. Vienna, 1946. A brilliant German scientist spirited out of the ruins Nazi Europe in search of a new life. Moscow, 1964. A rising star of the British diplomatic service whose job is not what it seems. London, the present day. A once promising academic offered an opportunity to seal his place in history. Their stories, their lives, and the fate of the world, are bound by a single document: The Scarlet Papers. The devastating secrets contained within teased by a brief invitation: Tomorrow 11AM. Take a cab and pay in cash. Tell no one.
-
-
Interesting story but WAY TOO LONG
- By imbucki on 01-24-25
-
Vienna at Nightfall
- Alex Kovacs Thriller Series, Book 1
- By: Richard Wake
- Narrated by: Neill Thorne
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alex Kovacs can see what’s coming – he can, all of his friends can, all of Vienna can. When an opportunity presents itself, a chance to thwart the Nazi invasion of Austria, he agrees to join an espionage network that will take advantage of his regular business trips to Germany to gather secret information. But a personal tragedy soon complicates Alex’s mission and entangles him with a suspicious Gestapo captain in ways that he never anticipated.
-
-
excellent
- By Fred on 02-25-23
By: Richard Wake
-
From Sand and Ash
- By: Amy Harmon
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As children, Eva Rosselli and Angelo Bianco were raised like family but divided by circumstance and religion. As the years go by, the two find themselves falling in love. But the church calls to Angelo and, despite his deep feelings for Eva, he chooses the priesthood. Now, more than a decade later, Angelo is a Catholic priest and Eva is a woman with nowhere to turn. With the Gestapo closing in, Angelo hides Eva within the walls of a convent.
-
-
Such beauty in the darkest of times <3
- By featherlashes on 12-04-16
By: Amy Harmon
-
The Insider
- By: Matthew Richardson
- Narrated by: Sean Barrett
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Russian defector is found brutally murdered in a London hotel. Only four people knew he had turned - the four most important and powerful figures in Whitehall. There's only one conclusion - a mole has infiltrated the highest levels of the nation's security. Operating in secret from within Westminster's darkest corners, former spy Solomon Vine must uncover the traitor. Because Britain's future hangs in the balance. And with it the fate of the whole world.
-
-
A TRUELY EXCEPTIONAL YOUNG AUTHOR
- By Brian D. Baird on 12-02-21
-
The Courier
- Shadows of War, Book 1
- By: CW Browning
- Narrated by: Jan Cramer
- Length: 3 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
France, 1938. While Hitler rebuilds Germany and French and English leaders focus on appeasement, one man risks everything to smuggle information out of Munich - and into the hands of a young woman. Evelyn Ainsworth is enjoying a carefree summer with her relatives in the high society of Paris. When her father stops to visit on his way from London to Prague, she never dreams that one favor for him will change her life forever. For beneath the glittering gaiety on the continent, a menacing shadow is growing.
-
-
Intrigue that makes me want more!
- By Jackie Houchin on 02-25-25
By: CW Browning
-
Firebird
- The Spy Thriller of the 1960s
- By: Noel Hynd
- Narrated by: George Kuch
- Length: 16 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1968, one of the most tumultuous years of the 20th century. Frank Cooper, a former star investigative reporter now writes obituaries for a popular New York City tabloid. He hears the confession of a dying man named Leonard Rudawski, a former American diplomat, who bitterly questions the fate of Pavel Lukashenko, a would-be Soviet defector in Paris in 1965. Lukashenko promised to expose the espionage secret of a generation if he could get to the West. But the defector, code named “Firebird,” vanished.
By: Noel Hynd
-
The Secret Wife
- By: Gill Paul
- Narrated by: Laura Kirman, Thomas Judd
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The stories of two very different women, linked by the secrets and lies of history, merge together as past and present weave together in this stunning story of love, loss and resilience. 2016. Kitty, fleeing from a devastating revelation in her own life, finds herself at her great-grandfather's cabin in Lake Akanabee. There she discovers a gorgeous necklace, which leads her uncover to long-buried family secret. 1914. Tatiana, Grand Princess of Russia, falls in love with Dmitri, a Russian solider, as she nurses him back to health.
-
-
An unexpected jewel with refreshing perspectives
- By Amazon Customer on 12-17-16
By: Gill Paul
-
Broken Angels
- By: Gemma Liviero
- Narrated by: Nico Evers-Swindell, Emily Foster
- Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imprisoned in the Lodz Ghetto, Elsi discovers her mother's desperate attempt to end her pregnancy and comes face-to-face with the impossibility of their situation. Risking her own life, Elsi joins a resistance group to sabotage the regime. Blonde, blue-eyed Matilda is wrenched from her family in Romania and taken to Germany, where her captors attempt to mold her into the perfect Aryan child. Spirited and brave, she must inspire hope in the other stolen children to make her dreams of escape a reality.
-
-
Best Book I've Read in a Long Time
- By Aubrey on 09-07-16
By: Gemma Liviero
-
Three Daughters
- A Novel
- By: Consuelo Saah Baehr
- Narrated by: Karen Peakes
- Length: 23 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born in rural Palestine, just before the dawn of the 20th century, Miriam adores her father and is certain his love will protect her, but she soon finds that tradition overrides love. Uprooted by war, Miriam enters a world where the old constraints slip away with thrilling and disastrous results. Miriam's rebellious daughter, Nadia, is thrilled with the opportunity for a modern life that her elite education provides. But when she falls in love with an outsider, the clan reins her back with a shocking finality.
-
-
Thrilling
- By valerie on 12-18-14
-
After Dunkirk
- After Dunkirk Series, Book 1
- By: Lee Jackson
- Narrated by: Steve Rausch
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Winston Churchill called it Britain’s finest hour. The Royal Navy evacuated 330,000 soldiers from Dunkirk. But more than 200,000 were left behind. On the beaches, Jeremy Littlefield hides for his life. His path home will draw him through the iron will and the unbreakable heart of the French Resistance. Only a few miles away, his brother, Lance, rallies fellow soldiers to start a trek that will take them across Europe, sabotaging the Germans in a mission tantamount to suicide.
-
-
Don’t waste your money
- By Clare Mahoney on 05-13-22
By: Lee Jackson
-
The Longest Echo
- A Novel
- By: Eoin Dempsey
- Narrated by: Carlotta Brentan, Will Damron
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Occupied Italy, 1944. In the mountain regions south of Bologna, Liliana Nicoletti’s family finds escaped POW James Foley behind German lines. Committed to the anti-Fascist cause, they deliver him to a powerful band of local partisans. But when the SS launches a brutal attack against the Resistance, Liliana’s community is destroyed. Forging an unbreakable bond, James and Liliana's only hope of survival is to make it to the Allied lines. Twelve years later, fate reunites Liliana, newly widowed, and James, now a journalist for a New York magazine.
-
-
Brilliant
- By Katherine on 02-20-21
By: Eoin Dempsey
-
Prince of Spies
- The Richard Prince Thrillers, Book 1
- By: Alex Gerlis
- Narrated by: Rupert Bush
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1942: a German spy comes ashore on a desolate stretch of Lincolnshire beach. But he is hunted down by a young detective, Richard Prince. The secret services have need of a man like him.... In occupied Europe, Denmark is a hotbed of problems for British intelligence. Rumours of a war-ending weapon being developed by the Germans are rife. Sent to Copenhagen, Prince is soon caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Dodging Gestapo agents, SS muscle and the danger of betrayal, his survival - and the war effort - hangs in the balance.
-
-
Ending?
- By T Smith on 02-24-21
By: Alex Gerlis
-
The Road Beyond Ruin
- By: Gemma Liviero
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld, Angelo Di Loreto
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
August 1945. As Stefano, an Italian POW, heads toward home across war-ravaged Germany, he encounters a young child beside his dead mother. Unable to leave him to an unknown fate, Stefano takes the boy with him, finding refuge in a seemingly abandoned house in a secluded woodland. But the house is far from vacant. Stefano wakes at the arrival of its owner, Erich, a former German soldier, who invites the travelers to stay until they can find safe passage home. Stefano cautiously agrees, intrigued by the disarming German, his reclusive neighbor Rosalind, and her traumatized husband.
-
-
A German, an Italian and a Russian. . .
- By Liz on 01-11-19
By: Gemma Liviero
Critic reviews
“Suspenseful, Compelling Historical Fiction. The writing is often captivating, with a consistently engaging tone throughout, although the violent scenes are somewhat graphic and disturbing. Celia's growth as a character truly sets this novel apart as more than a simple drama: It's also a commentary on how strong a woman can become when facing adversity.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Petken masterfully moves the gripping action along by creating credible characters and suspenseful plot twists. Writing in a straightforward manner and infusing scenes with details that inform but don't overwhelm, she portrays each of the characters' efforts to survive while coming to terms both with the horrors of wartime and personal bouts with excessive pride and passion. Despite its length, the captivating story succeeds brilliantly and becomes an unforgettable page-turner. This is a must-read for historical fiction fans.”—BlueInk Review
"The rich, vivid descriptions of each scene and surroundings, from England to Spain, are excellently portrayed and easy to visualize. All in all, The Guardians of Secrets is a thrilling and engaging read. It will definitely please historical fiction fans."—Readers Favorite