City of Wisdom and Blood
Fortunes of France: Book 2
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City of Wisdom and Blood
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Narrated by:
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Andrew Wincott
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By:
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Robert Merle
About this listen
Montpellier in 1566 - only fools walk the streets at night unarmed while a profession of faith in the wrong company can lead to a knife in the back. Not even this proud city of philosophers is safe from the menaces that endanger the peace of France. The city militia are struggling to contend with the lawlessness and religious hatred that threaten to tear the whole country in two.
Now an adult, Pierre de Siorac must travel south on dangerous roads to the great university town, accompanied by his strapping but naive brother, Samson, and the crafty Miroul. Well armoured, with swords and pistols at their belts, the trio are confident of repelling any bandits who cross their path, but their new life away from the safety of their Perigord home will bring with it many new dangers and delights.
Continuing the colourful story that began in The Brethren, City of Wisdom and Blood is the second book in the sweeping saga Fortunes of France.
The Brethren is the first volume in the epic historical drama Fortunes of France - a lusty, exhilarating blend of adventure and romance set against the backdrop of a critical period in European history.
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-
a departure for Bryce
- By G. on 06-11-07
By: Bryce Courtenay
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The Count of Monte Cristo
- By: Alexandre Dumas
- Narrated by: Bill Homewood
- Length: 52 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 19,395
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 17,728
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Story5 out of 5 stars 17,686
On the eve of his marriage to the beautiful Mercedes, having that very day been made captain of his ship, the young sailor Edmond Dantès is arrested on a charge of treason, trumped up by jealous rivals. Incarcerated for many lonely years in the isolated and terrifying Chateau d'If near Marseille, he meticulously plans his brilliant escape and extraordinary revenge.
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4 out of 5 stars
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This is the one to spend 50 hours listening to!
- By james on 03-05-13
By: Alexandre Dumas
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In the Name of the Family
- A Novel
- By: Sarah Dunant
- Narrated by: Nicholas Boulton
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 358
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 328
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Story4 out of 5 stars 326
It is 1502, and Rodrigo Borgia, a self-confessed womanizer and master of political corruption, is now on the papal throne as Alexander VI. His daughter Lucrezia, age 22 - already three times married and a pawn in her father's plans - is discovering her own power. And then there is his son Cesare Borgia, brilliant, ruthless, and increasingly unstable; it is his relationship with Machiavelli that gives the Florentine diplomat a master class in the dark arts of power and politics.
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4 out of 5 stars
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One of the best historical fiction novels
- By GrandmaNurseHeather on 04-13-17
By: Sarah Dunant
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The Queen's Bastard
- A Novel of Elizabeth I and Arthur Dudley
- By: Robin Maxwell
- Narrated by: Angele Masters
- Length: 17 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 60
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 52
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Story4 out of 5 stars 52
Historians have long whispered that Elizabeth "the Virgin Queen's" passionate, lifelong affair with Robin Dudley, Earl of Leicester, may have led to the birth of a son, Arthur Dudley. In this exquisite sequel to The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn, Robin Maxwell fashions a stunning fictional account of the child switched at birth by a lady-in-waiting who foresaw the deleterious political consequences of a royal bastard.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Story? what Story?
- By A User on 06-08-13
By: Robin Maxwell
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The Betrothed
- A Novel
- By: Alessandro Manzoni, Michael F. Moore - translator, Jhumpa Lahiri - afterword
- Narrated by: Ari Fliakos, Susan Vinciotti Bonito
- Length: 22 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 50
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 42
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 41
The Betrothed is a cornerstone of Italian culture, language, and literature. Published in its final form in 1842, The Betrothed has inspired generations of Italian readers and writers. Giuseppe Verdi composed his majestic Requiem Mass in honor of Manzoni. Italo Calvino called the novel “a classic that has never ceased shaping reality in Italy” while Umberto Eco praised its author as a “most subtle critic and analyst of languages.”
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1 out of 5 stars
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How to ruin a masterpiece
- By McMurrab on 10-31-22
By: Alessandro Manzoni, and others
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Royal Mistress
- By: Anne Easter Smith
- Narrated by: Heather Wilds
- Length: 15 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 265
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 236
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 233
Jane Lambert, the quick-witted and alluring daughter of a silk merchant, is twenty-two and still unmarried. When Jane’s father finally finds her a match, she’s married off to the dull, older silk merchant William Shore. Marriage doesn’t stop Jane from flirtation, however, and when the king’s chamberlain, Will Hastings, comes to her husband’s shop, Will knows King Edward will find her irresistible.
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2 out of 5 stars
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All history, no romance!
- By Erin on 07-05-13
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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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Overall4 out of 5 stars 60
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 49
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Story4 out of 5 stars 49
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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3 out of 5 stars
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Performance...ugh
- By Lisa on 02-17-18
By: Sandra Gulland
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The Midwife's Tale
- A Mystery
- By: Sam Thomas
- Narrated by: Leila Birch
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 96
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 84
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Story4 out of 5 stars 82
It is 1644, and Parliament’s armies have risen against the King and laid siege to the city of York. Even as the city suffers at the rebels’ hands, midwife Bridget Hodgson becomes embroiled in a different sort of rebellion. One of Bridget’s friends, Esther Cooper, has been convicted of murdering her husband and sentenced to be burnt alive. Convinced that her friend is innocent, Bridget sets out to find the real killer.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Only so so
- By Marie on 11-13-13
By: Sam Thomas
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Captain Alatriste
- By: Arturo Pérez-Reverte
- Narrated by: Scott Brick, Margaret Sayers Peden
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 219
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 98
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Story4 out of 5 stars 98
Captain Alatriste is the story of a fictional 17th-century Spanish soldier who, after being wounded in battle during the Thirty Years' War, is forced to retire from the army. Now he lives the comparatively tame, though hardly quiet, life of a swordsman-for-hire in Madrid. Approached with an offer of work, Alatriste is told to go with another hired blade to an unfamiliar part of the city at midnight and wait.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Good story...reader could be better.
- By Adina R. Montgomery on 07-26-05
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The Betrothed
- By: Alessandro Manzoni
- Narrated by: Nicholas Boulton
- Length: 24 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 206
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 178
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 178
After the jealous tyrant Don Rodrigo foils their wedding, young Lombardian peasants Lucia and Lorenzo must separate and flee for their safety. Their difficult path to matrimony takes place against the turbulent backdrop of the Thirty Years War, where lawlessness and exploitation are at their height. Lucia takes refuge in a convent, where she is later abducted and taken on a nightmarish journey to a sinister castle, while Lorenzo goes to Milan, where he witnesses famine, riots, and plague - all evoked through meticulous description and with stunning immediacy.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fantastic reading of a great work of literature
- By Pia Crosby on 03-25-19
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The Autobiography of Henry VIII
- By: Margaret George
- Narrated by: David Case
- Length: 41 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 685
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 516
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 517
Margaret George's novel brings into focus the larger-than-life King Henry VIII, monarch of prodigious appetites for wine, women, and song.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Perfection!
- By Amy M. Walts on 10-20-07
By: Margaret George
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The Dark Angel
- By: Mika Waltari
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 39
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 35
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 34
Ancient Constantinople, the glorious capital of the Eastern Roman Empire for over 1,000 years, and the jewel of Christendom, is the setting for this incredible historical novel. No other city in the world could compare with it in grandeur, splendor, and wealth. And when it fell to the Turks in 1453, it must have seemed like the end of the world to Christians. Famed author Mika Waltari takes us into the last months of this dying city as revealed in the diary of John Angelos, a strange man hopelessly in love with the daughter of an eminent Byzantine official.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great until the end
- By Barton on 07-12-19
By: Mika Waltari
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The Day of Atonement
- By: David Liss
- Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 207
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 182
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Story4 out of 5 stars 181
Lisbon, 1755: A distinguished-looking gentleman emerges from the bowels of a ship freshly arrived from London, and sets into the city with a singular purpose. This is Sebastian Foxx, born SebastiAo Raposa, and his parents were abducted by the Inquisition when Sebastian was just 13 years old.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Action packed adventure in an unusual setting
- By Jean on 11-29-14
By: David Liss
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The Agincourt Bride
- By: Joanna Hickson
- Narrated by: Catherine Harvey
- Length: 16 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 348
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 304
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 303
When her own first child is tragically still-born, the young Mette is pressed into service as a wet-nurse at the court of the mad king, Charles VI of France. Her young charge is the princess, Catherine de Valois, caught up in the turbulence and chaos of life at court. Mette and the child forge a bond, one that transcends Mette’s lowly position. But as Catherine approaches womanhood, her unique position seals her fate as a pawn between two powerful dynasties.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Disappointing
- By Michelle on 02-16-13
By: Joanna Hickson
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The Family
- By: Mario Puzo, completed by Carol Gino
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 14 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 200
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 129
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 129
Mario Puzo first answered the question 'What is a family?' with the creation of the Corleones in his landmark best seller The Godfather. Now, 30 years later, Puzo enriches us all with his ultimate vision of the subject: the story of the greatest crime family in Italian history, the Borgias.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding look at the Papacy
- By Gary on 11-12-08
By: Mario Puzo, and others
What listeners say about City of Wisdom and Blood
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- mike daly
- 09-16-20
Brilliant performance.
The book is really good in parts, historically fascinating and really disturbing at times, when it shows the brutality of the mob. At other times, I found it repetitive and overlong. But major praise to Wincott who reads brilliantly-lots of characters but each one distinctly rendered. A masterpiece of narration!
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