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  • Wideacre

  • Wideacre, Book 1
  • By: Philippa Gregory
  • Narrated by: Emma Powell
  • Length: 26 hrs and 41 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (151 ratings)

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Wideacre

By: Philippa Gregory
Narrated by: Emma Powell
Free with 2 month trial

AUD $16.45/mo after 2 months. Renews automatically. Cancel anytime.

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Publisher's Summary

Featuring a foreword recorded exclusively for Audible by Philippa Gregory and an interview with the author.

Philippa Gregory's first story in the best-selling Wideacre trilogy. A compelling tale of passion and intrigue set in the 18th century. From the author of The Other Boleyn Girl and The Virgin's Lover.

Wideacre Hall, set in the heart of the English countryside, is the ancestral home that Beatrice Lacey loves. But as a woman of the 18th century, she has no right of inheritance. Corrupted by a world that mistreats women, she sets out to corrupt others.

Sexual and willful, she believes that the only way to achieve control over Wideacre is through a series of horrible crimes, and no-one escapes the consequences of her need to possess the land.

©2006 Philippa Gregory (P)2017 Audible, Ltd

Critic Reviews

"The eighteenth-century woman is a neglected creature but, in the figure of her heroine, Philippa Gregory has defined a certain kind of wildness.... This is a novel written from instinct, not out of calculation, and it shows." (Peter Ackroyd, The Times)

What listeners say about Wideacre

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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    77
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Story
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

The main character is horrible

I've read lots of Philippa Gregory so was excited to read this one. The narrator was excellent and the story was intriguing but the main character was so awful that I finished it with mixed feelings. I'm not sure I can be bothered to read the next in the series.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Hard not to wish the heroine did not die sooner

I enjoyed this book which is well researched and interesting. However Beatrice was such an amoral and uncaring person that I began to wish she would leave the book and let us get on with life in a Sussex village.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Intriguing but depressing

Difficult to endure. Quite immoral and morbid. I hoped unrealistically for a happy ending. Don’t think I can stomach the next book in the saga

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Enthralling

A look into the mind of a covert narcissistic psychopath. Having crossed paths with someone like this in my life, and wondered how they can destroy all around them while appearing to others as a gentle, loving and approachable soul. This book connected with me. I could not put it down even though some of the themes presented were uncomfortable to hear. The author takes us on a journey from innocent childhood to budding young women conflicted by what the world is and what she wants the world to be, to a grown woman burdened by her own part in the losses that surround her.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

OMG! The protagonist is an actual psychopath!

I persisted in reading this book to the end in the hope of some sort of redemption. Spoiler alert ⚠️ : this book makes redemption look like a fairy tale. I read for entertainment sake, but this is a thorough study of what an 18th century psychopath would look like. This book left me cold and disturbed. I can not fathom how the publishers thought this would be entertaining - even horror movies have satisfying endings.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Worst Gregory.

Such a distasteful novel. A completely unlikeable main character, incest and murder with no repentance makes for the most uncompelling reading. I could not finish. I’m
a big fan of Gregory’s work but this was just awe full.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Great writer

I thought the author did a great job of pacing the story, describing characters and building tension. I didn’t enjoy (and wasn’t prepared) for the horrid relationship.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Picturesque setting for selfish and weak characters.

It is unpleasant to endure when the main character has no redeeming qualities at all. I kept reading in the hope that she would fail in her selfish scheming. The idyllic setting only made the ugliness of her character more intolerable.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Perfect Narration

The perfection of the narration made this story so excitingly chilling. The story left me uncomfortable at times and I couldn’t stop listening as it spiralled out of control to the inevitable end. Loved it!

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Good for one thing only

If you’re having trouble falling asleep this book will really help.
Nothing happens.
Female leads Are Trembling and desirous - men are cads and brainless.
Seriously I have no idea what the author was thinking particularly since she starts out by saying what a feminist she is.
And the incestuous relationship
Is disgusting - I couldn’t stomach it further after 6 soporific and pathetic chapters

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