Get Your Free Audiobook
-
Shadow King
- The Life and Death of Henry VI
- Narrated by: Jennifer Ness
- Length: 20 hrs and 42 mins
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, Historical
Non-member price: $37.98
People who bought this also bought...
-
The White Ship
- Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I’s Dream
- By: Charles Spencer
- Narrated by: Richard Trinder
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By 1120, Henry was perhaps the most formidable ruler in Europe, with an enviable record on the battlefield, immense lands and wealth and unprecedented authority in his kingdoms. Everything he had worked so hard for was finally achieved, and he was ready to hand it on to his beloved son and heir, William Ætheling. Henry I and his retinue set out first. The White Ship - considered the fastest afloat - would follow, carrying the young prince. Spoilt and arrogant, William had plied his comrades and crew with drink from the minute he stepped aboard....
-
Providence Lost
- The Rise and Fall of Cromwell's Protectorate
- By: Paul Lay
- Narrated by: Gordon Griffin
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
England, 1651. Oliver Cromwell has defeated his royalist opponents in two civil wars, executed the Stuart King Charles I, laid waste to Ireland, and crushed the late king's son and his Scottish allies. He is master of Britain and Ireland. But Parliament, divided between moderates, republicans and Puritans of uncompromisingly millenarian hue, is faction-ridden and disputatious. By the end of 1653, Cromwell has become 'Lord Protector'. Seeking dragons for an elect Protestant nation to slay, he launches an ambitious 'Western Design' against Spain's empire in the New World.
-
-
Fascinating insights into a forgotten era
- By Padre on 22-07-2020
-
Ardennes 1944
- Hitler's Last Gamble
- By: Antony Beevor
- Narrated by: Sean Barrett
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Ardennes 1944 by Antony Beever, read by Sean Barrett. On 16 December 1944, Hitler launched his last gamble in the snow-covered forests and gorges of the Ardennes on the Belgian/German border. Although Hitler's generals were doubtful of success, younger officers and NCOs were desperate to believe that their homes and families could be saved from the vengeful Red Army approaching from the east.
-
-
Antony at his best
- By Jan on 17-06-2015
-
Arnhem
- By: Antony Beevor
- Narrated by: Sean Barrett
- Length: 16 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On 17 September 1944, General Kurt Student, the founder of Nazi Germany's parachute forces, heard the growing roar of aeroplane engines. He went out onto his balcony above the flat landscape of southern Holland to watch the air armada of Dakotas and gliders carrying the British 1st Airborne and the American 101st and 82nd Airborne divisions. He gazed up in envy at this massive demonstration of paratroop power.
-
-
The Best Book you will read on Market Garden
- By Mick Rose on 18-11-2018
-
The Fens
- Discovering England's Ancient Depths
- By: Francis Pryor
- Narrated by: Francis Pryor
- Length: 13 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Fens is Britain's most distinctive, complex, man-made and least understood landscape. Francis Pryor has lived in, excavated, farmed, walked and loved the Fen Country for more than 40 years: its levels and drains, its soaring churches and magnificent medieval buildings. In The Fens, he counterpoints the history of the Fenland landscape and its transformation with the story of his own discovery of it as an archaeologist.
-
-
Gosh he's so Posh
- By Anonymous User on 20-01-2021
-
Tobruk
- By: Peter FitzSimons
- Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
- Length: 23 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the early days of April 1941, the 14,000 Australian forces garrisoned in the Libyan town of Tobruk were told to expect reinforcements and supplies within eight weeks. Eight months later these heroic, gallant, determined "Rats of Tobruk" were rescued by the British Navy having held the fort against the might of Rommel's never-before-defeated Afrika Corps.
-
-
detailed intimate account
- By Anonymous User on 28-08-2018
-
The White Ship
- Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I’s Dream
- By: Charles Spencer
- Narrated by: Richard Trinder
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By 1120, Henry was perhaps the most formidable ruler in Europe, with an enviable record on the battlefield, immense lands and wealth and unprecedented authority in his kingdoms. Everything he had worked so hard for was finally achieved, and he was ready to hand it on to his beloved son and heir, William Ætheling. Henry I and his retinue set out first. The White Ship - considered the fastest afloat - would follow, carrying the young prince. Spoilt and arrogant, William had plied his comrades and crew with drink from the minute he stepped aboard....
-
Providence Lost
- The Rise and Fall of Cromwell's Protectorate
- By: Paul Lay
- Narrated by: Gordon Griffin
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
England, 1651. Oliver Cromwell has defeated his royalist opponents in two civil wars, executed the Stuart King Charles I, laid waste to Ireland, and crushed the late king's son and his Scottish allies. He is master of Britain and Ireland. But Parliament, divided between moderates, republicans and Puritans of uncompromisingly millenarian hue, is faction-ridden and disputatious. By the end of 1653, Cromwell has become 'Lord Protector'. Seeking dragons for an elect Protestant nation to slay, he launches an ambitious 'Western Design' against Spain's empire in the New World.
-
-
Fascinating insights into a forgotten era
- By Padre on 22-07-2020
-
Ardennes 1944
- Hitler's Last Gamble
- By: Antony Beevor
- Narrated by: Sean Barrett
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Ardennes 1944 by Antony Beever, read by Sean Barrett. On 16 December 1944, Hitler launched his last gamble in the snow-covered forests and gorges of the Ardennes on the Belgian/German border. Although Hitler's generals were doubtful of success, younger officers and NCOs were desperate to believe that their homes and families could be saved from the vengeful Red Army approaching from the east.
-
-
Antony at his best
- By Jan on 17-06-2015
-
Arnhem
- By: Antony Beevor
- Narrated by: Sean Barrett
- Length: 16 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On 17 September 1944, General Kurt Student, the founder of Nazi Germany's parachute forces, heard the growing roar of aeroplane engines. He went out onto his balcony above the flat landscape of southern Holland to watch the air armada of Dakotas and gliders carrying the British 1st Airborne and the American 101st and 82nd Airborne divisions. He gazed up in envy at this massive demonstration of paratroop power.
-
-
The Best Book you will read on Market Garden
- By Mick Rose on 18-11-2018
-
The Fens
- Discovering England's Ancient Depths
- By: Francis Pryor
- Narrated by: Francis Pryor
- Length: 13 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Fens is Britain's most distinctive, complex, man-made and least understood landscape. Francis Pryor has lived in, excavated, farmed, walked and loved the Fen Country for more than 40 years: its levels and drains, its soaring churches and magnificent medieval buildings. In The Fens, he counterpoints the history of the Fenland landscape and its transformation with the story of his own discovery of it as an archaeologist.
-
-
Gosh he's so Posh
- By Anonymous User on 20-01-2021
-
Tobruk
- By: Peter FitzSimons
- Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
- Length: 23 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the early days of April 1941, the 14,000 Australian forces garrisoned in the Libyan town of Tobruk were told to expect reinforcements and supplies within eight weeks. Eight months later these heroic, gallant, determined "Rats of Tobruk" were rescued by the British Navy having held the fort against the might of Rommel's never-before-defeated Afrika Corps.
-
-
detailed intimate account
- By Anonymous User on 28-08-2018
-
The Plantagenets: The Kings Who Made England
- By: Dan Jones
- Narrated by: Dan Jones
- Length: 22 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
England’s greatest royal dynasty, the Plantagenets, ruled over England through eight generations of kings. Their remarkable reign saw England emerge from the Dark Ages to become a highly organised kingdom that spanned a vast expanse of Europe. Plantagenet rule saw the establishment of laws and creation of artworks, monuments and tombs which survive to this day, and continue to speak of their sophistication, brutality and secrets. Dan Jones brings you a new vision of this battle-scarred history.
-
-
Brilliant
- By Anonymous User on 30-12-2020
-
A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons
- Brief Histories
- By: Geoffrey Hindley
- Narrated by: Eleanor David
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Starting AD 400 (around the time of their invasion of England) and running through to the 1100s (the 'Aftermath'), historian Geoffrey Hindley shows the Anglo-Saxons as formative in the history not only of England but also of Europe. The society inspired by the warrior world of the Old English poem Beowulf saw England become the world's first nation state and Europe's first country to conduct affairs in its own language, and Bede and Boniface of Wessex establish the dating convention we still use today.
-
-
What have the Anglo Saxons ever done for us?
- By Amazon Customer on 03-06-2016
-
The Byzantine World War
- By: Nick Holmes
- Narrated by: Martin Carroll
- Length: 5 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Crusades shook the world. But why did they happen? Their origins are revealed in a new light. As part of a medieval world war that stretched from Asia to Europe. At its center was an ancient empire Byzantium. Told for the first time as a single, linked narrative are three great events that changed history: The fall of Byzantium in the 11th century, the epic campaign of the First Crusade and the origins of modern Turkey. Nick Holmes not only presents the First Crusade in a wider global context but he also puts forwards new interpretations of the original sources.
-
Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power
- By: Jon Meacham
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann, Jon Meacham
- Length: 18 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this magnificent biography, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of American Lion and Franklin and Winston brings vividly to life an extraordinary man and his remarkable times. Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power gives us Jefferson the politician and president, a great and complex human being forever engaged in the wars of his era. Philosophers think; politicians maneuver. Jefferson’s genius was that he was both and could do both, often simultaneously. Such is the art of power.
-
-
Great Biography, Innapprpriate subtitle
- By Anonymous User on 08-10-2020
-
American Lion
- Andrew Jackson in the White House
- By: Jon Meacham
- Narrated by: Richard McGonagle
- Length: 17 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beloved and hated, venerated and reviled, Andrew Jackson was an orphan who fought his way to the pinnacle of power, bending the nation to his will in the cause of democracy. Jackson's election in 1828 ushered in a new and lasting era in which the people, not distant elites, were the guiding force in American politics. Democracy made its stand in the Jackson years, and he gave voice to the hopes and the fears of a restless, changing nation facing challenging times at home and threats abroad.
-
-
Lacking political and historical context.
- By rod on 10-06-2018
-
Pandemic 1918
- The Story of the Deadliest Influenza in History
- By: Catharine Arnold
- Narrated by: Peter Wickham
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the dying months of World War I, Spanish flu suddenly overwhelmed the world, killing between 50 and 100 million people. Nowhere escaped this common enemy: in Britain, 250,000 people died, and in the United States it was 750,000, while European deaths reached over two million. The numbers are staggering. And yet at the time, news of the danger was suppressed for fear of impacting wartime morale. Behind the numbers are human lives, stories of those who suffered and fought it - in the hospitals and laboratories.
-
-
A very relevant story
- By Hanna on 22-07-2020
-
Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates
- The Forgotten War That Changed American History
- By: Brian Kilmeade, Don Yaeger
- Narrated by: Brian Kilmeade
- Length: 4 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Thomas Jefferson became president in 1801, America faced a crisis. The new nation was deeply in debt and needed its economy to grow quickly, but its merchant ships were under attack. Pirates from North Africa's Barbary coast routinely captured American sailors and held them as slaves, demanding ransom and tribute payments far beyond what the new country could afford.
-
The King in the North: Booktrack Edition
- The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria
- By: Max Adams
- Narrated by: Hamilton McLeod
- Length: 15 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The magisterial biography of Oswald Whiteblade, exiled prince of Northumbria, who returned in blood and glory to reclaim his birthright. A charismatic leader, a warrior whose prowess in battle earned him the epithet Whiteblade, an exiled prince who returned to claim his birthright, the inspiration for Tolkien's Aragorn. Oswald of Northumbria was the first great English monarch, yet today this legendary figure is all but forgotten. In this panoramic protrait of Dark Age Britain, archaeologist and biographer Max Adams returns the king in the North to his rightful place in history.
-
Queens of the Crusades: Eleanor of Aquitaine and Her Successors
- By: Alison Weir
- Narrated by: Esther Wane
- Length: 17 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Plantagenet queens of England played a role in some of the most dramatic events in our history. Crusading queens, queens in rebellion against their king, queen seductresses, learned queens, queens in battle, queens who enlivened England with the romantic culture of southern Europe - these determined women often broke through medieval constraints to exercise power and influence, for good and sometimes for ill.
-
The Brothers York
- An English Tragedy
- By: Thomas Penn
- Narrated by: Roy McMillan
- Length: 23 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In early 1461, a teenage boy won a battle on a freezing morning in the Welsh marches and claimed the crown of England. He was Edward IV, first king of the usurping house of York. The country, crippled by economic crisis, insurgency, and a corrupt and bankrupt government, was in need of a new hero. Charismatic, able and ruthlessly ambitious, Edward and his two younger brothers, George, Duke of Clarence, and Richard, Duke of Gloucester, became the figureheads of a spectacular ruling dynasty which laid the foundations for a renewal of English royal power.
-
-
Too biased against Richard III
- By Shannon Bolithoe on 12-12-2020
-
The Radicalism of the American Revolution
- By: Gordon S. Wood
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 19 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Grand in scope, rigorous in its arguments, and elegantly synthesizing 30 years of scholarship, Gordon S. Wood's Pulitzer Prize–winning book analyzes the social, political, and economic consequences of 1776. In The Radicalism of the American Revolution, Wood depicts not just a break with England, but the rejection of an entire way of life: of a society with feudal dependencies, a politics of patronage, and a world view in which people were divided between the nobility and "the Herd."
-
Philip and Alexander
- By: Adrian Goldsworthy
- Narrated by: Barnaby Edwards
- Length: 20 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A joint biography that investigates how, during their lifetimes, Philip and Alexander transformed Macedon from a weak kingdom into a globe-spanning empire. During his short life Alexander the Great carved out an empire stretching from the Balkans to Central India, re-drawing the map of the ancient world. Yet Alexander represents only half of the story, for his success was not just the product of his own genius, restless energy and ambition, but was built on decades of effort by his father.
-
-
Excellent
- By Ian Saunders on 11-12-2020
Publisher's Summary
A thrilling new account of the tragic life and troubled times of Henry VI.
Firstborn son of a warrior father who defeated the French at Agincourt, Henry VI of the House Lancaster inherited the crown not only of England but also of France, at a time when Plantagenet dominance over the Valois dynasty was at its glorious height. And yet, by the time he was done to death in the Tower of London in 1471, France was lost, his throne had been seized by his rival, Edward IV of the House of York, and his kingdom had descended into the violent chaos of the Wars of the Roses.
Henry VI is perhaps the most troubled of English monarchs, a pious, gentle, well-intentioned man who was plagued by bouts of mental illness. In Shadow King, Lauren Johnson tells his remarkable and sometimes shocking story in a fast-paced and colourful narrative that captures both the poignancy of Henry's life and the tumultuous and bloody nature of the times in which he lived.
Critic Reviews
“The best life of Henry VI now in print.” (Dan Jones)
“Vivid, absorbing and richly detailed.” (Helen Castor)
“A well-crafted moving account of a tragic reign.” (Michael Jones)
More from the same
Author
Narrator
What listeners say about Shadow King
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- S.Attenborough
- 27-01-2020
Good History Mediocre Narration
Narrator pauses in all the wrong places which is irritating just as you think there is a full stop end of sentence a few more words are spoken without acknowledging the next sentence by a correct pause. Most irritating of all is the incorrect pronunciation of French place names. Lastly it is Burgundy not BUNgandy.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- John
- 09-05-2020
Engaging exploration of this troubled King
I found Shadow King to be a very accessible telling of the life of Henry VI. I've read quite a few histories of this period and often found them to be impenetrable, the Wars of the Roses can be very confusing blur of names and titles. I feel the success of Johnson's book lies in her ability to look at Henry VI as a person, and through trying to understand the man it makes it far easier to understand the turbulent period that he ruled over (and didn't when he was incarcerated!).The clearly extensive research is also complemented and brought to life by Johnson's natural storytelling. My only slight quibble would be with some of the pronunciations of names and places, but in the grand scheme of things that's a very small quibble indeed. I would highly recommend Shadow King
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- michael Billington
- 13-04-2020
Stunning biography of a terrible King
This is a wonderful work about a decent well meaning man who led England to ruin both politically and militarily. The author does an excellent job of combining empathy for Henry as an individual and the circumstances he inherited with an unsparing evaluation of his utter failure to address any of the problems facing England. I have read/listened to many books on wars of York and Lancaster and this book ranks up there as one of the very best. Henry is placed squarely in the context of his times and all the leading protagonists are also. In the end you end up feeling sorry for most of the people who tried and tried to make a success of Henry's reign and to maintain the House of Lancaster in power. Even the Yorkist lords appear to have tried but Henry was just never going to be even a semi competent king. But it does provide the basis for a wonderful work of both scholarship and biography
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall

- Peter
- 22-06-2020
Worth reading
Lots of info about neglected or overshadowed monarch. Very enjoyable and lively. a good read.
16 Best Audiobooks by Aboriginal Authors
Across genres, there’s no shortage of brilliant titles from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers of Australia.



25 Best Celebrity Audiobooks
It’s always a pleasant surprise to pick up a familiar story and find an unexpected famous friend in the narrator’s booth.



Best Audiobooks of 2020
We've crunched the numbers, heard from our listeners and gotten expert opinions to round up the best listens of 2020.


