The Orphanmaster
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Narrated by:
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George Guidall
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By:
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Jean Zimmerman
About this listen
From a debut novelist, a gripping historical thriller and rousing love story set in 17th-century Manhattan.
It’s 1663 in the tiny, hardscrabble Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, now present-day southern Manhattan. Orphan children are going missing, and among those looking into the mysterious state of affairs are a quick-witted 22-year-old trader, Blandine von Couvering, herself an orphan, and a dashing British spy named Edward Drummond.
Suspects abound, including the governor’s wealthy nephew, a green-eyed aristocrat with decadent tastes; an Algonquin trapper who may be possessed by a demon that turns people into cannibals; and the colony’s own corrupt and conflicted orphanmaster. Both the search for the killer and Edward and Blandine’s newfound romance are endangered, however, when Blandine is accused of being a witch and Edward is sentenced to hang for espionage. Meanwhile, war looms as the English king plans to wrest control of the colony.
Jean Zimmerman brings New Amsterdam and its surrounding wilderness alive for modern-day readers with exacting period detail. Lively, fast paced, and full of colorful characters, The Orphanmaster is a dramatic page-turner that will appeal to fans of Hilary Mantel and Geraldine Brooks.
©2012 Jean Zimmerman (P)2012 PenguinListeners also enjoyed...
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The Industrial Revolution has begun, factories are springing up across the country, and new technologies are transforming the cities. But the old ways do not die easy. Cat and Bee are part of this revolution. Young women at college, learning of the science that will shape their future and ignorant of the magics that rule their families. But all of that will change when the Cold Mages come for Cat. New dangers lurk around every corner and hidden threats menace her every move. If blood can't be trusted, who can you trust?
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Absolutely Brilliant Fantasy!
- By bluestatereader on 08-14-13
By: Kate Elliott
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Shaman's Crossing, Book One of the Soldier Son Trilogy
- By: Robin Hobb
- Narrated by: John Keating
- Length: 24 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Hugo and Nebula Award finalist Robin Hobb crafts intricate fantasy tales featuring larger-than-life characters and exotic landscapes. Nevare Burvelle survives the King’s Cavalla Academy—where nepotism and corruption reign—to become a soldier in the Gernian king’s army. As he and his fellow soldiers are thrust onto the front lines of the king’s brutal territorial expansion campaign, they struggle against the Plainspeople—forest-dwellers who possess a powerful magic long dismissed by the Gernians.
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Sometimes Magic Isn't A Good Thing
- By Therese M. Woolley on 10-18-13
By: Robin Hobb
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Son of Avonar
- Bridge of D'Arnath, Book 1
- By: Carol Berg
- Narrated by: Angele Masters
- Length: 19 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Magic is forbidden throughout the Four Realms. For decades, sorcerers and those associating with them were hunted to near extinction.But Seri, a Leiran noblewoman living in exile, is no stranger to defying the unjust laws of her land. She is sheltering a wanted fugitive who possesses unusual abilities-a fugitive with the fate of the realms in his hands...
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Great Series!
- By Bob-o on 08-30-16
By: Carol Berg
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The Taker
- By: Alma Katsu
- Narrated by: Laurel Lefkow
- Length: 14 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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On the midnight shift at a hospital in rural Maine, Dr. Luke Findley is expecting another quiet evening of frostbite and the occasional domestic dispute. But the minute Lanore McIlvrae—Lanny—walks into his ER, she changes his life forever. A mysterious woman with a past and plenty of dark secrets, Lanny is unlike anyone Luke has ever met. He is inexplicably drawn to her...despite the fact that she is a murder suspect with a police escort.
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Too dark for my taste
- By Margaret on 05-04-14
By: Alma Katsu
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Shadowmarch
- Shadowmarch, Volume I
- By: Tad Williams
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 29 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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For generations the misty Shadowline has marked the boundary between the lands of men and the lost northern lands that are the lair of their inhuman enemies, the ageless Qar. But now that boundary line is moving outward, threatening to engulf the northernmost land in which humans still live - the kingdom of Southmarch.
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It's the characters that matter...
- By JC on 11-09-10
By: Tad Williams
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The Architect's Apprentice
- By: Elif Shafak
- Narrated by: Piter Marek
- Length: 16 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1540, 12-year-old Jahan arrives in Istanbul. As an animal tamer in the sultan's menagerie, he looks after the exceptionally smart elephant Chota and befriends (and falls for) the sultan's beautiful daughter Princess Mihrimah. A palace education leads Jahan to Mimar Sinan, the empire's chief architect, who takes Jahan under his wing as they construct (with Chota's help) some of the most magnificent buildings in history.
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I feel like I should like it more than I do
- By nyog on 04-19-17
By: Elif Shafak
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Lens of the World
- Lens of the World, Book 1
- By: R. A. MacAvoy
- Narrated by: Jeremy Arthur
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Lens of the World is the story of a prodigious life. It recounts the coming of age of Nazhuret, an outcast and orphan who rises from his lowly estate as a ward of the Sordaling military school to become a mighty warrior, philosopher, and confidant of the King of Vestinglon. As he grows, the young man receives outlandish knowledge and is prepared for an entirely exceptional destiny far beyond the narrow confines of his kingdom.
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Beautifully told coming of age story
- By KH on 12-13-12
By: R. A. MacAvoy
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The Winthrop Woman
- By: Anya Seton
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 27 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1631 Elizabeth Winthrop, newly widowed with an infant daughter, set sail for the New World. Against a background of rigidity and conformity she dared to befriend Anne Hutchinson at the moment of her banishment from the Massachusetts Bay Colony; dared to challenge a determined army captain bent on the massacre of her friends, the Siwanoy Indians; and, above all, dared to love a man as her heart and her whole being commanded.
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Historical Fiction that Aged Very Well
- By Lulu on 11-26-14
By: Anya Seton
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Amber Magic
- Haven Series, Book 1
- By: B. V. Larson
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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The humans have no magic and are hunted for sport, but that is about to change. War is coming.... The Sun Dragon spawned nine lesser dragons which devoured their parent for the power the elder possessed. These young dragons fought for choice bits of the Sun Dragon, but each only managed to eat a portion, thus giving them specific powers. Over time, these foul dragons were hunted down and slain by heroes of old.
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Not Undying Mercenaries Thats for sure
- By John on 10-21-15
By: B. V. Larson
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Instruments of Darkness
- A Novel
- By: Imogen Robertson
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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In the year 1780, Harriet Westerman, the willful mistress of a country manor in Sussex, finds a dead man on her grounds with a ring bearing the crest of Thornleigh Hall in his pocket. Not one to be bound by convention or to shy away from adventure, she recruits a reclusive local anatomist named Gabriel Crowther to help her find the murderer, and historical suspense's newest investigative duo is born.
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Not The Best, But Not Too Bad...
- By MJ on 01-13-13
By: Imogen Robertson
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A Vision of Light
- A Margaret of Ashbury Novel, Book 1
- By: Judith Merkle Riley
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Margaret of Ashbury wants to write her life story. However, like most women in 14th-century England, she is illiterate. Three clerics contemptuously decline to be Margaret’s scribe, and only the threat of starvation persuades Brother Gregory, a Carthusian friar with a mysterious past, to take on the task. As she narrates her life, we discover a woman of startling resourcefulness.
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Old fashioned heroine
- By Margaret on 06-22-13
What listeners say about The Orphanmaster
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- anne
- 07-06-16
OK, no Robert McCammon...
I kept thinking about giving up, but finished because I wanted to know the answer to one of the minor mysteries in the story.
I was expecting something similar to Robert McCammon 's Matthew Corbett series. This felt like a middling mustering with moments of horror.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Teresa
- 08-20-12
No need for a warm up! Hooked from the start.
This is a different type of book for me and I was delighted. I heard a brief excerpt on Book Radio and had to have this title. All of us in audio book land know that the reader can make or break a book. George Guidall is great! I would listen to this one again. Also have a new author on my "favorites" list.
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- Clever Nickname
- 07-02-12
Bizarre at times
In the young New Netherlands colony, orphans are disappearing. The evidence recovered suggests some may have even been partially eaten. The leading theory is a Native American beast who consumes children. Terrifying an entire community, but irrevocably changing the town’s Orphanmaster, a she-merchant and an English spy hunting fugitives.
For such a dark story, I was surprised at how well it was researched. In fact some of the chapters open with headlines. You get a good sense of the politics, social protocol and economic feel of the time period. You can’t help but come away with a better understanding of the origins of Manhattan.
Some warnings:
-The story is gruesome throughout
-The story’s romance is contrived. It feels sort of forced amongst the rest of the subject matter.
- There are also many narrators telling the story. They are all pretty roughly sketched (but eerily memorable). The collective tells the story of the colony and it’s time more than any one character. The timeline isn’t fluid either. At times this ensures the reader is lost, and that the author may even be employing the confusion.
So it’s not for everyone. But if you keep to it, the novel really picks up momentum towards the end of the story and even becomes focused.
The novel’s narrator George Guidall was perfect. He reads the entire novel as if he’s voicing over a movie trailer. I will definitely be on the lookout for more performances from him.
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11 people found this helpful
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- Connie
- 07-05-12
An intriguing blend!
What made the experience of listening to The Orphanmaster the most enjoyable?
George Guidall is the perfect narrator for The Orphanmaster! His deep voice, pace, obvious literacy with several languages, and just plain story-telling abilities, renders this a totally enjoyable audiobook.
What other book might you compare The Orphanmaster to and why?
The Orphanmaster is historical fiction, heavy on both history and fiction, residing in the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam (what would be come lower Mahnattan). I remember getting a slight feeling of Jack The Ripper, Sherlock Holmes, Dances With Wolves, and The Winter Sea, not in the story-lines, rather a tinge of understory.
Which character – as performed by George Guidall – was your favorite?
George Guidall, the narrator, nailed the characterization of the Orphanmaster!
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
I was particularly moved by the scene where the Orphanmaster... Well, that wouldn't be nice of me to divulge, lol!
Any additional comments?
The author has pulled together an amazing amount of historical information and coupled it with just the right amount of political intrigue, superstitious myth (or is it really?), romance, and even a sort of feminism of the time period. It's a read to be savored for it's informative content, sub-stories, and implications. I loved the character development and the way the characters (there are many) are carefully introduced. The novel is beautifully paced and structured. You can tell I loved it, I gave it 5 stars.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 07-11-12
Fascinating Story
Based on the other reviews of this novel, this audio book may or may not be for you. I enjoyed it. George Guidall is an excellent actor (I believe the term "narrator" is too limiting for a person who acts the many characters of a given book. Try Charles Dickens for example). This story of early Manhattan, the struggle between the Dutch and English, the love between two unlikely people, an English spy and a strong female trader, the clash of cultures among native Americans, the Dutch colonists, the local authorities and restrictive religion and most of all the degrading and deplorable life and death of young orphans make for a rich story.
Yes, there are some gruesome scenes but that's hardly different from your regular TV programming.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Kate
- 07-07-12
Good historical fiction
This was a very good book and I'm glad I listened. One thing to be aware of before you download this - I found the the historical names difficult to remember so I had trouble getting in to the story in the beginning.
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- Briar Rabbit
- 07-29-16
Perfect!
I initially read a hard copy years ago, and this novel found a spot in my Top Five Favorite Reads. After listening to a narrative version, it remains a favorite.
Historically accurate, The Orphanmaster takes its listeners through wild New England on a thrilling race to solve horrific crimes. The story's strong and youthful female character is nearly unbelievable at times, with her display of "well-ahead of her time" attitudes towards men and non-whites (a pleasure to see amongst otherwise sadistic and apathetic townsfolk). Her romantic interest is an interesting character -- a man with witty comments and a heart of gold (he'd never admit it, though).
A true page turner. Highly recommended this read/listen ... cannot wait for novelist's next book to again sweep me away!
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- Laura
- 02-14-13
excerpt not reflective of story
What disappointed you about The Orphanmaster?
I listened to the sample excerpt and thought that this book was a match for my taste. Instead I got a confusing, grotesque horror tale. Beware!
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- lbk
- 05-16-24
A disappointment
Poorly developed characters and a painfully clunky narrative. Overblown horror. It was painful to get all the way through it.
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- JillHen
- 03-01-13
Couldn't get past the first two hours
Would you try another book from Jean Zimmerman and/or George Guidall?
Not from George Guidall, who, despite having an avuncular, kindly voice, is irritating beyond belief. He tends toward a comic lilt that is ill-fitting in the best of circumstances, and I cannot stand his female voices. It pains me to say this because he is a "beloved" type; personally, I find his narration grating and irritating.
What didn’t you like about George Guidall’s performance?
His female voices have a sniveling quality. He lends a comic tone that often contradicts that of the story. There is a general irritating quality to his voice. I can't get through any of his books.
Any additional comments?
Wish I could get my money back, or listen to this intriguing story with a different narrator, preferably female.
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1 person found this helpful