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The Ruby in Her Navel
- Narrated by: Andrew Sachs
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
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Just seventeen years old, Henry IX, known as William, is a king bound by the restraints of the regency yet anxious to prove himself. With the French threatening battle and the Catholics sowing the seeds of rebellion at home, William trusts only three people: his older sister Elizabeth; his best friend and loyal counselor, Dominic; and Minuette, a young orphan raised as a royal ward by William’s mother, Anne Boleyn.
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Great idea, bad story
- By S. D. Ristick on 09-22-14
By: Laura Andersen
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Children of Earth and Sky
- By: Guy Gavriel Kay
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 19 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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From the small coastal town of Senjan, notorious for its pirates, a young woman sets out to find vengeance for her lost family. That same spring, from the wealthy city-state of Seressa, famous for its canals and lagoon, come two very different people: a young artist traveling to the dangerous east to paint the grand khalif at his request - and possibly to do more - and a fiercely intelligent, angry woman posing as a doctor's wife but sent by Seressa as a spy.
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Deep Echoes of the Sarantine Mosaic
- By Sarah on 05-13-16
By: Guy Gavriel Kay
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The Black Rose
- By: Thomas B. Costain
- Narrated by: David Case
- Length: 17 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Walter of Gurnie, bastard son of an English peer, is forced to flee from Oxford for his part in the university riots of 1273. Inspired by Friar Bacon, he determines to travel to China. With his friend Tristam, he fights his way to the heart of the fabulous Mongol Empire and returns famous, to find that he must choose between the first love he thought lost and the exotic flower that he found in the East.
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Great Book
- By Jean on 03-09-13
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Kushiel's Dart
- By: Jacqueline Carey
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 31 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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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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The Mask of Apollo
- By: Mary Renault
- Narrated by: Barnaby Edwards
- Length: 15 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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In a vivid depiction of Ancient Greece and its legendary heroes, The Mask of Apollo tells the story of Nikeratos, the gifted tragic actor at the centre of political and cultural activity in Athens, 400 B. C. Wherever he goes, Nikeratos carries a golden mask of Apollo, a relic and reminder of an age when the theatre was at the height of its greatness and talent. Only a mascot at first, the mask gradually turns into Nikeratos' conscience as he encounters famous thinkers, actors, and philosophers, including the famous Plato himself.
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The Author, Mary Renault, UNMASKED by her Apollo
- By James on 05-12-15
By: Mary Renault
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The Dark Mirror
- Bridei Trilogy #1
- By: Juliet Marillier
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 24 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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One bitter Midwinter's Eve, everything changes when Bridei finds a child on their doorstep - a child abandoned by the Fair Folk. It is the height of ill fortune to have truck with the Fair Folk, and all in the area counsel the babe's death. But Bridei sees an old and precious magic at work and, heedless of the danger, fights to save the child. Broichan is wary but relents, for Bridei must grow to be his own man and make his own decisions.
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disappointing
- By Binia on 11-18-08
By: Juliet Marillier
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Abundance
- A Novel of Marie Antoinette
- By: Sena Jeter Naslund
- Narrated by: Susanna Burney
- Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Marie Antoinette was a child of 14 when she was made to leave her family and country to become the wife of another child, France's 15-year-old King Louis the XVI. Far from home and suddenly thrust not only into the role of a woman and wife, but of a queen, Marie Antoinette lived an astonishing, though short, existence.
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Not for history fans
- By Cx30 on 12-09-06
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Ben-Hur
- A Tale of the Christ
- By: Lew Wallace
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 23 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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A classic of faith, fortitude, and inspiration, this faithful New Testament tale combines the events of the life of Jesus with grand historical spectacle in the exciting story of Judah of the House of Hur, a man who finds extraordinary redemption for himself and his family. Judah Ben-Hur lives as a rich Jewish prince and merchant in Jerusalem at the beginning of the first century. His old friend, Messala, arrives as commanding officer of the Roman legions.
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Not Like the Movie
- By Paul Z. on 01-31-12
By: Lew Wallace
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Fire from Heaven
- A Novel of Alexander the Great
- By: Mary Renault
- Narrated by: Roger May
- Length: 18 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Alexander's beauty, strength and defiance were apparent from birth, but his boyhood honed those gifts into the makings of a king. His mother, Olympias, and his father, King Philip of Macedon, fought each other for their son's loyalty, teaching Alexander politics and vengeance from the cradle. His love for the youth Hephaistion taught him trust, while Aristotle's tutoring provoked his mind and Homer's Iliad fuelled his aspirations.
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Renewed Pleasure
- By James on 01-28-15
By: Mary Renault
What listeners say about The Ruby in Her Navel
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Martin
- 02-26-19
Superb
I have read almost all of Barry Unsworth’s and love them all. This was my first experience of listening to one on Audible, and was sucked in immediately. I hope all of his books will eventually be available on Audible.
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- Ilana
- 12-11-14
A Well-Earned Five Stars for this Gem
This book by the fine historical novelist Barry Unsworth is set in 1149 Palermo, Sicily, where power struggles between East and West have left King Roger hard pressed to maintain his throne. Both the Pope and the Bishop of Rome refuse to recognize his rule, and Conrad Hohenstaufen (ruler of the west) and Manuel Comnenus (ruler of the east) are threatening to invade Sicily to secure their powers. Palermo has always been tolerant to various ethnic communities, but a Christian group is making false accusations against Muslims, Jews, and other "outsiders" to take over power.
Thurstan Beauchamp narrates this story. He is a young man still, the son of a Norman knight and a Saxon mother. He works in the Diwan of Control, the central financial office at the palace, where his employer is Yusuf Ibn Mansur, a Muslim man with political savvy and of unimpeachable honesty who is willing to help Thurstan become influential if he can avoid falling into one of the dangerous political games the various factions are playing against each other. Traveling throughout Europe as "Purveyor of Pleasures and Shows," Thurstan finds a group of five Yazidis, including Nesrin, a belly dancer with uncommon talent, and immediately hires them to come to Palermo to perform for the king. He is drawn to Nesrin's great beauty and allure, but things take yet another turn when he meets again with the Lady Alicia on the same trip, once his great love when he was still a boy and she then just a girl also. Now she has returned from the land of Jerusalem as a widow of considerable wealth, and seems just as taken with Thurstan, who finds his love for her has not abated over the years.
Further complicating matters, we learn early on that Thurstan's most cherished dream has been to become a knight and fight in the crusades, as his father has done before him, though this opportunity was taken away from him just when it seemed about to be realised. Now with Lady Alicia's return on the scene, many opportunities beckon. The novel builds up at a moderate pace, all the while filled with period details which inform us about aspects of daily life in 12th century Palermo. Thurstan, narrating in the first person from the vantage point of a period after the events have taken place, is a personable main character, whom we cannot help but empathise with though he makes many grave gaffes and mistakes, and much as his naivety and youth show he has yet much to learn, we see the events though his eyes before he had gained the advantage of hindsight, so that the reader is offered only glimpses of the whole, until a complex mystery is revealed.
A jewel of a book which I can't wait to listen to again to pick up on all the fine intricate details I may have missed the first time. I also loved Andrew Sachs' narration in this audio version.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Chris
- 02-08-16
A new favourite!
An excellent pairing of intriguing story and expert narration. Barry Unsworth gives us poetic dialogue, intriguing characters and sumptuous imagery. Andrew Sachs provides a wonderful performance - adding to the depth and character of the novel.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Jeff Lacy
- 01-08-19
Excellent Performance!!
Andrew Sachs puts forth another stellar performance for this intriguing novel set in foreign ministry of the kingdom of Sicily in the year of around 1135. It involves political internecine intrigue, religious rivalries, and foreign espionage. And even a romance. Colorful characters practice their deception in taverns, estates, castles, monasteries (what would a story set in the Middle Ages be without a monk) and cathedral (where even the rivalry of Byzantine and Roman artists are disputed). This novel is flush with plots, deception, cash paid to an assassin, traveling dancers, double crossing, usurping power. It’s an intelligently written novel, and Unsworth is in command creatively and in his craft.
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1 person found this helpful