
The Thistle and the Rose
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Narrated by:
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Alix Dunmore
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By:
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Linda Porter
About this listen
Margaret Tudor, the elder sister of her more famous brother Henry VIII, is the single most important Tudor figure of this era that historians have consistently overlooked. Married at thirteen to the charismatic James IV of Scotland, a man more than twice her age, she would learn the skills of statecraft that would enable her to survive his early death, and to construct a powerful position in her adopted country of Scotland as she dealt with domestic issues as well as navigating international relations with England and France.
Often reviled for her hasty remarriage (and therefore the loss of the regency) the book shows that Margaret was damned if she did remarry and damned if she didn’t. Her two subsequent marriages were both disastrous personally, but she never gave up. Her son attained the throne in his own right in 1528, largely through his mother’s determination.
Margaret’s story is also one of fierce sibling rivalry with her younger brother, Henry VIII, a series of matrimonial mishaps, and fighting off an unearned reputation as an over-sexed whinger fixated by clothes and jewels, Margaret was a complex (not always likeable) woman who had the true Tudor attributes of self-expression and a flair for the dramatic. She knew that you had to look like a queen.
Drawing on Margaret’s extensive correspondence (more of her letters survive than of all the other Tudor queens put together), and contemporary poems and literature, Linda Porter fashions a compelling story of a misunderstood and underestimated Tudor monarch, whose determination to fight for the rights of her son, James V, is at the core of her dramatic life and indeed laid the groundwork for a future British state.©2024 Linda Porter (P)2024 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
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Critic reviews
'Linda Porter brilliantly brings to life the story of a woman who has been side-lined by history for too long. Porter’s gripping account rightfully reinstates Margaret Tudor as a daughter and sister of kings, a princess of England, a queen of Scotland, and the matriarch of the next royal dynasty. Porter enables Margaret to boldly emerge from the shadows and be placed at the very centre of sixteenth-century histories of England and Scotland. Vigorously researched and compellingly written, Porter’s The Thistle and the Rose is a must-read for any Tudor – or Stuart – enthusiast.' (Kate McCaffrey)
'With her usual narrative flair and meticulous research, Porter draws an engrossing portrait of a fascinating, highly intelligent woman and her important royal legacy.' (Elizabeth Fremantle, author of The Poison Bed)
'A compelling portrait of one of the most fascinating yet overlooked Tudor queens. In elegant style, Linda Porter brings the turbulent power politics of sixteenth-century Scotland to life while never forgetting the human stories within. Vivid and dramatic, this is Tudor history at its finest.' (Miranda Malins)
'Just when you thought there was nothing new to be said about the Tudors, along comes this important and immensely readable biography. Margaret Tudor – wife to the king of Scotland, sister to the king of England, ancestress of the Windsor dynasty – is here convincingly reconfigured as a skilled and ambitious power player in her own right. It’s hard to believe no-one has properly covered this subject before – but perhaps Margaret was lucky in waiting until Linda Porter came along.' (Sarah Gristwood, author of Blood Sisters)
'Packed with endless fascinating detail, The Thistle and the Rose is gripping from start to finish, and provides a nuanced and human portrayal of this extraordinary woman. A must read for any Tudor fans!' (Alice Loxton)
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Overall
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Demeter: a goddess of life, living half of one. Demeter did not always live in fear. Once, she loved the world and the humans who inhabited it. After an act of devastating violence, though, she hides herself away among the grasses and wildflowers. Her only solace is her daughter . . . Before she was Persephone, she was Core. Core is as bright as summer and devoted to her mother, even during their millennia in exile from Olympus. But she craves freedom. Naïve and determined, she secretly builds a life of her own—and as she does so, she catches the eye of a powerful god . .
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Very cliche
- By Jennifer Rasigade on 07-11-24
By: Hannah Lynn
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The Lady in the Tower
- The Fall of Anne Boleyn
- By: Alison Weir
- Narrated by: Judith Boyd
- Length: 16 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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The imprisonment and execution of Queen Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's second wife, in 1536 was unprecedented in English history and never before has there been a book devoted entirely to her fall. But here Alison Weir has reassessed the evidence and created a richly researched and detailed portrait of the last days of one of the most influential and important figures in English history.
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Chapuys Spoke French
- By Christina Webster on 03-03-25
By: Alison Weir
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The Secret Hotel in Berlin
- By: Catherine Hokin
- Narrated by: Harrie Dobby
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Berlin, 1944. ‘It is a great honour to have you here, Herr Hitler.’ Lili doesn’t stumble over the lie, her hand steady as she pours champagne. Everything must be perfect, no one can suspect a thing… Lili Rodenberg and her husband Marius run the Edel, Berlin’s most glamorous hotel. For its wealthy guests, it is an escape from the destruction outside, with its elegant piano bar and fine amber brandy. But Lili is Jewish, a secret she is terrified will end in tragedy for her and their beloved little girl.
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Couldn't put it down
- By cryan on 03-19-25
By: Catherine Hokin
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The Book of Lost Enchantments
- By: Jessica Dodge
- Narrated by: Samantha Norbury, Hannah Hedley
- Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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At twenty-nine, Nora Cameron's life feels adrift, her days are spent working in her parents’ bakery, and her nights are spent alone watching Hallmark movies. She yearns for something beyond her predictable existence, though she has no idea what that might be. That is, until fate intervenes, and Nora is swept into an unforeseen adventure to Scotland.
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Great story with a magical ending
- By Ed Sandlin on 06-16-25
By: Jessica Dodge
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Thorns, Lust, and Glory
- The Betrayal of Anne Boleyn
- By: Estelle Paranque
- Narrated by: Anna Wilson-Jones
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Anne Boleyn has mesmerized the general public for centuries. Her tragic execution at the Tower of London on the 19th of May, 1536—orchestrated by her own husband—never ceases to intrigue. While many stories of Anne’s downfall have been told, few have truly traced the origins of her grim fate. In Thorns, Lust, and Glory, Estelle Paranque takes us back to where it all started: to France, where Anne learned the lessons that would set her on the path to becoming one of England's most infamous queens.
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The Truth is Revealed
- By Janyce H. Imoto on 12-08-24
By: Estelle Paranque
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Babylonia
- By: Costanza Casati
- Narrated by: Ayesha Antoine
- Length: 16 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Nothing about Semiramis's upbringing could have foretold her legacy. Born to a woman scorned by Aphrodite and raised as an orphan on the outskirts of an empire, Semiramis was never meant to hold power. But that does not mean she was not made for it. When she meets a young representative of the new Assyrian king a path unfolds before her, one that puts her in the midst of a brutal world and at the heart of two men raised as brothers—one who just happens to be king.
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I really enjoyed the voice of the narrator. The pacing was great, and Semiramis is a strong female character.
- By Maria on 02-07-25
By: Costanza Casati
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Catherine de' Medici
- The Life and Times of the Serpent Queen
- By: Mary Hollingsworth
- Narrated by: Rachel Bavidge
- Length: 15 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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History is rarely kind to women of power, but few have had their reputations quite so brutally shredded as Catherine de’ Medici, Italian-born queen of France and influential mother of three successive French kings during that country’s long sequence of sectarian wars in the second half of the sixteenth century.
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Don’t bother
- By Anonymous User on 12-05-24
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The Vanishing Bookstore
- By: Helen Phifer
- Narrated by: Stephanie Cannon
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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1692. On the outskirts of Salem, a bookstore stands covered in overgrown vines. Inside, a young woman hides a linen-wrapped journal under a loose floorboard and runs away, panicked by the sound of hounds barking in the distance. The bookstore vanishes into thin air…
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a mixed bag
- By Anonymous User on 02-18-25
By: Helen Phifer
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Embers of the Hands
- Hidden Histories of the Viking Age
- By: Eleanor Barraclough
- Narrated by: Eleanor Barraclough
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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In imagining a Viking, a certain image springs to mind: a barbaric warrior, leaping ashore from a longboat, and ready to terrorize the hapless local population of a northern European town. Yet while such characters define our imagination of the Viking Age today, they were in the minority. Instead, in the time-stopping soils, water, and ice of the North, Eleanor Barraclough excavates a preserved lost world, one that reimagines a misunderstood society.
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Author is an excellent reader!
- By K on 02-11-25
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The Last Fashion House in Paris
- By: Renee Ryan
- Narrated by: Hope Newhouse, Gilli Messer, Jane Oppenheimer
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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France, 1942 Once, Paulette Leblanc spent her days flirting, shopping and drawing elegant dresses in her sketch pad. Then German tanks rolled into France, and a reckless romance turned into deep betrayal. Blaming herself for her mother’s arrest by the Gestapo, Paulette is sent away to begin a new life in Paris, working as apprentice to fashion designer Sabine Ballard. But Maison de Ballard is no ordinary fashion house. While seamstresses create the perfect couture gowns, clandestine deals and secrets take place out of sight.
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outstanding!
- By Lani Daly on 06-24-25
By: Renee Ryan
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One Night in London
- The Truth About the Duke, Book 1
- By: Caroline Linden
- Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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With One Night in London, the sensational Caroline Linden kicks off a wonderful new historical romance series about three brothers trying to protect their good names and their fortunes while finding true love. Fans of Elizabeth Boyle and Liz Carlyle will not be able to resist this tantalizing tale that has the middle son of a recently deceased English duke hoping to avoid scandal and ruin as he searches for the young wife his late father never divorced…and encounters instead a desperate beauty who needs his help to rescue an endangered child.
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Beware!!
- By ParkerCD on 02-11-24
By: Caroline Linden
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Edward II
- The Unconventional King
- By: Kathryn Warner
- Narrated by: Danielle Cohen
- Length: 15 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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He is one of the most reviled English kings in history. He drove his kingdom to the brink of civil war a dozen times in less than twenty years. He allowed his male lovers to rule the kingdom. He led a great army to the most ignominious military defeat in English history. He was Edward II, and this book tells his story. Kathryn Warner strips away the myths which have been created about him over the centuries, and provides a far more accurate and vivid picture of him than has previously been seen.
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Not bad, but most definitely biased
- By Ashley Waldron on 01-20-24
By: Kathryn Warner
I would not consider Margaret particularly successful in her attempts to break free from the misogyny of 16th century England and Scotland, which is probably why she has been overlooked. But the reality is that her descendants ended up on the English throne for a century, and managed to unite two countries long at odds with each other. So in theory, she was much more successful than many of her contemporaries, and she certainly deserves more credit than she has been given.
Overshadowed No Longer
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New information on unknown Tudor
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Turbulence and courage
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Margaret Tudor / Queen of Scots
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Margaret’s story is so much more complicated than ever portrayed before!
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Refreshing
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Full of historical detail
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Remarkable woman.
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Learning more about Margaret Tudor
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