Threads of Silk

De: Amanda Roberts

Narrado por: Leanne Yau

Born in the middle of nowhere, Yaqian, a little embroidery girl from Hunan Province, finds her way to the imperial court, a place of intrigue, desire, and treachery. From the bed of an Emperor, the heart of a Prince, and the right side of an Empress, Yaqian weaves her way through the most turbulent decades of China's history and witnesses the fall of the Qing Dynasty.

©2016 Amanda Roberts (P)2017 Red Empress Publishing

brilliant

no new idea exists under our sun. I am inspired and awed by colorful tales told about a feminist who left her final judgment to the reckoning of time.this empress and her embroidery maid are honored in this story and make me grateful to he who I am on this earth.
subject, author and narrator are all top quality.
thank you for writing this story. ♡♡♡

A Great Story in Historical Context

Overall enjoyed this interesting story about embroidery and a girl's rise from poverty in the 19th Century China. Great details about silk, silk worms, eunuchs and the ancient art of embroidery as well as palace intrigue in the Forbidden City.

Several times the dialogue of the character made her seem unnaturally clueless. Overall good narration but at times a bit over-dramatic and shrill. Despite this, we stuck with it and enjoyed the story.

A peek into late 1800's Chinese culture

This is a fascinating story about a talented Chinese girl who made beautiful silk embroidery that sold well and supported her parents. They despised her for being a girl and thought of her as worthless, so they sent her to become an apprentice of a well known embroidery master and didn’t see her for 10 years. Her talent… and bounded feet called the attention of the emperor and she was taken to the Forbidden City…

Leanne Yau’s narration is excellent - I enjoyed the British/Chinese accent, as well as the character voices.

I received this audio-book free for an honest review by the author, narrator, or publisher. Thank you!!!

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First-Rate Historical Fiction

This novel ends with the selection of China's last emperor, a boy of only three years. The epic story is told in the first person by a female Han servant to the Manchu dowager empress and covers the last half of the 19th century and the first few years of the 20th century. This is a tale rife with court intrigues, power struggles, illicit love affairs, and unspeakable violence. It rings true in every event. The most fascinating aspect of this novel for me was the clarity of explanation of the Boxer Rebellion. I feel as though I now have a much better understanding of how those bloody days came about and how they actually unfolded. This is a first-rate work of historical fiction. The writing is excellent. The history as presented feels authentic. The narration is absolutely impeccable. I cannot think when I have enjoyed any audio book more.

Loved it

Embroidery and Chinese history. The last empress. Appropriate for teens Lovely stories. Three more words.

Beautiful Story and Brillant Listen

I was given a promotional copy of this audio book for a fair and honest review.

Amanda Roberts story of following a young Chinese girl throughout her life, was a beautiful compelling story of strength, courage, and perseverance during a very volatile time in Manchu China.

The history and background of Peking China and the Forbidden City, paved the way for a rich illuminating story that brought me so much joy to listen to. Who knew that an Embroidery Girl could rise up in the Inner Court of the Empress and could make a lasting impression. The story is filled with sacrifice, love for family, Chinese culture and traditions during the turn of the 20th century. There is history, intrigue and a good look at the inner workings of the Forbidden City and the inner sanctum of the Emperor, Empress, the many concubines and eunuchs that make up the great array of Characters you learn to love or hate in this story.

The narration was great and Leanne Yau's accent and delivery made the story even more interesting. There were a few problems in the production and editing itself with quite a few duplicate sentences and some background noises that were distracting to the overall production.

I will be looking out for more books by Amanda Roberts as well as other Narrations by Leanne Yau.

Unraveling & binding life, a spunky Chinese female

I enjoyed this intriguing and evolving story with many twists and turns and would love to listen to other books by this author or narrator. I have already recommended the book to others.

WHAT I LIKED MOST:
*From a 6 year old child to adulthood, Yaqian was so incredibly bold and spunky and was not afraid to speak her mind to her insensitive parents, her exploitative teacher/business woman, and the entitled royals, during a time when females had little worth and were expected to be subservient
*Detailed historical descriptions of the struggle between 19th-century China and the British Empire; plight of young Chinese girls; secrets of the Forbidden City; cultural and class divisions; the torture and weird sexual purposes of foot-binding; intricate art of silk embroidery
*Blunt, non-sugar coated, portrayal of the sexual demands and expectations of young Chinese woman


WHAT I DID NOT PARTICULARLY ENJOY:
*The last section of the book attempted to cover too much time and history and it was presented in a superficial way that left the listener with many unanswered questions

DISCLAIMER: This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review.

Family Sage

I enjoy family generation sagas and this one does not disappoint. Although I have a difficult time accepting the ruthlessness of the Emperor/Empress, it is an interesting read.

Amazing storyline filled with surprises

I love the entire story, and like her love interest, and how their love story really like takes off and it’s slow but it’s fast the same time like I can’t explain it. The storyline is super super good and I do like how it was based in the Ching dynasty because I do love their fashion. I do wish that they gave us more details on what people were wearing, but the way they made the characters and everything was really good.

Wonderful story and narration!

I really enjoyed listening to this book. The narration was mesmerizing and story kept me hooked. I highly recommend this book.