Winter King
The Dawn of Tudor England
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Winter King
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Narrated by:
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Simon Vance
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By:
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Thomas Penn
About this listen
A fresh look at the endlessly fascinating Tudors - the dramatic and overlooked story of Henry VII and his founding of the Tudor Dynasty - filled with spies, plots, counter-plots, and an uneasy royal succession to Henry VIII.
Near the turn of the sixteenth century, England had been ravaged for decades by conspiracy and civil war. Henry Tudor clambered to the top of the heap, a fugitive with a flimsy claim to England’s crown who managed to win the throne and stay on it for 24 years. Although he built palaces, hosted magnificent jousts, and sent ambassadors across Europe, for many Henry VII remained a false king. But he had a crucial asset: his family - the queen and their children, the living embodiment of his hoped-for dynasty. Now, in what would be the crowning glory of his reign, his elder son would marry a great Spanish princess.
Thomas Penn re-creates an England that is both familiar and very strange - a country medieval yet modern, in which honor and chivalry mingle with espionage, realpolitik, high finance, and corruption. It is the story of the transformation of a young, vulnerable boy, Prince Henry, into the aggressive teenager who would become Henry VIII, and of Catherine of Aragon, his future queen, as well as of Henry VII - controlling, avaricious, paranoid, with Machiavellian charm and will to power.
Rich with incident and drama, filled with wonderfully drawn characters, Winter King is an unforgettable account of pageantry, intrigue, the thirst for glory, and the fraught, unstable birth of Tudor England.
Thomas Penn has a PhD in early Tudor history from Clare College, Cambridge. Winter King is his first book.
©2011 Thomas Penn (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
What listeners say about Winter King
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Barbara Macdonald
- 10-03-24
Fascinating
I really enjoyed this detailed and fascinating insight into the social and political life of Henry Vll. It offers pragmatic reasons for why this monarch ruled in the manner he did, with a tantalising taste of why his son, was the way he was!! Most enjoyable.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Imogen
- 20-07-15
Very enjoyable
I really enjoyed listening to this book, the pace was just right for me. Fascinating
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 27-01-22
Outstanding
A fascinating and gripping book on Henry VII, as well as Early Modern England and Europe. It has a rich cast of characters, none more interesting than Henry VII... a criminally overlooked English monarch compared to his infamous son and revered granddaughter. I found the book a touch heavy going in places but never dull, in fact the quality of Thomas Penn's work means listening to it is time well spent. The narrator, Simon Vance, is wonderful.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Dominic Taylor
- 23-10-20
Superb
A very enjoyable book. A fascinating, detailed and well researched history that is very ably read.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jimbo
- 24-09-24
Enjoyable, informative, interesting
Well written and narrated. Would have liked it to have been longer but good for an overall basic understanding of the skilful dictator (King Henry VII).
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Julia Mann
- 13-12-24
Superb
Full history life and reign of Henry V11. Magnificent and the author is both knowledgeable and erudite.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Clementi
- 11-07-15
Dreadful Narration ruins this title
What made the experience of listening to Winter King the most enjoyable?
It was just dreadful! I somehow didn't notice that Simon Vance had narrated this and bought it only to discover it was he! Seriously, ham acting doesn't begin to describe this.
He narrates so many books that I can only conclude that he reads aloud without actually bothering to look at the words he's saying, rendering it pointless really.
Would you be willing to try another book from Thomas Penn? Why or why not?
It may be a fantastic book, in fact I suspect it is as it's a great subjecct and Penn is usually very thorough. Such a shame about the narration which meant that I listened to about a fifth of the book and gave up.
What didn’t you like about Simon Vance’s performance?
Dreadful. Renders the book unintelligible as he puts no intelligence into his narration. One may as well have an automaton reading. Truly the worst performance on audible so far.
Any additional comments?
Hopefully someone else will narrate this at some point as I would truly love to hear it, but preferably by a narrator who has the ability to READ and understand what he is voicing.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 12-04-12
Classy reconstruction of the period
Fascinating but selective. A very enjoyable history of Henry VII and how he managed to size the English throne, and keep it, in very unsure times. The Battle of Bosworth is skated over very quickly, as is how Henry secured the throne. But longer passages are devoted to more obscure persons such as the poet Skelton who became Henry VIII tutor. It gives a good back ground to the early lives of Henry VIII and Catherine, and all the machinations around their eventually marriage. The final passages on the the death of Henry VII are some of the best, in showing what it was like to be around a dying king. In the end Henry VII still remains an elusive character. A knowledge of the ins and outs of the period is useful, Wikipedia was very helpful.
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12 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Pottersvilla
- 02-06-20
Outstanding
Incredible insight into life of early Tudor Dynasty. Highly recommended. Educational. Brilliant narration. Spell binding.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 15-10-20
Excellent History
Clearly read in a calm manner.
The complex political machinations of the 15th century are delivered in a no-nonsense style with little,obvious bias.
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