Dynasty 1: The Founding

By: Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Narrated by: Christopher Scott

This wonderful series opens with the back drop of the Wars of the Roses with the marriage between Eleanor Morland and a scion of the influential house of Beaufort. It is a union which establishes the powerful Morland dynasty and in the succeeding volumes of this rich tapestry of English life, we follow their fortunes through war and peace, political upheaval and social revolution, times of pestilence and periods of plenty, and through the vicissitudes which afflict every family - love and passion, envy and betrayal, birth and death, great fortune and miserable penury.

The Morland Dynasty is entertainment of the most addictive kind.

©1980 Cynthia Harrod-Eagles (P)1998 Isis Audiobooks

Sublime

Emotionally engaging, historically riveting . Inspiration for GOT perhaps. Excellent narration. Cried at the end- perfect book. need to start #2

Great historical series.

Any additional comments?

This is a well-researched historical series by an author who weaves 'real' history into the lives of her full characters. I am not going to review each book individually, as I loved and read them all. Historical series do not find publication as easily nowadays as they used to do, so this one was a real treat. There are a few more not available on audible as yet, but I shall acquire them as they become available.

So Entertaining and Interesting!

I have now listened to 3 books in this series. What a fun time. The series will provide historical fiction lovers with hours of good listening. So far the stories are not "gummy" with ridiculous,sticky romantic writing. There is enough romance blended with ficticious events to develop a very good story that holds the listeners' attention. If you enjoy well developed fictional characters mixed with actual historical people and events this is the series for you. The listener can get a birds eye view of Britsh history without feeling bogged down. I hope Audible will provide the entire series for us to enjoy as I will pruchase all of them without hesitation.

Awesome historical fiction

If you love historical fiction, read this book. Love it! The saga of the Morland family is interwoven into the War of the Roses time period in this first book in the series. It's a great beginning to an awesome series.

A perfect listen for me.

I am really enjoying this series so far. It’s a pleasure to read or listen to history and learn while having it personalized by presenting it as family saga. I don’t know if I will get through all of the books but I am going to try. Christopher Scott did an excellent job. He made each character come alive and seemed to fit right in with the story. To me that’s a high compliment.

Worth the listen

Book 1 sets up the story well for a wonderful read. The reader is able to picture the characters as they become like real people. I enjoyed knowing how religion became such a struggle between the Pope & Kings. It's fun to learn tidbits of history through the lives of these fictional people. This writer appears to be a master at telling the reader what characters are thinking, especially as they dialogue between each other. I just finished Book 2 of this series which is not as good as this one. I plan to purchase Book 3. I'm still in.

A great start! Good characters, good history

If you could sum up Dynasty 1: The Founding in three words, what would they be?

Engaging historically-believable characters

What was one of the most memorable moments of Dynasty 1: The Founding?

Sorry--no spoilers!!! I hate spoilers. But the book is great.

Which character – as performed by Christopher Scott – was your favorite?

The main character. Though female, the voice rendition was not annoying.

If you could rename Dynasty 1: The Founding, what would you call it?

This name fits it best.

Any additional comments?

I read a couple of CHE's 20th century books in this series a while back and decided I wanted to go back and pick up the family from the beginning. I unfortunately read her 20th century books at the same time as Follett's Fall of Giants, which was better, perhaps because it had to cover multiple cultural grounds quickly and not just one ancient family's descendants. But this Dynasty 1 book has me interested in this family again, and I'll keep going in the series for sure.

Good start to a saga

I enjoyed this first (of many!) volume. This installment tells the story of how the Morlands become a dynasty,, led by the indefatigable Eleanor. Historical fiction is my favorite genre and I am particularly interested in British history I'm not familiar with this narrator but thought he did a great job. Looking forward to the rest of the series.