Alison Weir has 21 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 14 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4.5★ across 282 ratings. The most-rated is Katherine of Aragon, the True Queen.
Katherine of Aragon, the True Queen
Summary
Best-selling author and acclaimed historian Alison Weir takes on what no fiction writer has done before: creating a dramatic six-book series in which each novel covers one of English King Henry VIII's wives. In this captivating opening volume, Weir brings to life the tumultuous tale of Katherine of Aragon, Henry's first, devoted, and "true" queen. A princess of Spain, Catalina is only 16 years old when she sets foot on the shores of England. The youngest daughter of the powerful monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, Catalina is a coveted prize for a royal marriage - and Arthur, Prince of Wales and heir to the English throne, has won her hand. But tragedy strikes, and Catalina, now Princess Katherine, is betrothed to the future Henry VIII. She must wait for his coming of age, an ordeal that tests her resolve, casts doubt on her trusted confidantes, and turns her into a virtual prisoner. Katherine's patience is rewarded when she becomes queen of England. The affection between Katherine and Henry is genuine, but forces beyond her control threaten to rend her marriage, and indeed the nation, apart. Henry has fallen under the spell of Katherine's maid of honor, Anne Boleyn. Now Katherine must be prepared to fight, to the end if God wills it, for her faith, her legitimacy, and her heart.
©2016 Alison Weir (P)2016 Recorded Books
The Six Wives of Henry VIII
Summary
This acclaimed best seller from popular historian Alison Weir is a fascinating look at the Tudor family dynasty and its most infamous ruler. The Six Wives of Henry VIII brings to life England’s oft-married monarch and the six wildly different but equally fascinating women who married him. Gripping from the first sentence to the last and loaded with fascinating details, Weir’s rich history is a perfect blend of scholarship and entertainment.
©1991 Alison Weir (P)2002 Recorded Books
The Life of Elizabeth I
Summary
The New York Times best-selling author of The Six Wives of Henry VIII and The War of the Roses, historian Alison Weir crafts fascinating portraits of England’s infamous House of Tudor line. Here Weir focuses on Elizabeth I, also known as the Virgin Queen, who ascended to the throne at age 25 and never married, yet ruled for 44 years and steered England into its Golden Age.
©1998 Alison Weir (P)2003 Recorded Books
Anne Boleyn
Summary
A novel filled with fresh insights into the story of Henry VIII's second - and most infamous - wife, Anne Boleyn. The new book in the epic Six Tudor Queens series, from the acclaimed historian and best-selling author of Katherine of Aragon. It is the spring of 1527. Henry VIII has come to Hever Castle in Kent to pay court to Anne Boleyn. He is desperate to have her. For this mirror of female perfection he will set aside his queen and all Cardinal Wolsey's plans for a dynastic French marriage. Anne Boleyn is not so sure. She loathes Wolsey for breaking her betrothal to the Earl of Northumberland's son, Harry Percy, whom she had loved. She does not welcome the king's advances; she knows that she can never give him her heart. But hers is an opportunist family. And whether Anne is willing or not, they will risk it all to see their daughter on the throne.
©2017 Alison Weir (P)2017 Recorded Books
Anna of Kleve, the Princess in the Portrait
Summary
The surprising and dramatic life of the least known of King Henry VIII's wives is illuminated in the fourth volume in the Six Tudor Queens series - for fans of Philippa Gregory, Hilary Mantel, and The Crown. Newly widowed and the father of an infant son, Henry VIII realizes he must marry again to ensure the royal succession. Forty-six, overweight, and suffering from gout, Henry is soundly rejected by some of Europe's most eligible princesses. Anna of Kleve, from a small German duchy, is 24 and has a secret she is desperate to keep hidden. Henry requests her portrait from his court painter, who portrays her from the most flattering perspective. Henry is entranced by the lovely image, only to be bitterly surprised when Anna arrives in England and he sees her in the flesh. Some think her attractive, but Henry knows he can never love her. What follows is the fascinating story of an awkward royal union that had somehow to be terminated. Even as Henry begins to warm to his new wife and share her bed, his attention is captivated by one of her maids of honor. Will he accuse Anna of adultery as he did Queen Anne Boleyn and send her to the scaffold? Or will he divorce her and send her home in disgrace? Alison Weir takes a fresh and astonishing look at this remarkable royal marriage by describing it from the point of view of Queen Anna, a young woman with hopes and dreams of her own, alone and fearing for her life in a royal court that rejected her almost from the day she set foot on England's shore.
©2019 Alison Weir (P)2019 Recorded Books
The Lady Elizabeth
Summary
Following the tremendous success of her first novel, Innocent Traitor, acclaimed historian and New York Times best-selling author Alison Weir turns her masterly storytelling skills to the early life of young Elizabeth Tudor, who would grow up to become England's most intriguing and powerful queen. Before she is three, Elizabeth learns of the tragic fate that has befallen her mother, the enigmatic and seductive Anne Boleyn, and that she herself has been declared illegitimate, an injustice that will haunt her all her life. What comes next is a succession of stepmothers, bringing with them glimpses of love, fleeting security, tempestuous conflict, and tragedy. The death of her father puts the teenage Elizabeth in greater peril, leaving her at the mercy of ambitious and unscrupulous men. Like her mother two decades earlier, she is imprisoned in the Tower of London - and fears she will also meet her mother's grisly end. Power-driven politics, private scandal, and public gossip, a disputed succession, and the grievous example of her sister, "Bloody" Queen Mary, all cement Elizabeth's resolve in matters of statecraft and love, and set the stage for her transformation into the iconic Virgin Queen. Sweeping in scope, The Lady Elizabeth is a fascinating portrayal of a woman far ahead of her time - whose dangerous and dramatic path to the throne shapes her future greatness.
©2008 Allison Weir (P)2008 Random House, Inc.
Jane Seymour
Summary
A novel of the devout young woman who became the unwilling object of King Henry VIII's ardor - and the mother of his only son. In this third book in the epic Six Tudor Queens series, the acclaimed historian and best-selling author brings new insight to this dramatic story, showing how pure fear for her life determined Jane Seymour's actions. Twenty-five-year-old Jane Seymour wants nothing more than to become a nun. But her ambitious father has forced her to live at court as lady-in-waiting to Queen Katherine of Aragon, a fellow Catholic whom she soon comes to love and admire. So Jane is appalled when King Henry shunts Katherine aside in his lustful pursuit of Anne Boleyn, but even more so when he takes Anne's life in his rush to wed - Jane herself! Unwilling to marry but terrified to resist Henry's advances for fear she might share Anne's fate, and propelled by her family, Jane becomes queen of England a mere 10 days after Anne's execution. She knows she must produce a male heir without fail. Her very life depends on it.
©2018 Alison Weir (P)2018 Recorded Books
The Children of Henry VIII
Summary
New York Times best-selling author Alison Weir is one of the most popular chroniclers of British and European royal history. In this fascinating book she sheds light on the scheming, backstabbing and brutality that plagued England after Henry VIII’s death. Filled with remarkable and sometimes shocking details, The Children of Henry VIII is an arresting narrative that brings the past to life and infuses it with all the flair of a riveting novel.
©1996 Alison Weir (P)2003 Recorded Books
Katheryn Howard, the Scandalous Queen
Summary
Best-selling author and acclaimed historian Alison Weir tells the tragic story of Henry VIII’s fifth wife, a 19-year-old beauty with a hidden past, in this fifth novel in the sweeping Six Tudor Queens series. In the spring of 1540, Henry VIII is desperate to be rid of his unappealing German queen, Anna of Kleve. A prematurely aged and ailing 49, with an ever-growing waistline, he casts an amorous eye on a pretty 19-year-old brunette, Katheryn Howard. Like her cousin Anne Boleyn, Katheryn is a niece of the Duke of Norfolk, England’s premier Catholic peer, who is scheming to replace Anna of Kleve with a good Catholic queen. A fun-loving, eager participant in the life of the royal court, Katheryn readily succumbs to the king’s attentions when she is intentionally pushed into his path by her ambitious family. Henry quickly becomes besotted and is soon laying siege to Katheryn’s virtue. But as instructed by her relations, she holds out for marriage and the wedding takes place a mere fortnight after the king’s union to Anna is annulled. Henry tells the world his new bride is a rose without a thorn, and extols her beauty and her virtue, while Katheryn delights in the pleasures of being queen and the rich gifts her adoring husband showers upon her: The gorgeous gowns, the exquisite jewels, and the darling lap-dogs. She comes to love the ailing, obese king, enduring his nightly embraces with fortitude and kindness. If she can bear him a son, her triumph will be complete. But Katheryn has a past of which Henry knows nothing, and which comes back increasingly to haunt her - even as she courts danger yet again. What happens next to this naïve and much-wronged girl is one of the saddest chapters in English history.
©2020 Alison Weir (P)2020 Recorded Books
Innocent Traitor
Summary
New York Times best-selling author Alison Weir has earned her reputation as the preeminent historian of British royalty. Now with Innocent Traitor, Weir utilizes her vast knowledge and captivating narrative style to craft her first historical novel, choosing Lady Jane Grey, the most sympathetic heroine of Tudor England, as her enthralling subject. The child of a scheming father and ruthless mother, Jane is born during a time when ambition dictates action. Cousin to Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I, she is merely a pawn in a political and religious game in which one false step means a certain demise. But Lady Jane has remarkable qualities that help her to withstand the constant pressures of the royal machinery far better than most expect. Weir's striking novel sweeps readers back through the centuries to witness firsthand one of the most poignant tales from a time of constant scheming and power brokering.
©2007 Alison Weir (P)2007 Recorded Books, LLC
Henry VIII: King and Court
Summary
This magnificent biography of Henry VIII is set against the cultural, social and political background of his court - the most spectacular court ever seen in England - and the splendour of his many sumptuous palaces. An entertaining narrative packed with colourful description and a wealth of anecdotal evidence but also a comprehensive analytical study of the development of both monarch and court during a crucial period in English history. As well as challenging some recent theories, it offers controversial new conclusions based on contemporary evidence that has until now been overlooked. This is a triumph of historical writing which will appeal equally to the general listener and the serious historian.
©2001 Alison Weir (P)2017 Audible, Ltd
The Lost Tudor Princess
Summary
From New York Times best-selling author and acclaimed historian Alison Weir comes the first biography of Mary Douglas, the beautiful, cunning niece of Henry VIII of England who used her sharp intelligence and covert power to influence the succession after the death of Elizabeth I. Royal Tudor blood ran in her veins. Her mother was a queen, her father an earl, and she herself was the granddaughter, niece, cousin, and grandmother of monarchs. Lady Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox, was an important figure in Tudor England, yet today, while her contemporaries - Anne Boleyn; Mary, Queen of Scots; Elizabeth I - have achieved celebrity status, she is largely forgotten. Margaret's life was steeped in intrigue, drama, and tragedy - from her auspicious birth in 1530 to her parents' bitter divorce, from her ill-fated love affairs to her appointment as lady-in-waiting for four of Henry's six wives. In an age when women were expected to stay out of the political arena, alluring and tempestuous Margaret helped orchestrate one of the most notorious marriages of the 16th century: that of her son, Lord Darnley, to Mary, Queen of Scots. Margaret defiantly warred with two queens - Mary, and Elizabeth of England - and was instrumental in securing the Stuart ascension to the throne of England for her grandson, James VI. The life of Margaret Douglas spans five reigns and provides many missing links between the Tudor and Stuart dynasties. Drawing on decades of research and myriad original sources - including many of Margaret's surviving letters - Alison Weir brings this captivating character out of the shadows and presents a strong, capable woman who operated effectively and fearlessly at the very highest levels of power.
©2015 Alison Weir (P)2016 W. F. Howes
Elizabeth of York
Summary
Elizabeth of York would have ruled England, but for the fact that she was a woman. One of the key figures of the Wars of the Roses, daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, she married Henry Tudor to bring peace to a war-torn England. In Elizabeth of York: The First Tudor Queen, Alison Weir builds a portrait of this beloved queen, placing her in the context of the magnificent, ceremonious, often brutal world she inhabited.
©2013 Alison Weir (P)2013 W F Howes Ltd
Lancaster and York
Summary
Lancater and York is a riveting account of the Wars of the Roses, from the beloved and best-selling historian Alison Weir. The war between the houses of Lancaster and York was characterised by treachery, deceit, and bloody battles. Alison Weir's lucid and gripping account focuses on the human side of history. At the centre of the book stands Henry VI, the pious king whose mental instability led to political chaos, and his wife Margaret of Anjou, who took up her arms in her husband's cause and battled in a violent man's world.
©1995 Alison Weir (P)2012 W F Howes Ltd
Queen Isabella
Summary
Popular historian Alison Weir has crafted best-selling biographies of such prominent icons as King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I. A master at uncovering fascinating and little-known details, Weir brings these historical figures to life with a brilliant blend of entertainment and scholarship. No English queen has drawn more ire than the vilified Queen Isabella. Weir, at long last, delivers the definitive biography of one of the most controversial members of English royalty.
©2005 Alison Weir (P)2005 Recorded Books
Against Our Better Judgment
Summary
Soon after WWII, U.S. statesman Dean Acheson warned that creating Israel on land already inhabited by Palestinians would "imperil" both American and all Western interests in the region. Despite warnings such as this one, President Truman supported establishing a Jewish state on land primarily inhabited by Muslims and Christians. Few Americans today are aware that U.S. support enabled the creation of modern Israel. Even fewer know that U.S. politicians pushed this policy over the forceful objections of top diplomatic and military experts. As this work demonstrates, these politicians were bombarded by a massive pro-Israel lobbying effort that ranged from well-funded and very public Zionist organizations to an "elitist secret society" whose members included Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis. Against Our Better Judgment brings together meticulously sourced evidence to illuminate a reality that differs starkly from the prevailing narrative. It provides a clear view of the history that is key to understanding one of the most critically important political issues of our day.
©2014 Alison Weir (P)2014 Alison Weir
Katherine Swynford
Summary
In this remarkable book, Alison Weir recounts one of the greatest and most remarkable love stories of medieval England. It is the extraordinary tale of an exceptional woman, Katherine Swynford, who became first the mistress, and later the wife, of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. But Katherine Swynford was much more than that. She was the mother of the Beauforts, and through them the ancestress of the Yorkist Kings, the Tudors, the Stuarts and every other sovereign since - a prodigious legacy which has shaped the history of Britain.
©2007 Alison Weir (P)2007 WF Howes Ltd
Queens of the Conquest
Summary
This epic book brings to vivid life five powerful Norman queens, from Matilda of Flanders, wife of William the Conqueror, to the Empress Matilda, mother to King Henry II, founder of the Plantagenet dynasty. The lives of England's medieval queens were packed with tragedy, betrayal, love, warfare, adultery, and mystery - but their stories are obscured by centuries of myth and prejudice against these powerful women. These Norman queens were actually more autonomous and influential than most later queens, since they actually participated in battles and led troops of their own. By joining her husband, William the Conqueror, in the battle to take control of England, Matilda of Flanders set a precedent for her female descendants to continue to ride onto the battlefield and maintain their own separate armies.
©2017 Alison Weir (P)2017 W.F. Howes
Becoming Us - College Love Never Hurt So Good
Summary
The dreaded friend zone... The last place I ever want to be with college basketball god Jake LaShae. I am losing my mind trying to figure out what this gorgeous and confident man wants from me. I need to break through his walls. What is it about me that makes him not go there? What am I lacking? When a mind-blowing betrayal knocks the wind out of me, and I think I can't feel any lower...Brody stumbles into my path - barefoot no less, and sexy as hell. His direct and mouthwatering swagger is a breath of fresh air. The feelings this man gives me are like nothing I've ever experienced. But Brody has a past. A past that makes it nearly impossible for him to trust me and let us become us in whatever capacity that may be. Just when Brody and I truly connect, just when I think that finding my soul mate in college isn't a total joke, Jake comes back into my life...and messes things up...possibly for good.
©2015 Amy Daws (P)2015 Amy Daws
Mary Boleyn
Summary
Mary Boleyn was the mistress of two kings, Francois I of France and Henry VIII of England, and sister to Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife. In this astonishing and riveting biography, Alison Weir’s extensive research gives a new and detailed portrayal, in which she recounts that, contrary to popular belief, Mary was entirely undeserving of her posthumous notoriety as a great whore.
©2011 Alison Weir (P)2011 W F Howes Ltd