Try free for 30 days
-
The Cypress Maze
- Narrated by: Henrietta Meire, Ruth Redman
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from Wish List failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $28.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also picked
-
The Echo of Old Books
- A Novel
- By: Barbara Davis
- Narrated by: Vanessa Johansson, Steve West, Sarah Zimmerman
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rare-book dealer Ashlyn Greer’s affinity for books extends beyond the intoxicating scent of old paper, ink, and leather. She can feel the echoes of the books’ previous owners—an emotional fingerprint only she can read. When Ashlyn discovers a pair of beautifully bound volumes that appear to have never been published, her gift quickly becomes an obsession. Not only is each inscribed with a startling incrimination, but the authors, Hemi and Belle, tell conflicting sides of a tragic romance.
-
-
I loved the story that unfolded in this book
- By Angela Payne on 16-04-2024
-
A Storm of Infinite Beauty
- A Novel
- By: Julianne MacLean
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Scarlett Fontaine is a true Hollywood legend—a singer, actress, and beloved fashion icon. But Scarlett dies tragically at just thirty-six years old, leaving behind no children. Or so the story goes… Gwen Hollingsworth is the curator at a museum dedicated to Scarlett’s life. She’s also sole heir to Scarlett’s fortune as a descendant of the star. But all is not well in Gwen’s world. She’s dealing with a messy marital separation and is struggling to move forward.
-
The Austrian Bride
- By: Helen Parusel
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Austria, 1938. After years of hardship, Ella is full of hope for a better future for Austrians, and when Hitler marches into Linz, she can’t help but become swept up in the euphoria of her boyfriend, Max. But she soon realises her mistake. When she witnesses a woman being shot in the street and a childhood friend’s Jewish department store is closed down, she knows she must do something. It’s a dangerous time to be a resistor, especially when her fascist boyfriend proposes to her.
-
-
Great Story
- By Anonymous User on 10-03-2024
-
A Different Kind of Gone
- A Novel
- By: Catherine Ryan Hyde
- Narrated by: Patricia Shade
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When nineteen-year-old Jill Moss goes missing near the Utah-Arizona border, everyone has an opinion. Only Norma Gallagher, a search and rescue volunteer, knows the real story. Norma’s already found Jill, huddled in a cave and terrified that her abusive boyfriend, Jake, will kill her. If he ever sees her again. To protect Jill from a dangerous man, Norma quietly delivers the girl to her grateful parents in California, even though she’s conflicted. Keeping Jill safe and hidden from Jake, the press, and the public will be their secret. But secrets can’t last forever.
-
The Paris Assignment
- A Novel
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Londoner Madeleine Grant is studying at the Sorbonne in Paris when she marries charismatic French journalist Giles Martin. As they raise their son, Olivier, they hold on to a tenuous promise for the future. Until the thunder of war sets off alarms in France. Staying behind to join the resistance, Giles sends Madeleine and Olivier to the relative safety of England, where Madeleine secures a job teaching French at a secondary school. Yet nowhere is safe. After a devastating twist of fate resulting in the loss of her son, Madeleine accepts a request from the ministry to aid in the war effort.
-
-
Quite a good story
- By Ann, Australia on 13-12-2023
-
Sea of Memories
- By: Fiona Valpy
- Narrated by: Heather Wilds
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1937, seventeen-year-old Ella’s life changes forever when she is sent to spend the summer on the beautiful Île de Ré and meets the charismatic, creative Christophe. They spend the summer together, exploring the island’s sandy beaches and crystal-clear waters, and, for the first time in her life, Ella feels truly free. But the outbreak of war casts everything in a new light. Ella is forced to return to Scotland, where she volunteers for the war effort alongside the dashing Angus. In this new world, Ella feels herself drifting further and further from who she was on the Île de Ré.
-
-
a winner by a great author
- By Maggie on 28-04-2023
-
The Echo of Old Books
- A Novel
- By: Barbara Davis
- Narrated by: Vanessa Johansson, Steve West, Sarah Zimmerman
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rare-book dealer Ashlyn Greer’s affinity for books extends beyond the intoxicating scent of old paper, ink, and leather. She can feel the echoes of the books’ previous owners—an emotional fingerprint only she can read. When Ashlyn discovers a pair of beautifully bound volumes that appear to have never been published, her gift quickly becomes an obsession. Not only is each inscribed with a startling incrimination, but the authors, Hemi and Belle, tell conflicting sides of a tragic romance.
-
-
I loved the story that unfolded in this book
- By Angela Payne on 16-04-2024
-
A Storm of Infinite Beauty
- A Novel
- By: Julianne MacLean
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Scarlett Fontaine is a true Hollywood legend—a singer, actress, and beloved fashion icon. But Scarlett dies tragically at just thirty-six years old, leaving behind no children. Or so the story goes… Gwen Hollingsworth is the curator at a museum dedicated to Scarlett’s life. She’s also sole heir to Scarlett’s fortune as a descendant of the star. But all is not well in Gwen’s world. She’s dealing with a messy marital separation and is struggling to move forward.
-
The Austrian Bride
- By: Helen Parusel
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Austria, 1938. After years of hardship, Ella is full of hope for a better future for Austrians, and when Hitler marches into Linz, she can’t help but become swept up in the euphoria of her boyfriend, Max. But she soon realises her mistake. When she witnesses a woman being shot in the street and a childhood friend’s Jewish department store is closed down, she knows she must do something. It’s a dangerous time to be a resistor, especially when her fascist boyfriend proposes to her.
-
-
Great Story
- By Anonymous User on 10-03-2024
-
A Different Kind of Gone
- A Novel
- By: Catherine Ryan Hyde
- Narrated by: Patricia Shade
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When nineteen-year-old Jill Moss goes missing near the Utah-Arizona border, everyone has an opinion. Only Norma Gallagher, a search and rescue volunteer, knows the real story. Norma’s already found Jill, huddled in a cave and terrified that her abusive boyfriend, Jake, will kill her. If he ever sees her again. To protect Jill from a dangerous man, Norma quietly delivers the girl to her grateful parents in California, even though she’s conflicted. Keeping Jill safe and hidden from Jake, the press, and the public will be their secret. But secrets can’t last forever.
-
The Paris Assignment
- A Novel
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Londoner Madeleine Grant is studying at the Sorbonne in Paris when she marries charismatic French journalist Giles Martin. As they raise their son, Olivier, they hold on to a tenuous promise for the future. Until the thunder of war sets off alarms in France. Staying behind to join the resistance, Giles sends Madeleine and Olivier to the relative safety of England, where Madeleine secures a job teaching French at a secondary school. Yet nowhere is safe. After a devastating twist of fate resulting in the loss of her son, Madeleine accepts a request from the ministry to aid in the war effort.
-
-
Quite a good story
- By Ann, Australia on 13-12-2023
-
Sea of Memories
- By: Fiona Valpy
- Narrated by: Heather Wilds
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1937, seventeen-year-old Ella’s life changes forever when she is sent to spend the summer on the beautiful Île de Ré and meets the charismatic, creative Christophe. They spend the summer together, exploring the island’s sandy beaches and crystal-clear waters, and, for the first time in her life, Ella feels truly free. But the outbreak of war casts everything in a new light. Ella is forced to return to Scotland, where she volunteers for the war effort alongside the dashing Angus. In this new world, Ella feels herself drifting further and further from who she was on the Île de Ré.
-
-
a winner by a great author
- By Maggie on 28-04-2023
-
The French for Love
- By: Fiona Valpy
- Narrated by: Esther Wane
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gina has lost her perfect job, her boyfriend, and her favorite aunt all within the space of a few months. So when she inherits her aunt's ramshackle French house, Gina decides to pack her bags for the Bordeaux countryside - swapping English weather for blue skies, sunshine, great wine, and a fresh start. What she hasn't factored in is a hole in the roof, the most embarrassing language faux pas, and discovering family secrets she was never supposed to know.
-
Just a Regular Boy
- A Novel
- By: Catherine Ryan Hyde
- Narrated by: Michael Crouch, Kate Rudd
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Out there is chaos, the collapse of society, and so much to be afraid of. All that matters is freedom. That’s what Remy Blake has been taught by his survivalist father. Raised off the grid in the middle of nowhere, his own survival skills not yet honed, Remy is days shy of his eighth birthday when his father unexpectedly dies. As seasons pass, supplies run out, and fending for himself grows more desperate, Remy sets out on foot, unprepared for the great unknown of civilization.
-
-
It makes you look at what we take for granted differently
- By parko on 27-04-2024
-
The Secret Midwife
- By: Soraya M. Lane
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Occupied Poland, 1942: Despite the constant presence of German soldiers in her village, Emilia is allowed certain freedoms as a midwife—the most precious is innocently cycling past Nazi checkpoints to the homes of expectant mothers on her rounds. But Emilia has a secret: for years she’s also been visiting the hidden Jewish mothers and working for the resistance…until she is betrayed.
-
-
Great listen
- By Helen on 22-02-2024
-
The Storyteller of Casablanca
- By: Fiona Valpy
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Morocco, 1941. With France having fallen to Nazi occupation, twelve-year-old Josie has fled with her family to Casablanca, where they await safe passage to America. Life here is as intense as the sun, every sight, smell and sound overwhelming to the senses in a city filled with extraordinary characters. It’s a world away from the trouble back home—and Josie loves it. Seventy years later, another new arrival in the intoxicating port city, Zoe, is struggling—with her marriage, her baby daughter and her new life as an expat in an unfamiliar place.
-
-
Brilliant and heartbreaking
- By Amazon Customer on 22-10-2023
-
A Girl Called Samson
- A Novel
- By: Amy Harmon
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 13 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1760, Deborah Samson is born to Puritan parents in Plympton, Massachusetts. When her father abandons the family and her mother is unable to support them, Deborah is bound out as an indentured servant. From that moment on, she yearns for a life of liberation and adventure. Twenty years later, as the American colonies begin to buckle in their battle for independence, Deborah, impassioned by the cause, disguises herself as a soldier and enlists in the Continental Army.
-
-
Absolutely Brilliant
- By Anonymous User on 28-01-2024
-
An Italian Secret
- Daughters of Italy, Book 1
- By: Ella Carey
- Narrated by: Olivia Kustermans
- Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tuscany, 1944. As Cara runs into the grand entrance hall of the Villa Rosa, she flies to a stop. There is a gun pointing straight at her head, a Nazi staring down at her from the steps above. But even as her heart thumps so loudly she is sure it will jump out of her chest, she keeps smiling, desperately hoping that he won’t spot the precious diary she has hidden under her shirt. Because if he does, it’s not just her life at stake....
-
A Month in Provence
- By: Gillian Harvey
- Narrated by: Lucy Scott
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Interior designer Nicky always used to know how to make the best of things. Ever since she lost her husband though, things haven’t been easy. She’s had to raise her two daughters alone and she’s so proud to see them all grown up, and she knows that’s down to her. But she can’t help but feel like she doesn’t know what to do with her life now. Then her best friend begs her to help out. Jenny is a TV exec and her new renovation show is in peril. Only Nicky can help. The catch – Nicky needs to fly to Provence… tomorrow.
-
-
Loved it
- By Christine on 18-04-2024
-
Tell Me How This Ends
- A BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick
- By: Jo Leevers
- Narrated by: Ell Potter
- Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Haunted by the past, Henrietta throws herself into a new job transcribing other people’s life stories, vowing to stick to the facts and keep emotions at arm’s length. But when she meets the eccentric and terminally ill Annie, she finds herself inextricably drawn in. And when Annie reveals that her sister drowned in unexplained circumstances in 1974, Henrietta’s methodical mind can’t help following the story’s loose ends…
-
-
Thoroughly enjoyable
- By Helen on 05-04-2024
-
The Wife's Promise
- By: Kate Hewitt
- Narrated by: Gemma Dawson, Elizabeth Cottle
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
England, 1939: When Alice marries twinkly-eyed, kind-hearted vicar David, it means leaving everything from her old life behind and moving into the draughty vicarage in the beautiful but remote village of Goswell, Cumbria. Though homesick, she's determined to make a new life there for herself and her husband. But soon tragedy strikes, and Alice is devastated when war breaks out and David chooses to sign up to fight. But everything changes when she's asked to take in a child evacuee, and she makes a promise to protect this girl, no matter what it costs her…
-
The Lost Diary
- By: Rose Alexander
- Narrated by: Naomi Frederick
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Germany, 1945. As the ground shakes and the air raid sirens wail, Katja holds her tiny baby to her chest. She pictures Karl’s handsome face and kind blue eyes, her breath catching at the thought of him heading back to the front. She must never tell anyone about the letters she delivered for him or the other secret she is hiding....
-
The Venice Sketchbook
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Caroline Grant is struggling to accept the end of her marriage when she receives an unexpected bequest. Her beloved great-aunt Lettie leaves her a sketchbook, three keys, and a final whisper...Venice. Caroline’s quest: to scatter Juliet “Lettie” Browning’s ashes in the city she loved and to unlock the mysteries stored away for more than 60 years.
-
-
Loved the story
- By Veda on 22-03-2023
-
The Storyteller by the Sea
- By: Phyllida Shrimpton
- Narrated by: Charlotte Worthing
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Melody spends her days combing the shore for items washed up on her beach. She collects them in her basket and takes them back to Spindrift, her weathered little bungalow overlooking the sea, and weaves stories about her treasures. Everything Melody thinks she could ever need is right where she is, cupped by the rocks that shape her bay. But Melody has been keeping a secret.
Publisher's Summary
In this haunting tale from the bestselling author of The Storyteller of Casablanca, Beatrice kept a wartime secret to protect the innocent. Now, could telling it set her free?
Tuscany, 1943. Stranded in war-ravaged Italy, Beatrice’s dream of an escapist year teaching English is shattered. Granted shelter at the Villa delle Colombe, she seeks refuge in Francesca and Edoardo’s beautiful walled garden, hidden from the outside world, with an elaborate cypress maze at its heart.
But Beatrice is not the only one seeking an escape here. Francesca has brought children to the safety of the house, as well as other adults, all of them seeking sanctuary on the estate with its mysterious maze. As the war closes in, the residents are forced to witness—and do—unthinkable things…
2015. Tess arrives at the villa raw from the agonising loss of her husband. Beatrice, now custodian, guides her to the solace of its gardens, where Tess begins to heal. But all hope of peace is shattered by the arrival of Marco, the estate’s absent owner, who wants nothing more than to hand it over to developers.
Distraught, Beatrice realises she must finally reveal the villa’s painful past if she wants to save it. As the extraordinary story unfolds, Tess realises that Villa delle Colombe is not just a refuge, but a beacon of hope in the darkest of times. Can she convince Marco to give it a new lease of life—and find a way back to happiness herself?
Critic Reviews
“A poignant, luminous tale.”—Woman's Own
"Valpy’s writing is beautiful, and she makes this villa, with its spectacular garden and, especially, the cypress maze at the heart of it, come to life.”—Historical Novels Review
More from the same
What listeners say about The Cypress Maze
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tim Pate
- 04-05-2024
Worth the listen
enjoyed this story. it is something a little different. A well presented story whose characters are endearing.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!