The Maiden of All Our Desires
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The Maiden of All Our Desires
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Narrated by:
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Anne Flosnik
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By:
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Peter Manseau
About this listen
Fourteenth-century Europe. The Black Death has killed half the known world, and in an isolated convent, a small group of nuns spends their days in work, austerity, and devotion, chanting the Liturgy of the Hours. But their community is threatened. Rumors of heresy and a scandalous Book of Ursula, based on the teachings of the charismatic former abbess and founder of the order, have prompted the male church hierarchy to launch an investigation. The priest assigned to minister to the nuns, Father Francis, who is wracked by guilt for an unspeakable crime committed during the lawless plague years, was no friend of Ursula and can't be counted on to defend the order. Disrespect and rebellion infect some novices, and the youngest among them pines for the bishop's chief inquisitor. And Mother John, the convent's aging spiritual leader, fears she's losing her mind after experiencing a vision that brings back her own rebellious past.
As events unfold over the course of a single day, a blizzard that has swept across Europe will break over the convent, endangering the women there and testing their faith. In this astonishing novel, the author of the award-winning Songs for the Butcher's Daughter explores the territory between faith and freedom, and how the horrific events of history shape individual lives.
©2022 Peter Manseau (P)2022 HighBridge, a division of Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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The Anchoress
- By: Robyn Cadwallader
- Narrated by: Mary Jane Wells, Steve West
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 38
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 33
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Story4 out of 5 stars 34
Sarah is just 17 when she chooses to become an anchoress, a holy woman shut away in a cell that measures only seven by nine paces, at the side of the village church. Fleeing the grief of losing a much-loved sister in childbirth as well as pressure to marry the local lord's son, she decides to renounce the world - with all its dangers, desires, and temptations - and commit herself to a life of prayer. But it soon becomes clear that the thick, unforgiving walls of Sarah's cell cannot protect her as well as she had thought.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Entertaining
- By Here-and-faraway on 07-01-15
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Flesh and Spirit
- Lighthouse, Book 1
- By: Carol Berg
- Narrated by: Allen O'Reilly
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 92
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 86
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 84
The rebellious son of a long line of pureblood cartographers and diviners, Valen has spent most of his life trying to escape what society - and his family - have ordained for him. His own mother has predicted that he will meet his doom in water, blood, and ice. Her divination seems fulfilled when a comrade abandons Valen in a rainy wilderness half-dead, addicted to an enchantment that converts pain to pleasure, and possessing only a stolen book of maps.
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2 out of 5 stars
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FIGHTING TO ADD MORE WORDS TO THIS COLLECTION
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 07-13-14
By: Carol Berg
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The Crown
- By: Nancy Bilyeau
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 14 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 251
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 216
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Story4 out of 5 stars 215
In this debut historical thriller, an aristocratic young nun must find a legendary crown in order to save her father’s life and preserve all she holds dear. When novitiate nun Joanna Stafford learns her rebel cousin is condemned by King Henry VIII to be burned at the stake, she makes the decision to break the sacred rule of enclosure and flee her Dominican order in Dartford to stand at her cousin’s side. Arrested for interfering with king’s justice, Joanna, along with her father, Sir Richard Stafford, is sent to the Tower of London.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Torture
- By S. Wells on 03-24-13
By: Nancy Bilyeau
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I, Strahd: The Memoirs of a Vampire
- Ravenloft: Strahd, Book 1
- By: P. N. Elrod
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,308
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,057
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,059
Some of the parchment pages were the color of cream, thick and substantial, made to last many, many lifetimes. Other pages were thin and desiccated, positively yellow from age, and crackled alarmingly as Van Richten turned them over. There were no ornate illuminations, no fussy borders, only lines of plain text in hard black ink. The flowing handwriting was a bit difficult to follow at first; the writer's style of calligraphy had not been in common use for 300 years. No table of contents, but from the dates it looked to be some kind of history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Love it...just one complaint....
- By Ryan Conrad on 03-15-14
By: P. N. Elrod
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The Spire
- By: William Golding
- Narrated by: Benedict Cumberbatch
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 249
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 226
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Story4 out of 5 stars 222
Dean Jocelin has a vision: that God has chosen him to erect a great spire on his cathedral. His mason anxiously advises against it, for the old cathedral was built without foundations. Nevertheless, the spire rises octagon upon octagon, pinnacle by pinnacle, until the stone pillars shriek and the ground beneath it swims. Its shadow falls ever darker on the world below, and on Dean Jocelin in particular.From the author of Lord of the Flies, The Spire is a dark and powerful portrait of one man's will, and the folly that he creates.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Power through for a deep exam. of a man's psyche
- By Leena on 11-15-14
By: William Golding
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Bloodleaf
- By: Crystal Smith
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,173
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,072
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,070
Princess Aurelia is a prisoner to her crown and the heir that nobody wants. Surrounded by spirits and banned from using her blood-magic, Aurelia flees her country after a devastating assassination attempt. To escape her fate, Aurelia disguises herself as a commoner in a new land and discovers a happiness her crown has never allowed. As she forges new bonds and perfects her magic, she begins to fall for a man who is forbidden to rule beside her.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Not Understanding All the Praise
- By GPChlorine on 08-23-19
By: Crystal Smith
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Crispin: The End of Time
- By: Avi
- Narrated by: Ron Keith
- Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 90
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 79
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 79
Newbery Medal-winning author Avi completes the Crispin saga with this third installment of the riveting trilogy. In 14th-century England, Crispin has embarked on one adventure after another since discovering that he, once known only as “Asta’s son,” has a much grander future than he ever could have imagined. Encountering such trustworthy souls as Bear during the course of his travels, Crispin teeters on the brink of fulfilling his destiny in this stunning tale of the Middle Ages.
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2 out of 5 stars
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DO NOT READ THISSSSS
- By C. Smith on 02-25-20
By: Avi
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Sylvia
- By: Bryce Courtenay
- Narrated by: Edwina Wren
- Length: 19 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 232
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 144
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Story4 out of 5 stars 145
From master storyteller Bryce Courtenay comes a colorful, lusty story set in the 13th century, an epic tale of a Europe torn by religious intolerance. The story centers around Sylvia Honeyeater, who sings like an angel and can literally charm the birds from the trees. The narrative also features the Pied Piper of Hamelin, Francis of Assisi, the Muslim Sultan and his harem, and the fervor that becomes the Children's Crusade and then, later, the Crusades.
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2 out of 5 stars
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a departure for Bryce
- By G. on 06-11-07
By: Bryce Courtenay
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The Architect's Apprentice
- By: Elif Shafak
- Narrated by: Piter Marek
- Length: 16 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 357
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 318
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 317
In 1540, 12-year-old Jahan arrives in Istanbul. As an animal tamer in the sultan's menagerie, he looks after the exceptionally smart elephant Chota and befriends (and falls for) the sultan's beautiful daughter Princess Mihrimah. A palace education leads Jahan to Mimar Sinan, the empire's chief architect, who takes Jahan under his wing as they construct (with Chota's help) some of the most magnificent buildings in history.
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4 out of 5 stars
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I feel like I should like it more than I do
- By nyog on 04-19-17
By: Elif Shafak
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All the Ever Afters
- The Untold Story of Cinderella’s Stepmother
- By: Danielle Teller
- Narrated by: Jane Copland
- Length: 10 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 229
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 231
In the vein of Wicked, The Woodcutter, and Boy, Snow, Bird, a luminous re-imagining of a classic tale, told from the perspective of Agnes, Cinderella’s "evil" stepmother. We all know the story of Cinderella. Or do we? As rumors about the cruel upbringing of beautiful newlywed Princess Cinderella roil the kingdom, her stepmother, Agnes, who knows all too well about hardship, privately records the true story...
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3 out of 5 stars
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Not what I was expecting...
- By IonyWinter on 07-15-19
By: Danielle Teller
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Oil and Marble
- A Novel of Leonardo and Michelangelo
- By: Stephanie Storey
- Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,552
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,302
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,299
From 1501 to 1505, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti both lived and worked in Florence. Leonardo was a charming, handsome 50-year-old at the peak of his career. Michelangelo was a temperamental sculptor in his mid-20s, desperate to make a name for himself. Michelangelo is a virtual unknown when he returns to Florence and wins the commission to carve what will become one of the most famous sculptures of all time: David.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fact and Fiction Fuse for a Great Listen
- By bec/audiothing on 07-21-16
By: Stephanie Storey
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Ophelia
- By: Lisa Klein
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 53
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 48
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Story4 out of 5 stars 48
In this re-imagining of Shakespeare's famous tragedy, it is Ophelia who takes center stage. A rowdy, motherless girl, she grows up at Elsinore Castle to become the queens most trusted lady-in-waiting. She catches the attention of the captivating, dark-haired Prince Hamlet, and their love blossoms in secret. But bloody deeds soon turn Denmark into a place of madness, and ultimately, Ophelia must choose between her love for Hamlet and her own life.
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2 out of 5 stars
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nice idea, poorly executed
- By Darryl on 06-11-16
By: Lisa Klein
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Jesus
- A Novel
- By: Walter Wangerin Jr.
- Narrated by: Walter Wangerin Jr.
- Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 72
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 48
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 47
With eloquence and beauty, the award-winning author of The Book of the Dun Cow, The Book of God, and Paul: A Novel, turns his pen to history's most compelling figure, Jesus of Nazareth. In vibrant language, Walter Wangerin, Jr. sweeps away centuries of tradition and reveals a man of flesh-and-heart immediacy. Passionate, intelligent, and irresistibly real, this is a Jesus pulsing with life, who will captivate you as thoroughly as he did the men and women who walked with him across Galilee's golden countryside.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Terrible
- By Donald on 12-25-05
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The Bone Doll's Twin
- Tamir Triad, Book 1
- By: Lynn Flewelling
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine, Lynn Flewelling
- Length: 16 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 827
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 514
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 521
As people start to recall the Oracle's prophecy, Erius begins to quietly kill off his female relatives who pose the only threat to his monarchy. Constantly in fear for her life, Princess Ariani the King's sister, gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. But Ariani is married to Lord Rhius, the patron of the powerful wizard Iya, and Iya has sinister plans for the babes.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Not a bad beginning, but . . .
- By bluestatereader on 12-29-10
By: Lynn Flewelling
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The Book of Kells
- By: R. A. MacAvoy
- Narrated by: Alan Robertson
- Length: 14 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 185
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 157
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Story4 out of 5 stars 160
A contemporary man, John Thornburn (a meek, non-violent and unpredictable artist) and woman, Derval (his tough, confrontational, strong and warrior-like lover) time travel to ancient Ireland to avenge a Viking attack. Packed with fascinating details of historical time and place in Irish history and delicately balanced on the border between realism and fantasy, the story centers around one of the most famous and beautiful illuminated manuscripts in history, the legendary but entirely real Book of Kells.
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4 out of 5 stars
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The Book of Irish Fantasy
- By S. Wells on 12-10-12
By: R. A. MacAvoy
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Wintersong
- By: S. Jae-Jones
- Narrated by: Eva Kaminsky
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 259
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 237
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Story4 out of 5 stars 238
All her life, 19-year-old Liesl has heard tales of the beautiful, mysterious Goblin King. He is the Lord of Mischief, the Ruler Underground, and the muse around which her music is composed. Yet, as Liesl helps shoulder the burden of running her family's inn, her dreams of composition and childish fancies about the Goblin King must be set aside in favor of more practical concerns. But when her sister Kathe is taken by the goblins, Liesl journeys to their realm to rescue her sister and return her to the world above.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Muddled
- By Ingrid on 03-13-17
By: S. Jae-Jones
What listeners say about The Maiden of All Our Desires
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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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- InScotland
- 10-30-22
I loved this book
Beautiful story, beautifully written. I had to re-listen to the last two chapters to make sure I understood the ending. Great.
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