Scent of Cloves
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Scent of Cloves
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Narrated by:
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Gráinne Gillis
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By:
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Norah Lofts
About this listen
Julia Ashley was born to a life of dramatic twists and tragedy. Her future and any possible lasting happiness depended entirely on a "glove marriage" to a man who was no more than a name.
The Dutch East Indies in the 17th century were the lands of legendary riches; of "nutmeg princes"; of fortunes built on barbaric plantations and slavery. And amid the extravagance, the cruelty and the bizarre customs, perhaps the strangest events of all were the curious weddings that sent girls halfway around the world to husbands they had never seen.
Julia took her "glove" - of yellow, pearl-sewn silk - and began the journey to the island of Rua, to a land of seeming paradise where nothing was exactly as it appeared.
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 27
Chelsea Myles earns her living as an actress with her uncle's theater troupe, performing cheap plays on the streets of London and picking the customers' pockets. Until one night, a robbery goes awry and Chelsea is left holding a purse with enough gold to buy her passage to Australia, and the chance of a fresh start. Once on board the vessel, Chelsea is intrigued by a fellow passenger, Quaid Tanner, who is returning to his vineyard in Australia. As much as Quaid admires the feisty, courageous Chelsea, circumstances seem destined to keep them apart.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Great story but too detailed in sex scenes for me
- By Private on 09-23-15
By: Fern Michaels
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Gone with the Wind
- By: Margaret Mitchell
- Narrated by: Linda Stephens
- Length: 49 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 15,013
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 12,867
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Story5 out of 5 stars 12,872
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Literature, Margaret Mitchell's great novel of the South is one of the most popular books ever written. Within six months of its publication in 1936, Gone With the Wind had sold a million copies. To date, it has been translated into 25 languages, and more than 28 million copies have been sold. Here are the characters that have become symbols of passion and desire....
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5 out of 5 stars
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not to miss audible experience
- By dallas on 12-08-09
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Oblomov
- By: Ivan Goncharov
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 20 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 83
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 74
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 74
A member of the landed gentry, with a seemingly guaranteed income from his estate in the country, Oblomov lives in Petersburg, uninterested in the business that provides his living and barely aware that the revenue is diminishing. Not that he leads a dissolute life of extravagance, balls and entertainment. Instead he is a dreamer, a sybarite, content above all to spend most of the day supine, in bed. The novel opens with Oblomov thus ensconced, attended only by his dirty, grumbling, indolent servant Zahar, who has looked after him since childhood, catering to his every need.
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5 out of 5 stars
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funny and smart
- By Bennett Weiss on 07-29-20
By: Ivan Goncharov
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The Young Clementina
- By: D. E. Stevenson
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 109
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 95
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 93
Charlotte Dean enjoys nothing more than the solitude of her London flat and the monotonous days of her work at a travel bookshop. But when her younger sister unceremoniously bursts into her quiet life one afternoon, Charlotte's world turns topsy-turvy. Beloved author D. E. Stevenson captures the intricacies of post-World War I England with a light, comic touch that perfectly embodies the spirit of the time. Alternatively heartbreaking and witty, The Young Clementina is a touching tale of love, loss and redemption through friendship.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Miss Dean's Dilemma
- By Jerri C on 05-02-18
By: D. E. Stevenson
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Buddenbrooks
- The Decline of a Family
- By: Thomas Mann
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 26 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 680
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 613
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 611
First published in 1900, when Thomas Mann was 25, Buddenbrooks is a minutely imagined chronicle of four generations of a North German mercantile family - a work so true to life that it scandalized the author’s former neighbours in his native Lübeck.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Where Have You Been All My Life, Thomas Mann?
- By Virginia Waldron on 03-30-17
By: Thomas Mann
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The Secrets of Wishtide
- Booktrack Edition
- By: Kate Saunders
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 65
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 60
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 59
Mrs. Laetitia Rodd, aged 52, is the widow of an archdeacon who makes her living as a highly discreet private investigator. Her brother, Frederick Tyson, is a criminal barrister living in nearby Highgate with his wife and 10 children. Frederick finds the cases, and Laetitia solves them using her arch intelligence and her immaculate cover as an unsuspecting widow. When a case arises involving the son of the highly connected Sir James Calderstone, Laetitia sets off for Lincolnshire undercover as the family's new governess.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Background music annoying
- By Ms P Kelly on 01-14-19
By: Kate Saunders
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Of Human Bondage
- By: W. Somerset Maugham
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 28 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 418
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 375
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 371
Of Human Bondage is one of the greatest novels of modern times, and it is certainly Maugham's greatest achievement. It was published in 1914, when Maugham was at the height of his creative powers. The story concerns Philip Carey, afflicted at birth with a club foot, and his passionate search for truth in a cruel world. We follow his growth to manhood, his educational progress, his first loves, and the wrenching tragedies and disappointments that life has in store for him. In some of the finest prose of the 20th century, Maugham has presented us with the timeless story of one man's search for the meaning of life.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Greatly Unsettling
- By Michael on 10-04-14
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The Forsyte Chronicles, Vol. 2
- A Modern Comedy
- By: John Galsworthy
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 34 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 17
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 14
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Story5 out of 5 stars 14
John Galsworthy's magnificent trilogy of power and passion chronicles the wealthy Forsyte family. The complete Chronicles are divided into three volumes, containing nine books and four interludes in total. Volume 2, A Modern Comedy, focuses on Soames's vivacious daughter, Fleur. Soames tries constantly to protect her but is baffled by the carefree attitudes in post-war London. Fleur and her husband Michael Mont host society gatherings, but her previous affair with Jon Forsyte leaves embers of a passion that are ready to ignite - with dreadful consequences.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Very worthwhile
- By Jonathan Kalkstein on 09-27-22
By: John Galsworthy
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Mr. Fox
- A Novel
- By: Helen Oyeyemi
- Narrated by: Carol Boyd
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 106
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 93
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 95
Fairy-tale romances end with a wedding and the fairy tales don't get complicated. In this book, celebrated writer Mr. Fox can't stop himself from killing off the heroines of his novels, and neither can his wife, Daphne. It's not until Mary, his muse, comes to life and transforms him from author into subject that his story begins to unfold differently....
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2 out of 5 stars
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A Great Novel, just Poor for Audio
- By James A. Dittes on 08-13-16
By: Helen Oyeyemi
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A Place of Greater Safety
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 33 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 281
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 245
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 244
It is 1789, and three young provincials have come to Paris to make their way. Georges-Jacques Danton, an ambitious young lawyer, is energetic, pragmatic, debt-ridden - and hugely but erotically ugly. Maximilien Robespierre, also a lawyer, is slight, diligent, and terrified of violence. His dearest friend, Camille Desmoulins, is a conspirator and pamphleteer of genius. A charming gadfly, erratic and untrustworthy, bisexual and beautiful, Camille is obsessed by one woman and engaged to marry another, her daughter.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Disaster
- By Frank Dudley Berry Jr. on 08-01-13
By: Hilary Mantel
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God's Handmaiden
- By: Gilbert Morris
- Narrated by: Christine Rendel
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 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 33
Gervase Howard is in her mid-teens when her working-class mother dies and she must go to live with relatives in service to a wealthy, noble family, outside of London. While learning various jobs, she is drawn to the eldest son, Davis. Her fascination with him grows deeper, but more hopeless, since the two are separated not just by class, but also by Davis's love for Roberta. When Davis announces his engagement, he asks Gervase to join them as Roberta's maid. But instead Gervase becomes a companion to Florence Nightingale and accompanies her when the Crimean War breaks out....
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5 out of 5 stars
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Always enjoy Gilbert Morris-Great historical fict.
- By Linda - Yakima on 01-17-13
By: Gilbert Morris
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Anna of the Five Towns
- By: Arnold Bennett
- Narrated by: Peter Joyce
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 16
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 15
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 15
Set in stifled, industrial Staffordshire in the late 19th century, against a strong evangelical background, Anna of the Five Towns tells of the courting of hard businessman Ephraim Tellright's daughter by prosperous and accomplished Henry Mynors. As her father's fortune grows, so does Anna understanding. She realises her legacy and responsibility for the possible ruination of her father's tenants, Titus Price and his son, Willie, who also loves her.
By: Arnold Bennett
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Ember Island
- By: Kimberley Freeman
- Narrated by: Jennifer Vuletic
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 327
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 295
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 294
A compelling tale of two women separated by a century who discover long-buried secrets in an Australian manor house. In 1891, Tilly Kirkland is reeling with shock and guilt after her tempestuous marriage ends in horrific circumstances. Fleeing to the farthest place she knows, Tilly takes a job on Ember Island in Moreton Bay, Australia, where she becomes the governess to the prison superintendent's precocious young daughter, Nell.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Not her best book
- By Beth on 05-02-18
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You May Kiss the Bride
- The Penhallow Dynasty, Book 1
- By: Lisa Berne
- Narrated by: Carolyn Morris
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 93
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 84
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 84
Wealthy and arrogant, Gabriel Penhallow knows it's time to fulfill his dynastic duty. All he must do is follow "The Penhallow way" - find a biddable bride, produce an heir and a spare, and then live separate lives. It's worked so well for generations, certainly one kiss with the delectable Livia Stuart isn't going to change things. Society dictates he marry her, and one chit is as good as another as long as she's from a decent family.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Slow Story. EXCELLENT SUPERB NARRATION!
- By Tracy T on 03-30-17
By: Lisa Berne
What listeners say about Scent of Cloves
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Ruth Mc.
- 12-01-23
Not one of Norah Lofts best works
Though Lofts is one of my favorite authors, I was disappointed with this book.
The story plodded along until well through half of the book when it finally picked up. It was tedious until then.
I found the narrator off-putting too. I don't know why a woman with an obvious Irish rogue was chosen to perform an audiobook where most of the characters were Dutch. Except for a short prologue that took place in Ireland. And even in that part most of the main characters were English.
Aside from the rogue, the paragraphs of exposition sounded flat. I think it was equal parts the way the words were read, and that this particular novel was dull in a lot of spots.
I probably will not reread this book as I have done with everything else I have read by Norah Lofts.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 11-30-15
Great listen BUT crucial chapter missing
This is a lovely romantic tale set in 1600s Indonesia when the Dutch had a monopoly on the clove and nutmeg trade. I enjoyed the story thoroughly and the narrator was great BUT there's a crucial section missing. I checked with the Kindle Unlimited print version and it's just not there.
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8 people found this helpful