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The Pillars of the Earth
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 40 hrs and 56 mins
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Publisher's summary
The Pillars of the Earth tells the story of Philip, prior of Kingsbridge, a devout and resourceful monk driven to build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has known...of Tom, the mason who becomes his architect - a man divided in his soul...of the beautiful, elusive Lady Aliena, haunted by a secret shame...and of a struggle between good and evil that will turn church against state, and brother against brother.
A spellbinding epic tale of ambition, anarchy, and absolute power set against the sprawling medieval canvas of 12th century England, this is Ken Follett's historical masterpiece.
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Critic reviews
"Follett is a master." (The Washington Post)
"A historical novel of gripping readability, authentic atmosphere and detail and memorable characterization." (Publishers Weekly)
Featured Article: The Best Historical Fiction Audiobooks
Often based on real people, events, and scenarios, historical fiction gives us the opportunity to learn about worlds and times we will never experience while introducing fascinating characters and stories set in their midst. Sometimes, the genre can even give us a peek into hidden storylines that routinely go unmentioned in traditional history books, showing us that those of ages past are perhaps not so different from ourselves.
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Story
Newbery Medal-winning author Avi completes the Crispin saga with this third installment of the riveting trilogy. In 14th-century England, Crispin has embarked on one adventure after another since discovering that he, once known only as “Asta’s son,” has a much grander future than he ever could have imagined. Encountering such trustworthy souls as Bear during the course of his travels, Crispin teeters on the brink of fulfilling his destiny in this stunning tale of the Middle Ages.
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DO NOT READ THISSSSS
- By C. Smith on 02-25-20
By: Avi
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The Snow Empress
- By: Laura Joh Rowland
- Narrated by: James Yaegashi
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Chosen by Publishers Weekly as a Best Book of 2007, The Snow Empress showcases author Laura Joh Rowland's deep understanding of 17th-century Japan and her impeccable gift of storytelling. This thrilling novel finds samurai detective Sano Ichirõ working to gain freedom for his son by investigating the murder of a lord's beloved mistress.
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Japanophile delight
- By Lee M. MD on 03-21-09
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The Briar King
- The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone, Book 1
- By: Greg Keyes
- Narrated by: Patrick Michael
- Length: 19 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Two thousand years ago, the Born Queen defeated the Skasloi lords, freeing humans from the bitter yoke of slavery. But now monstrous creatures roam the land and destinies become inextricably entangled in a drama of power and seduction. The kings woodsman, a rebellious girl, a young priest, a roguish adventurer, and a young man made suddenly into a knight all face malevolent forces that shake the foundations of the kingdom, even as the Briar King, legendary harbinger of death, awakens from his slumber.
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Good stuff
- By Jake on 06-10-10
By: Greg Keyes
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Katherine
- A Novel
- By: Anya Seton
- Narrated by: Lorna Bennett
- Length: 29 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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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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The Sword-Edged Blonde
- By: Alex Bledsoe
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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It should have been a case like any other: a missing princess, a king willing to pay in gold for her return. But before he realizes it, private investigator Eddie LaCrosse, a slightly shopworn sword jockey with a talent for discretion and detection, is swept up in a web of mystery and deceit involving a brutally murdered royal heir, a queen accused of an unspeakable crime, and the tragic past he thought he'd left behind.
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No Redeeming Qualities
- By MightyMite68 on 09-27-20
By: Alex Bledsoe
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The Bone Doll's Twin
- Tamir Triad, Book 1
- By: Lynn Flewelling
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine, Lynn Flewelling
- Length: 16 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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As people start to recall the Oracle's prophecy, Erius begins to quietly kill off his female relatives who pose the only threat to his monarchy. Constantly in fear for her life, Princess Ariani the King's sister, gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. But Ariani is married to Lord Rhius, the patron of the powerful wizard Iya, and Iya has sinister plans for the babes.
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Not a bad beginning, but . . .
- By bluestatereader on 12-29-10
By: Lynn Flewelling
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Quatrain
- Twelve Houses, Book 0.5
- By: Sharon Shinn
- Narrated by: Eva Wilhelm
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Sharon Shinn's Twelve Houses books have fascinated fans and critics alike with their irresistible blend of fantasy, romance, and adventure. Now in Quatrain, she weaves compelling stories in four of the worlds that fans love in "Flight", "Blood", "Gold", and "Flame".
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Lovely set of novellas, description needs updated
- By Lindsay C. on 09-25-20
By: Sharon Shinn
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The Book of Kells
- By: R. A. MacAvoy
- Narrated by: Alan Robertson
- Length: 14 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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A contemporary man, John Thornburn (a meek, non-violent and unpredictable artist) and woman, Derval (his tough, confrontational, strong and warrior-like lover) time travel to ancient Ireland to avenge a Viking attack. Packed with fascinating details of historical time and place in Irish history and delicately balanced on the border between realism and fantasy, the story centers around one of the most famous and beautiful illuminated manuscripts in history, the legendary but entirely real Book of Kells.
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The Book of Irish Fantasy
- By S. Wells on 12-10-12
By: R. A. MacAvoy
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Highland Gladiator
- Scots and Swords, Book 1
- By: Kathryn Le Veque
- Narrated by: Brad Wills
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Truth. Justice. Revenge. Behind these stands The Scotsman's Sword. When Lor Careston's quiet Highland village was attacked and burned, he felt helpless against the raiders who destroyed his home. Seeking revenge, but lacking the fighting skills he needs to execute his mission, he sets out to find the Ludus Caledonia - a mysterious fight guild that turns men into warriors. Lor trains hard, proves himself in the ring, and earns a place with the very clan that decimated his home, having decided to set his plan for revenge in motion from inside the clan.
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Wonderful!
- By Virginia on 08-31-20
By: Kathryn Le Veque
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I was really waiting for this book!
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Loved it and learned alot.
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I'll NEVER get through this one
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In 1866, tragedy strikes the exclusive Windfield School when a young student drowns in a mysterious accident. His death and its aftermath initiate a spiraling circle of treachery that will span three decades and entwine many lives. From the exclusive men’s clubs and brothels that cater to every dark desire of London’s upper class to the dazzling ballrooms and mahogany-paneled suites of the manipulators of the world’s wealth, one family is splintered by a shared legacy.
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His name was Feliks. He came to London to commit a murder that would change history. A master manipulator, he had many weapons at his command, but against him were ranged the whole of the English police, a brilliant and powerful lord, and the young Winston Churchill himself. These odds would have stopped any man in the world - except the man from St. Petersburg.
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Riveting historical fiction
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I was really waiting for this book!
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Loved it and learned alot.
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I'll NEVER get through this one
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D-Day is approaching. They don’t know where or when, but the Germans know it’ll be soon, and for Felicity "Flick" Clariet, the stakes have never been higher. A senior agent in the ranks of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) responsible for sabotage, Flick has survived to become one of Britain’s most effective operatives in Northern France. She knows that the Germans’ ability to thwart the Allied attack depends upon their lines of communications, and in the days before the invasion, no target is of greater strategic importance than the largest telephone exchange in Europe.
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Disappointing
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As Egypt comes closer and closer to developing a nuclear bomb, the Mossad’s number one Israeli agent is given an impossible mission: to beat the Arabs in the nuclear arms race by finding and stealing two hundred tons of uranium. The world’s balance of power will shift. And the Mossad, the KGB, the Egyptians, and Fedayeen terrorists will play out the final, violent moves in this devastating game where the price of failure is a nuclear holocaust....
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Triple poorly performed
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The Huntress
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Bold and fearless, Nina Markova always dreamed of flying. When the Nazis attack the Soviet Union, she risks everything to join the legendary Night Witches, an all-female night bomber regiment wreaking havoc on the invading Germans. When she is stranded behind enemy lines, Nina becomes the prey of a lethal Nazi murderess known as the Huntress, and only Nina's bravery and cunning will keep her alive.
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EVEN BETTER THAN ALICE NETWORK
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Circle of Days
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Seft, a talented flint miner, walks the Great Plain in the high summer heat, to witness the rituals that signal the start of a new year. He is there to trade his stone at the Midsummer Fair, and to find Neen, the girl he loves. Her family live in prosperity and offer Seft an escape from his brutish father and brothers, within their herder community. Joia, Neen’s sister, is a priestess with a vision and an unmatched ability to lead. As a child, she watches the Midsummer ceremony, enthralled, and dreams of a miraculous new monument, raised from the biggest stones in the world.
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The first novel in The Century Trilogy, it follows the fates of five interrelated families - American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh - as they move through the world-shaking dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women's suffrage.
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Fascinating! Awesome book
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The Stand
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This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death. And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides - or are chosen.
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My First Completed Stephen King Novel
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By: Stephen King
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The Cuckoo's Calling
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After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, creditors are calling, and after a breakup with his longtime girlfriend, he’s living in his office. Then John Bristow walks through his door with a shocking story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry - known to her friends as the Cuckoo - famously fell to her death a few months earlier.
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Unbelievable debut mystery set in London
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Notre-Dame
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In this short, spellbinding book, international best-selling author Ken Follett describes the emotions that gripped him when he learned about the fire that threatened to destroy one of the greatest cathedrals in the world - the Notre-Dame de Paris. Follett then tells the story of the cathedral, from its construction to the role it has played across time and history, and he reveals the influence that the Notre-Dame had upon cathedrals around the world and on the writing of one of Follett's most famous and beloved novels, The Pillars of the Earth.
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informative
- By BILL O'NEILL on 05-12-20
By: Ken Follett
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The Gray Man
- By: Mark Greaney
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- Unabridged
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Court Gentry is known as The Gray Man—a legend in the covert realm, moving silently from job to job, accomplishing the impossible, and then fading away. And he always hits his target. But there are forces more lethal than Gentry in the world. And in their eyes, Gentry has just outlived his usefulness. Now, he is going to prove that for him, there's no gray area between killing for a living-and killing to stay alive.
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The gray man talks about gentry in the 3rd person on the court
- By Safekeeper on 07-26-17
By: Mark Greaney
What listeners say about The Pillars of the Earth
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Dawn M. Irvin
- 04-09-09
I can't say enough
Though I'm a historical fiction fan I didn't think this book was going to be my cup of tea, and boy was I wrong. I completely disagree with those that say it was too long. Obviously a 40 hour audiobook is an epic read and if you don't think you can manage I suggest the abridged version, but the story and narration here is SO good I think if you listen to the abridged you'll be very sorry that you missed 75% of the story. I truly hope Follett writes a third. I'll be all over it. I've been avid reader of historical fiction for 25 years and this is certainly in my Top 3 of all time.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Deborah
- 01-09-09
Loved it!
One of the most enjoyable books I've read in a long time. Follet creates characters you really care about. I like that the protagonists are not perfect. They have flaws. And Follet did not impose modern sensibilities on Medieval characters. These characters think, act and believe as real Medieval people would. The perspective on everyday life in the Middle Ages was fascinating.
There is violence, yes. Life in that period could be very violent. There is one scene that is particularly graphic, but that scene describes a real historical event -- and describes it accurately. There is sex too, so if that bothers you this book is not for you. But if you enjoy history or historical fiction, you'll love this book. And if you're like me, you won't want the book to end.
One more thing: The narrator is absolutely fantastic! Be sure to get the unabridged version if you want the full story with this wonderful narrator!
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall
- laurie eller
- 02-07-08
Take a chance.
It has to be the best novel I have ever encountered. How I wish I could go back and listen to it for the first time. Sadly, I doubt I could actually "read" this book because I am sure I would get lost in the language but John Lee is simply marvelous and makes you feel as if you're right there with the character experiencing everything they are experiencing. What a glorious book. Take a chance. You will be so glad you did.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Kurt
- 11-18-09
Unexpectedly Outstanding
Easily one of the top five books I've listened to. It is very long, but what an amazing story. I purchased this based on the fact that it came out on top for the Audible book face off competition. The story did not sounding particularly appealing at first, but Follett does such a wonderful job of story telling. He transports you back to the period and vividly presents the challenges of the characters. Well worth the 40+ hours of listening. When my MP3 player died, I found a paperback copy and finished it. Then I immediately purchased his next book World Without End, another amazing story.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall
- J. P. Donlon
- 07-16-08
Amazing
I rarely listen to an audiobook more than 12-15 hours long. Heck, I give up after 2-3 hours if the book isn't truly engrossing. On top of that, I find that fiction books often make worse audiobooks than nonfiction.
That said -- I listened to every minute of this book and wanted more! I was enthralled and entertained the whole way through. I cannot believe it was 40+ hours!
The first thing I did when I was finished was download the sequel (World w/o End)and start in on another masterful 40+ hour story.
Do not be afraid of this book's length. It is excellent material! The narrator is phenomenal too. He has a great voice, consistent characters, and excellent emotion.
If you like the historical medieval or fantasy genres (no fantasy here though) you WILL enjoy this book.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Laurie lou
- 07-28-08
great read
What great fun this book was. I listened for 3 days straight. I couldnt stop listening. It made me want to go tour the great Cathedrals and ancient churches. I gained a new perspective on the hardships early civilizations had. The influence early christianity had on communities and cultures was also quite the eye-opener. I did get tired of our heroine always getting beat up though. I would highly recommend it to those who enjoy the epic journeys.
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Performance
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Story
- Linda
- 09-06-16
Prime Follet
Any additional comments?
What an amazing trip through a time period (before the Renaissance) little known or understood. Great characters. Great narration. Wonderful details about business. Strong women. One small complaint. I'm not giving anything away (really) but if you hate knowing anything about a plot stop here.A warehouse full of wool in sacks burns. I don't think so. I think wool, filled with lanolin, packed in sacks, would not burn like that. I may be wrong, but that's my suspicion. This book really stays with you. Right now I want to go on a walking trip through the great cathedrals of Europe.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Leslie A. Foote
- 06-12-08
building cathedrals in early England
This book is narrated beautifully and grabs you from the beginning. You can hardly put it down. Lots of wonderful history from architecture, to life in a monastery, guild life, and the politics of the time. I loved every bit of it, was absorbed by the characters and felt transported through the whole epic. A must read if you love history and fiction.
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Overall
- Eric
- 06-06-08
More please
The book was great, the expressive voice of the reader made me feel like I was there, I want more from this story line in the future
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- John Weeks
- 03-16-08
What??? A Novel about Catheral Building.
At first glance you're thinking a story based upon the buiding of Kingsbridge Catheral??? Absolutely, NO WAY!!! But, as you listen for a little while, you're wondering what you just heard has got to do with anything; and so you listen for little more. After a while you've found that you have completed all 5 parts; and it occurs to you that the novel you have just completed, was actually pretty darn good.
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