Patricia Hodge has narrated 6 audiobooks on Listento.it by 5 authors, with an average listener rating of 5★ across 5 ratings. The most-rated is Mary Queen of Scots.
Mary Queen of Scots
Summary
More than 400 years after her death, Mary Queen of Scots remains one of the most romantic and controversial figures in British history. Antonia Fraser's classic biography of her won the James Tait Prize when it was first published in 1969. It became an international best-seller and was translated into nine languages. Mary passed her childhood in France and married the Dauphin to become Queen of France at the age of 16. Widowed less than two years later, she returned to Scotland as Queen after an absence of 13 years. Her life then entered its best known phase: the early struggles with John Knox and the unruly Scottish nobility; the fatal marriage to Darnley and his mysterious death; her marriage to Bothwell, the chief suspect, that led directly to her long English captivity at the hands of Queen Elizabeth; the poignant and extraordinary story of her long imprisonment that ended with the labyrinthine Babington plot to free her, and her execution at the age of 44. Antonia Fraser's biography, four years in the writing, enters fully into the life of an historical figure who continues to capture the popular imagination. It provides a moving answer to the question, "What was Mary Queen of Scots really like?"
©1996 Antonia Fraser (P)2002 Orion Publishing Group Ltd
Love and Louis XIV
Summary
This audiobook centres around the Sun King and his relationship with numerous and fascinating women. Naturally dividing into five parts, it concentrates on the King's mother, Anne of Austria, to whom he was devoted; his first important mistress, Louise de la Valliere, who bore him several illegitimate children; Athenais Marquise de Montespan, who acted as unofficial Queen of Versailles until her involvement in the affair of poisons; Marie Therese, his wife, of course; and Madame de Maintenon, governess to the illegitimate royal children. The fifth part concentrates on his relations in old age with his daughters, granddaughters, and the wife of his grandson.Fraser vividly bring to life the vast edifice of Louis XIV's court - the magnificence, artistic splendour, elaborate ritual, and, in some cases, the absurdity and misery.
©2006 Antonia Fraser (P)2006 Orion Publishing Group Ltd
Patricia Hodge is Mattie, A Liberated Woman
Summary
Patricia Hodge stars as Mattie in Juliet Ace’s four linked dramas, written especially for Patricia’s voice, in which Mattie reflects on her life as a naval wife, an actress and as a mother and daughter. In these funny and beautifully observed performances we come to meet Mattie as she shares her hard-earned understanding of her life, in all its intimacy.Episodes are: The Captain’s Wife, broadcast 8 May 1998; Small Parts, first broadcast 21 August 2000; Skin, 15 March 2004 and the not previously broadcast episode: Upside Down in the Roasting Tin, in which memories of Christmas dinners past and present give the listener a poignant and entertaining sweep through Mattie’s mixed experiences of the festive season.
©2011 Juliet Ace (P)2011 AudioGO Ltd
Twelve Books That Changed the World
Summary
When we think of great events in the history of the world, we tend to think of war, revolution, political upheaval, or natural catastrophe. But throughout history there have been moments of vital importance that have taken place not on the battlefield, or in the palaces of power, or even in the violence of nature, but between the pages of a book. In this audiobook, Melvyn Bragg presents a vivid reminder of the book as agent of social, political, and personal revolution. Here are famous books by Darwin, Newton, and Shakespeare, but we also discover the stories behind some less well-known works, such as Marie Stopes? Married Love, the original radical feminist Mary Wollstonecraft?s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, and even the rules to an obscure ball game that became the most popular sport in the world.
©2006 Hodder & Stoughton (P)2006 Hodder & Stoughton
The Homecoming and Other Stories
Summary
Four Maeve Binchy short stories, exclusively written for BBC Radio 4.
Maeve Binchy is one of Britain's most popular storytellers, and these four tales demonstrate the warmth and compassion that have made her many novels bestsellers.
In 'Homecoming', read by Sean Campion, the Brennans run Quentin's restaurant in Dublin for the owner, who lives abroad. But what will happen when he suddenly pays a visit?
'Telling Stories', read by Joanna Myers, sees Irene's fiancé turning up the night before the wedding with a face as white as the dress that is to be worn the next day. Then trouble starts....
In 'Needy', read by Patricia Hodge, Heather is painfully aware that Valentine's Day declarations of love should be viewed with suspicion, even if the sender is the one she loves.
And in 'The Interview', read by Kate Binchy, Bessie is deaf and needs a place in a special school. But will she pass the interview?
Finely crafted and full of wit and charm, these are stories that no fan of Maeve Binchy will want to be without.
©2009 Maeve Binchy (P)2009 BBC Audiobooks Ltd
The Archers: Ambridge at War
Summary
Celebrating the 70th anniversary of the beloved radio show, Ambridge at War takes listeners back to before it all began.... It’s 1940, and war has broken out. It is midnight at the turn of the year, and Walter Gabriel speaks the same line that opened the very first radio episode - 'And a Happy New Year to you all!' For Ambridge, a village in the heart of the English countryside, this year will bring change in ways no one was expecting. From the Pargetters at Lower Loxley Manor to the loving, hard-working Archer family at Brookfield Farm, the war will be hard for all of them. And the New Year brings the arrival of evacuees to Ambridge, shaking things up in the close-knit rural community. As the villagers embrace wartime spirit, the families that listeners have known and loved for generations face an uphill battle to keep their secrets hidden. Especially as someone is intent on revealing those secrets to the whole village....
©2020 Catherine Miller (P)2020 Simon & Schuster Audio UK