AuthorJoanna Quinn
NarratorOlivia Vinall
Duration18h 24m
CategoriesAdult Fiction, Historical Novels
PublisherPenguin Books Ltd
VersionUnabridged
Brought to you Penguin.
Cristabel Seagrave has always wanted her life to be a story, but there are no girls in the books in her dusty family library. For an unwanted orphan who grows into an unmarriageable young woman, there is no place at all for her in a traditional English manor.
But from the day that a whale washes up on the beach at the Chilcombe estate in Dorset, and twelve-year-old Cristabel plants her flag and claims it as her own, she is determined to do things differently.
With her step-parents blithely distracted by their endless party guests, Cristabel and her siblings, Flossie and Digby, scratch together an education from the plays they read in their freezing attic, drunken conversations eavesdropped through oak-panelled doors, and the esoteric lessons of Maudie their maid.
But as the children grow to adulthood and war approaches, jolting their lives on to very different tracks, it becomes clear that the roles they are expected to play are no longer those they want. As they find themselves drawn into the conflict, they must each find a way to write their own story...
© Joanna Quinn 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022
Author: Michel Houellebecq
Author Michel Houellebecq
Narrator John Sackville
Duration 8h 10m
Dissatisfied and discontent, Florent-Claude Labrouste begrudgingly works as an engineer for the Ministry of Agriculture, and is in a self-imposed dysfunctional relationship with a younger woman. When he discovers her ongoing infidelity, he decides to abandon his life in Paris and return to the Normandy countryside of his youth. There he contemplate...
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Author: Isabella Hammad
Author Isabella Hammad
Narrator Fiona Button
Duration 20h 31m
As the First World War shatters families, destroys friendships and kills lovers, a young Palestinian dreamer sets out to find himself. Midhat Kamal picks his way across a fractured world, from the shifting politics of the Middle East to the dinner tables of Montpellier and a newly tumultuous Paris. He discovers that everything is fragile: love turn...
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The Confessions of Frannie Langton
Author: Sara Collins
Author Sara Collins
Narrator Roy Mcmillan
Duration 12h 14m
Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Confessions of Frannie Langton read by Sara Collins. They say I must be put to death for what happened to Madame, and they want me to confess. But how can I confess what I don't believe I've done? 1826, and all of London is in a frenzy. Crowds gather at the gates of the Old Bailey to watch as Frannie La...
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Ellindale Saga Book 4: One Perfect Family
Author: Anna Jacobs
Author Anna Jacobs
Narrator Anne Dover
SeriesEllindale Saga, Book 4
Duration 10h 46m
Lancashire, 1934. When Tam Crawford is unexpectedly bequeathed some money, he can finally realise his dream of settling down in the beautiful village of Ellindale. Tam knows he can be impulsive - his nickname isn't Crazy Tam for nothing! - but this time he is determined not to be ruled by his big heart and hot head. Yet somehow, within just one day...
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Author: Pam Jenoff
Author Pam Jenoff
Narrator Various
Duration 11h 42m
From the internationally best-selling author Pam Jenoff, The Lost Girls of Paris is an emotional and powerful journey through friendship and betrayal during the Second World War, inspired by true events. 1940s. With the world at war, Eleanor Trigg leads a mysterious ring of female secret agents in London. Twelve of these women are sent to aid the r...
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Author: Vanora Bennett
Author Vanora Bennett
Narrator Lucy Scott
Duration 19h 27m
Fourteenth century England. The country is in turmoil. The King is in debt to the City, and the old order had broken down. The King's mistress, Alice Perrers, becomes the virtual ruler of the country. Dislaked and despised by the Black Prince, her strong connections to the merchants maker her a natural ally for the King's ambitious second son, John...
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Author: Vanora Bennett
Author Vanora Bennett
Narrator Lucy Scott
Duration 13h 48m
As the Wars of the Roses draw slowly to a close, England is a place of turmoil. Edward IV is on the thrown but his position is unstable and he finds himself challenged by a man who would become Henry VII. But Isabel, a silk weaver to the court and mistress to Richard II, can cut through the turmoil with her clever ways and her pretty smile. Her sis...
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Author: Hilary Mantel
Author Hilary Mantel
Narrator Ben Miles
Duration 37h 55m
The long-awaited sequel to Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, the stunning conclusion to Hilary Mantel's Man Booker Prize-winning Thomas Cromwell trilogy. 'If you cannot speak truth at a beheading, when can you speak it?' England, May 1536. Anne Boleyn is dead, decapitated in the space of a heartbeat by a hired French executioner. As her remains ar...
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Author: Rosella Postorino
Author Rosella Postorino
Narrator Kristen Atherton
Duration 10h 51m
East Prussia, 1943. Hitler hides away in the Wolfsshanze - his hidden headquarters. The tide is turning in the war, and his enemies circle ever closer. Ten women are chosen. Ten women to taste his food and protect him from poison. Twenty-six-year-old Rosa has lost everything to this war. Her parents are dead. Her husband is fighting on the front li...
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The Last Kingdom Book 12: Sword of Kings
Author: Bernard Cornwell
Author Bernard Cornwell
Narrator Matt Bates
SeriesThe Last Kingdom, Book 12
Duration 13h 27m
England is in turmoil as Vikings and Saxons battle for territory. Rumours build about the fatal sickness of the King, and the country awaits an heir. A violent clash at sea forces the warrior lord Uhtred to lead his men from his Northumbrian fortress to London and plunge into the eye of the storm. For two kings claim the empty throne and a new king...
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