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The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
- Narrated by: Jonathan Aris, Paula Wilcox
- Length: 18 hrs and 53 mins
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Publisher's summary
A Booker finalist and Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize winner, David Mitchell was called “prodigiously daring and imaginative” by Time and “a genius” by the New York Times Book Review.
The year is 1799, the place Dejima in Nagasaki Harbor, the “high-walled, fan-shaped artificial island” that is the Japanese Empire’s single port and sole window onto the world, designed to keep the West at bay; the farthest outpost of the war-ravaged Dutch East Indies Company; and a de facto prison for the dozen foreigners permitted to live and work there. To this place of devious merchants, deceitful interpreters, costly courtesans, earthquakes, and typhoons comes Jacob de Zoet, a devout and resourceful young clerk who has five years in the East to earn a fortune of sufficient size to win the hand of his wealthy fiancée back in Holland.
But Jacob’s original intentions are eclipsed after a chance encounter with Orito Aibagawa, the disfigured daughter of a samurai doctor and midwife to the city’s powerful magistrate. The borders between propriety, profit, and pleasure blur, until Jacob finds his vision clouded, one rash promise made and then fatefully broken. The consequences will extend beyond Jacob’s worst imaginings. As one cynical colleague asks, “Who ain’t a gambler in the glorious Orient, with his very life?”
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During the reign of Louis XV, impoverished but lovely teenage girls from all over France are sent to a discreet villa in the town of Versailles. Overseen by the King’s favorite mistress, Madame de Pompadour, they will be trained as potential courtesans for the King. When the time is right, each girl is smuggled into the palace of Versailles, with its legendary Hall of Mirrors.
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Fascinating but pedophilia nonetheless.
- By Barbara W. on 05-10-22
By: Eva Stachniak
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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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Black Wolves
- By: Kate Elliott
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
- Length: 28 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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He lost his honor long ago. Captain Kellas was lauded as the king's most faithful servant until the day he failed in his duty. Dismissed from service, his elite regiment disbanded, he left the royal palace and took up another life. Now a battle brews within the palace that threatens to reveal deadly secrets and spill over into open war. The king needs a loyal soldier to protect him. Can a disgraced man ever be trusted?"
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Very engaging. Can't wait for book 2
- By Claudia Alderman on 01-15-16
By: Kate Elliott
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The Bell Messenger
- By: Robert Cornuke
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Adventurer and author Robert Cornuke delivers an archaeological thriller that crosses the globe and spans two centuries. With these hopeful words, a dying Confederate lad bequeaths his Bible to the Union soldier who just shot him: "Be God's messenger as I have been." And so begins the journey of Elijah Bell's cherished Bible as it travels the world, transforming hearts wherever it goes.
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Nice Historical Fiction
- By Michael & Cora on 09-16-24
By: Robert Cornuke
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Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories
- By: Kelly Link - editor, Gavin J. Grant - editor
- Narrated by: Sarah Coomes, Nico Evers-Swindell, Shannon McManus, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Imagine an alternate universe where romance and technology reign. Where tinkerers and dreamers craft and recraft a world of automatons, ornate clockworks, calculating machines, and other marvels that. Where scientists and schoolgirls, fair folk and Romans, intergalactic bandits, and intrepid orphans - decked out in corsets, clockwerk suits, and tall black boots - solve dastardly crimes, escape from monstrous predicaments, consult oracles, and hover over volcanoes in steam-powered airships.
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MMMM, Orca Bacon
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 09-14-13
By: Kelly Link - editor, and others
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The Bastard
- The Kent Family Chronicles, Book 1
- By: John Jakes
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor
- Length: 19 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
Set against the colorful tumult of events that gave rise to our fledgling nation, this novel of romance and adventure introduces Phillipe Charboneau. The illegitimate son of an English nobleman, Phillipe flees Europe and, as Philip Kent, joins the men who set our course for freedom. The Bastard is the first volume in the Kent Family Chronicles, a series of novels that details one family's journey in the early years of the American nation.
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An Amazing Tale
- By will on 11-06-13
By: John Jakes
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The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.
- By: Sandra Gulland
- Narrated by: Kim Handysides
- Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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In this first of three books inspired by the life of Josephine Bonaparte, Sandra Gulland has created a novel of immense and magical proportions. We meet Josephine in the exotic and lush Martinico, where an old island woman predicts that one day she will be queen. The journey from the remote village of her birth to the height of European elegance is long, but Josephine's fortune proves to be true.
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Performance...ugh
- By Lisa on 02-17-18
By: Sandra Gulland
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Impyrium
- By: Henry H. Neff
- Narrated by: Kim Mai Guest
- Length: 19 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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For over 3,000 years, the Faeregine dynasty has ruled Impyrium. But the family's magic has been fading, and with it their power over the empire. Whether it's treachery from a rival house, the demon Lirlanders, or rebel forces, many believe the Faeregines are ripe to fall. Hazel, the youngest member of the royal family, is happy to leave ruling to her sisters so that she can study her magic. But the empress has other plans for her granddaughter, dark and dangerous plans to exploit Hazel's talents and rekindle the Faeregine mystique.
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Amazing! Can't wait for the next book in the series.
- By Reddings on 03-11-17
By: Henry H. Neff
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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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Overall
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Story
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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March
- By: Geraldine Brooks
- Narrated by: Richard Easton
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
From Louisa May Alcott's beloved classic Little Women, Geraldine Brooks has animated the character of the absent father, March, and crafted a story "filled with the ache of love and marriage and with the power of war upon the mind and heart of one unforgettable man" (Sue Monk Kidd). With "pitch-perfect writing" (USA Today), Brooks follows March as he leaves behind his family to aid the Union cause in the Civil War. His experiences will utterly change his marriage and challenge his most ardently held beliefs.
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Great book, greatly narrated
- By Paula on 07-30-06
By: Geraldine Brooks
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The Pale Blue Eye
- By: Louis Bayard
- Narrated by: Charles Leggett
- Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When the body of a suicide victim disappears at West Point Military Academy in 1831, only to be discovered hours later missing its heart, the Academy calls on retired detective Gus Landor to investigate. Landor is something of a legend among his peers, noted for an uncanny, Holmesian ability to read people. When Edgar Allan Poe, a new cadet, comes forth with his own cryptic conclusion—that the man Landor is looking for is a poet—Landor is intrigued and enlists Poe as his assistant.
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Could not get through it
- By Amazon Customer on 10-25-15
By: Louis Bayard
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What listeners say about The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Cariola
- 09-11-10
Amazing (but complex)
David Mitchell gives readers who enjoy sweeping historical novels everything for which they could hope: an exotic setting, unique characters, adventure, betrayal, intrigue, sacrifice, romance, maritime conflict, and even a monkey named William Pitt. I loved his characters, who were all individualized and fascinating, yet quite believable.
My only criticism is that I might rather have read this book in print. With lots of characters with unfamiliar names and passing through about 50 years, it is rather complex to keep it all sorted out while listening. But the readers are quite fine.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall
- D. Nash
- 08-09-10
Disappointed
I loved "Cloud Atlas" and thought it was the best book I've listened to in years. I could not wait to listen to Thousand Autumns...but perhaps this book is best read in hardcopy. I could not keep the names and characters straight. All of the names, of course, were very foreign to me - Japanese and Dutch, pronounced with an accent. I had to start over once I realized that Yakob Dessert was the title character. Duh! :-P
There were not many likable characters in this book. While I felt that Mitchell set up a very scary scenario, it fell flat after that. I was happy and relieved when the British showed up! Names I understood and could keep track of!
At the end, chunks of time passes without plot or narrative. Uh.. What happened? Nothing worthy of mentioning in 11 years? Or more?
I was disappointed, not Mitchell's best effort or the best book to hear either.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Angelyn S. Furst
- 08-30-10
Disappointed
What could have been a wonderful story was ruined by the almost obsessive concern with bodily functions. On a positive note, the writer has a wonderful ability for descriptive prose.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- Griffin
- 08-11-10
Couldn't wait for it to end.
OK, so I didn't want to read the Steig books as my "big" summer read, so I went with the Mitchell book. The other reviewers do a good job of critically reviewing, so I am just going to go from the gut. This book is like an opera. Yes, it's good, worthy, lyric..., but can't say that I wasn't happy when it was over. I am not a fan of big, thick books unless there is a reason they need be so long. It's almost like someone gave Mitchell a thick, blank journal, and his task was to fill it. If you are looking for a good, long read, try "Cutting for Stone." It has characters, history and a story that keep thing interesting so you are just waiting for the end!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Appleweb
- 09-10-12
Wonderful story, well read.
What did you love best about The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet?
It was a grand novel in best sense with heroes, villains, star-crossed lovers, spies, betrayal and love all set in a time in Japan when old empires were dying and new ones were arising. Japan's reaction to Western influence was to isolate itself from the world, except for very limited, and highly controlled trade treaties. Jacob de Zoet finds himself in this netherworld between two cultures.
The story starts slowly but Mitchell is carefully laying the groundwork for this marvelous story. I had read and enjoyed Cloud Atlas. It amazes me that Mitchell could masterfully write such very different tales. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.
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- John
- 12-28-18
Brilliant historical novel
I’ve read 4 of his novels and am now convinced that he is the best living English writer. This book is different from the others in that it’s an historical novel, but some of the scenes and dialogue he writes are just breathtaking. And the performances are exceptional. Highly highly recommend
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- xana
- 01-16-12
Good moments
There were excellent scenes that were done well, but the book is overlong. Keeping up with the Japanese names was difficult.
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- Gerry
- 05-04-22
This was amazing
This was a difficult listen…but worth the effort. It had me at the first chapter.
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- DaMob
- 08-27-10
Spend some money
The book overall was excellent, the problem was they were too cheap to hire narrators to read the Japanese parts, sounded terrible especially the womens roles, thick English accent for a young Japanese girl.... crazy.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Ivy Roberts
- 08-03-12
I wish I could listen all over again!
This book was just plain fun. I love history and got lots of it here, some for real and some invented, but all fascinating. The characters and situations were so original and new to me. A real saga, and very well read by the narrators.
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1 person found this helpful