Devices and Desires
Bess of Hardwick and the Building of Elizabethan England
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Devices and Desires
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Narrated by:
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Heather Wilds
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By:
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Kate Hubbard
About this listen
The critically acclaimed author of Serving Victoria brilliantly illuminates the life of the little-known Bess of Hardwick - next to Queen Elizabeth I, the richest and most powerful woman in 16th-century England.
Aided by a quartet of judicious marriages and a shrewd head for business, Bess of Hardwick rose from humble beginnings to become one of the most respected and feared countesses in Elizabethan England - an entrepreneur who built a family fortune, created glorious houses - the last and greatest built as a widow in her 70s - and was deeply involved in matters of the court, including the custody of Mary Queen of Scots.
While Bess cultivated many influential courtiers, she also collected numerous enemies. Her embittered fourth husband once called her a woman of “devices and desires”, while 19th-century male historians portrayed her as a monster - "a woman of masculine understanding and conduct, proud, furious, selfish and unfeeling." In the 21st century, she has been neutered by female historians who recast her as a soft-hearted sort, much maligned, and misunderstood. As Kate Hubbard reveals, the truth of this highly accomplished woman lies somewhere in between: ruthless and scheming, Bess was sentimental and affectionate as well.
Hubbard draws on more than 230 of Bess' letters, including correspondence with the queen and her councilors, fond (and furious) missives between her husbands and children, and notes sharing titillating court gossip. The result is a rich, compelling portrait of a true feminist icon centuries ahead of her time - a complex, formidable, and decidedly modern woman captured in full as never before.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2019 Kate Hubbard (P)2019 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
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-
Story4 out of 5 stars 197
In Behind the Throne, historian Adrian Tinniswood uncovers the reality of five centuries of life at the English court, taking the listener on a remarkable journey from one Queen Elizabeth to another and exploring life as it was lived by clerks and courtiers and clowns and crowned heads: the power struggles and petty rivalries, the tension between duty and desire, the practicalities of cooking dinner for thousands and of ensuring the king always won when he played a game of tennis.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Very Worthwhile
- By G. Cole on 12-13-18
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Mary Boleyn
- By: Alison Weir
- Narrated by: Maggie Mash
- Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 264
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 231
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Story4 out of 5 stars 228
Mary Boleyn was the mistress of two kings, Francois I of France and Henry VIII of England, and sister to Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife. In this astonishing and riveting biography, Alison Weir’s extensive research gives a new and detailed portrayal, in which she recounts that, contrary to popular belief, Mary was entirely undeserving of her posthumous notoriety as a great whore.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Historiography not a bio
- By Mary Elizabeth Reynolds on 06-03-12
By: Alison Weir
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Castles, Customs, and Kings
- True Tales by English Historical Fiction Authors
- By: Debra Brown, M.M. Bennetts
- Narrated by: Ruth Golding
- Length: 25 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 70
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 62
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Story4 out of 5 stars 60
A compilation of essays from the English Historical Fiction Authors blog, this book provides a wealth of historical information from Roman Britain to early 20th-century England. Over 50 different authors share hundreds of real life stories and tantalizing tidbits discovered while doing research for their own historical novels.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Historical Tidbits
- By Troy on 08-03-15
By: Debra Brown, and others
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Mary Queen of Scots
- By: Antonia Fraser
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 25 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 110
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 96
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 95
Her royal birth gave her claim to the thrones of two nations; her marriage to the young French dauphin promised to place a third glorious crown on her noble head. Instead, Mary Stuart became the victim of her own impulsive heart, scandalizing her world with a foolish passion that would lead to abduction, rape, and even murder. Here is her story, a queen who lost a throne for love, a monarch pampered and adored even as she was led to her beheading, the unforgettable woman who became a legend for all time.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Shockingly disingenuous.
- By rainjade on 08-14-18
By: Antonia Fraser
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Thomas Cromwell
- The Untold Story of Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant
- By: Tracy Borman
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 492
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 447
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 446
Thomas Cromwell has long been reviled as a Machiavellian schemer who stopped at nothing in his quest for power. As Henry VIII's right-hand man, Cromwell was the architect of the English Reformation, secured Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon and plotted the downfall of Anne Boleyn, and upon his arrest, was accused of trying to usurp the King himself. But here Tracy Borman reveals a different side of one of the most notorious figures in history.
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4 out of 5 stars
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narration is very well done & book is quite good
- By horoscopy on 02-18-15
By: Tracy Borman
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Sister Queens
- The Noble, Tragic Lives of Katherine of Aragon and Juana, Queen of Castile
- By: Julia Fox
- Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor
- Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 219
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 196
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 193
The history books have cast Katherine of Aragon, the first queen of King Henry VIII of England, as the ultimate symbol of the Betrayed Woman, cruelly tossed aside in favor of her husband’s seductive mistress, Anne Boleyn. Katherine’s sister, Juana of Castile, wife of Philip of Burgundy and mother of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, is portrayed as “Juana the Mad,” whose erratic behavior included keeping her beloved late husband’s coffin beside her for years.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Sad but Fascinating Lives
- By Cariola on 06-29-12
By: Julia Fox
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The Mistresses of Cliveden
- Three Centuries of Scandal, Power, and Intrigue in an English Stately Home
- By: Natalie Livingstone
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden
- Length: 17 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 143
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 126
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Story4 out of 5 stars 124
Overlooking the Thames, the Cliveden mansion is flanked by two wings and surrounded by lavish gardens. Throughout its storied history, Cliveden has been a setting for misbehavior, intrigue, and passion - from its salacious, deadly beginnings in the 17th century to the 1960s Profumo affair, the sex scandal that toppled the British government. Now, in this immersive chronicle, the manor's current mistress, Natalie Livingstone, opens the doors to this prominent house and lets the walls do the talking.
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2 out of 5 stars
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disappointed
- By Galina M. on 11-14-16
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The House of Medici
- Its Rise and Fall
- By: Christopher Hibbert
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 155
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 142
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Story4 out of 5 stars 142
This enthralling book charts the family's huge influence on the political, economic, and cultural history of Florence. Beginning in the early 1430s with the rise of the dynasty under the near-legendary Cosimo de Medici, it moves through their golden era as patrons of some of the most remarkable artists and architects of the Renaissance, to the era of the Medici Popes and Grand Dukes, Florence's slide into decay and bankruptcy, and the end, in 1737, of the Medici line.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Laundry list of names
- By Elizabeth W on 01-02-17
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Winter King
- The Dawn of Tudor England
- By: Thomas Penn
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 626
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 559
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Story4 out of 5 stars 556
A fresh look at the endlessly fascinating Tudors - the dramatic and overlooked story of Henry VII and his founding of the Tudor Dynasty - filled with spies, plots, counter-plots, and an uneasy royal succession to Henry VIII. Near the turn of the sixteenth century, England had been ravaged for decades by conspiracy and civil war. Henry Tudor clambered to the top of the heap, a fugitive with a flimsy claim to England’s crown who managed to win the throne and stay on it for 24 years.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent portrayal of a man and his time
- By E. Stein on 06-09-12
By: Thomas Penn
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Tudor
- Passion. Manipulation. Murder. The Story of England's Most Notorious Royal Family
- By: Leanda de Lisle
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 16 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 116
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 105
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 105
The Tudors are England's most notorious royal family. But, as Leanda de Lisle's gripping new history reveals, they are a family still more extraordinary than the one we thought we knew. The Tudor canon typically starts with the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 before speeding on to Henry VIII and the Reformation. But this leaves out the family's obscure Welsh origins and the ordinary man known as Owen Tudor who would fall (literally) into a queen's lap - and later her bed.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Clear and detailed
- By Tad Davis on 04-13-16
By: Leanda de Lisle
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Mary Queen of Scots
- The True Life of Mary Stuart
- By: John Guy
- Narrated by: Lucy Rayner
- Length: 25 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 324
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 292
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 290
In the first full-scale biography of Mary Stuart in more than 30 years, John Guy creates an intimate and absorbing portrait of one of history's most famous women, depicting her world and her place in the sweep of history with stunning immediacy. Bringing together all surviving documents and uncovering a trove of new sources for the first time, Guy dispels the popular image of Mary Queen of Scots as a romantic leading lady - achieving her ends through feminine wiles - and establishes her as the intellectual and political equal of Elizabeth I.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Horrible narration - don’t purchase
- By ballymerrigan on 12-27-18
By: John Guy
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Marie Antoinette
- The Journey
- By: Antonia Fraser
- Narrated by: Donada Peters
- Length: 20 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 564
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 398
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 399
France's iconic queen, Marie Antoinette, wrongly accused of uttering the infamous "Let them eat cake", was alternately revered and reviled during her lifetime. For centuries since, she has been the object of debate, speculation, and the fascination so often accorded illustrious figures in history. Married in mere girlhood, this essentially lighthearted child was thrust onto the royal stage and commanded by circumstance to play a significant role in European history.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Annoying Narration
- By LaFemmeRouge on 10-28-06
By: Antonia Fraser
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Crown of Blood
- The Deadly Inheritance of Lady Jane Grey
- By: Nicola Tallis
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 263
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 233
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 230
"Good people, I am come hither to die, and by a law I am condemned to the same." These were the heartbreaking words of a 17-year-old girl, Lady Jane Grey, as she stood on the scaffold awaiting death on a cold February morning in 1554. Minutes later, her head was struck from her body with a single stroke of a heavy ax. Her death for high treason sent shock waves through the Tudor world and served as a gruesome reminder to all who aspired to a crown that the ax could fall at any time.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Brilliantly Compelling
- By J.Brock on 11-26-19
By: Nicola Tallis
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God's Traitors
- Terror & Faith in Elizabethan England
- By: Jessie Childs
- Narrated by: James Adams
- Length: 14 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 39
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 37
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 36
For many Catholics, the Elizabethan "Golden Age" was an alien concept. Following the criminalization of their religion by Elizabeth I, nearly 200 Catholics were executed, and many more wasted away in prison during her reign. Torture was used more than at any other time in England's history. While some bowed to the pressure of the government and new church, publicly conforming to acts of Protestant worship, others did not - and quickly found themselves living in a state of siege.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Well-researched, well-written
- By Charles on 03-23-15
By: Jessie Childs
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The Turbulent Crown
- The Story of the Tudor Queens
- By: Roland Hui
- Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
- Length: 22 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 128
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 110
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 109
Ten remarkable women. One remarkable era. In the Tudor period, 1485 to 1603, a host of fascinating women sat on the English throne. The dramatic events of their lives are told in The Turbulent Crown: The Story of the Tudor Queens.
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5 out of 5 stars
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a very good listen
- By Evil Guppy on 09-21-19
By: Roland Hui
What listeners say about Devices and Desires
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Donald S. Grove
- 03-02-24
Great content, horrible ai generated readin
The actual book is terrific and quite interesting. But it's pretty obvious that they didn't hire someone yo actually read the book. They sampled the reader's voice, and not very thoroughly. The end result is that every single sentence has exactly the same inflection. Terrible. They also didn't bother to check pronunciation so some names and places are pronounced absurdly. Amazon is so determined to reduce basic expenses, to boost profits they can't even lay for some one to read the whole book or check the ai generated mispronunciation. Pathetic and disappointing.
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