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Title: The Crown
Author: Nancy Bilyeau
Narrator: Nicola Barber
Format: Unabridged
Length: 14 hrs and 44 mins
Language: English
Release date: 01-10-12
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 230 votes
Genres: Fiction, Historical
Publisher's Summary:
In this debut historical thriller, an aristocratic young nun must find a legendary crown in order to save her fathers 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 cousins side.
Arrested for interfering with kings justice, Joanna, along with her father, Sir Richard Stafford, is sent to the Tower of London. Joannas father is brutally tortured by Stephen Gardiner, the Bishop of Winchester, who leads the Catholic faction bent on saving Englands monasteries from destruction. In order to save her father, Joanna must submit to Gardiners will and become a pawn in the struggle between religious extremes. Gardiner forces Joanna to return to Dartford Priory with a mission: find the long-hidden crown worn by Saxon King Athelstan in AD 937 during the historic battle that first united Britain. Gardiner believes the crown itself to possess a mystical power that will halt the Reformation.
Uncovering only dark betrayals and murder at Dartford, Joanna flees with Brother Edmund, a troubled young friar, and with time running out, their hunt for the crown leads them through royal castles, to Stonehenge, and finally to the tomb of the mysterious King Athelstan under Malmesbury Abbey. There Joanna learns the true secret of the crown - a secret tracing all the way back to Golgotha and the relics of the Passion - and must finally determine who to trust and how far she is willing to go to protect a way of life that she passionately loves.
Critic Reviews:
Nancy Bilyeaus polished, inventive debut has all the ingredients of the best historical fiction: a broad cast of characters, well-imagined settings, and vivid storytellingIn Joanna Stafford, Bilyeau has given us a memorable character who is prepared to risk her life to save what she most values, while Staffords desperate search for a lost religious relic will satisfy even the most ardent mystery fans. (Deborah Harkness, author of A Discovery of Witches)
Members Reviews:
Torture
Can't get past the first hour and a half to see if this is a good story or not. I was impressed with all the reviews, and eager to listen, as I love good historical fiction. But there was a bit too much of the burnings and the tower ttorture in the first part for me. I know they existed, and I know there were sadists, but a little demonstration goes a long way. If I ever pick this book up again in the distant future, I will skip to halfway into the story to see if it gets any less grisly. As it is, I wasted a credit.
A real page turner!
What did you love best about The Crown?
I loved the spunky heroine and also the numerous twists in the plot. The narrator was excellent -- she had a perfect British accent with lots of expression.
What other book might you compare The Crown to and why?
The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory.