How to Be a Tudor Audiobook By Ruth Goodman cover art

How to Be a Tudor

A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Tudor Life

Preview

Try for $0.00
Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.

How to Be a Tudor

By: Ruth Goodman
Narrated by: Heather Wilds
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $25.79

Buy for $25.79

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

On the heels of her triumphant How to Be a Victorian, Ruth Goodman travels even further back in English history to the era closest to her heart, the dramatic period from the crowning of Henry VII to the death of Elizabeth I.

Drawing on her own adventures living in re-created Tudor conditions, Goodman serves as our intrepid guide to 16th-century living. Proceeding from daybreak to bedtime, this charming, illustrative work celebrates the ordinary lives of those who labored through the era. From sounding the "hue and cry" to alert a village to danger to malting grain for homemade ale, from the gruesome sport of bear-baiting to cuckolding and cross-dressing - the madcap habits and revealing intimacies of life in the time of Shakespeare are vividly rendered for the insatiably curious.

©2016 Ruth Goodman. First American Edition 2016. Recorded by arrangement with Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. (P)2016 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
16th Century Great Britain Renaissance England Inspiring Tudor
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Critic reviews

"If the past is a foreign country, we’re lucky to have such a knowledgeable cicerone as Ruth Goodman." ( Wall Street Journal)

What listeners say about How to Be a Tudor

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    363
  • 4 Stars
    139
  • 3 Stars
    51
  • 2 Stars
    13
  • 1 Stars
    6
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    327
  • 4 Stars
    101
  • 3 Stars
    30
  • 2 Stars
    27
  • 1 Stars
    5
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    314
  • 4 Stars
    114
  • 3 Stars
    37
  • 2 Stars
    11
  • 1 Stars
    5

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Emotionless narrator leaves a bit to be desired

Other than the slightly robotic narrator, the book was very good. I really enjoy Ruth Goodman and the Tudor time period.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great listen!

Illuminating and humorous, thanks to Ruth Goodman for another winner! I definitely recommend to anyone who wants to delve deeper into Tudor life. Much more information than a typical novel set in the time period.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating

Entertaining and very interesting. The author’s living history experience brings the subject to life. The narrator’s voice is a bit dreary but not distractingly so

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Ruth is my favorite

She is the ideal historian for me! Being revolved around homemaking, cooking, and English History, she is all that and more wrapped up into one very intelligent, fun and overall perfect go to for Tudor life!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

so informing!

it was so cool to read/hear how thinks were done back then. I want to hear more!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Everyday Life

For anyone who wonders about history beyond wars and the real stories behind tv dramas this is a good starting point to understanding the people of Tudor times.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great book — confused by ending

The author’s experience with Tudor period practices — from knotting silk braid to making ale — made this book great fun. I was enjoying it, and coming to the end of the day with sleep, when the book seemed to suddenly end. Did they run out of studio time or something? Weird. But the rest of it is great!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

for history lovers of the common

informative, accessible and entertaining. highly recommended for anyone interested in late medieval period, and "regular" peoples' lives and living.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Charming Book, Charming Narrator

Spaced over a day in the life of Tudor England, this delightful book takes us through such topics as personal hygiene, food preparation, work, social relations, worship, and sex. Learning about how hard the average Tudor individual worked made me feel lazy and spoiled. I must defend the narrator, Heather Wilds, from the charge of being a "robotic" reader. She has a beautiful voice and charming style. How much drama could you bring to a section on the varieties of wheat, or a detailed description of plowing techniques?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting

Interesting book. I learned a lot. The authors descriptions were excellent and benefited from her personal experience with some of the subjects such as hygiene methods and the making of ale. I wish it had a better narrator. The narrator delivered the book in a sing song way which I could only listen to for short periods of time.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!