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  • Isabella

  • The She-Wolf of France
  • By: Alison Weir
  • Narrated by: Lisette Lecat
  • Length: 21 hrs and 45 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (289 ratings)
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Isabella cover art

Isabella

By: Alison Weir
Narrated by: Lisette Lecat
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Summary

Here is the first full-length biography of a much maligned but astonishingly colourful Queen of England.

In Newgate Street, in the city of London, stand the meagre ruins of Christ Church. On the same site once stood a royal mausoleum set to rival Westminster Abbey in the 14th century. Among the many crowned heads buried there was Isabella of France, Edward II's queen - one of the most notorious femme fatales in history. But how did she acquire her evil reputation? And is it justified? Alison Weir's engrossing biography sets out to put the record straight.

©2005 Alison Weir

Critic reviews

"Pierces the veil of history with scholarly precision....A serious rendering of a sensational life." ( Irish Times)

What listeners say about Isabella

Average customer ratings
Overall
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Story
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent Historical Work

Well researched, complete and thorough life of Isabella, fairly assessed, and an excellent overview of this crucial period in English history.
This is a serious historical work using all the sources available for the period. It is neither a novel nor light listening. If you are looking for historical biography disregard the complaining reviews. You will not waste your credit.
The book is well if a little starchily read. Mind you the reader has to decide when sources are being quoted and of course one cannot see references.
Highly recommended.

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22 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Disappointing

The title 'Isabella - she wolf of France' is somewhat misleading. The book is really a chronicle of her life and at the very end the author admits that Isabella did not deserve the title given to her. Her life was interesting to a degree but the book only says where she was when. Purely a record of her progress and rather dull listening. The exciting sounding title made me want to hear more of this woman who lived very close to me in a castle - now ruined. I kept waiting for something to happen but the book is lacking in drama although probably historically accurate. I was very disappointed

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19 people found this helpful

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

Far, far too much unnecessary detail

I am disappointed by this book as I’ve enjoyed other books by the author. I’ve given up after about 8 hours as the book is so overburdened by superfluous details. I don’t need to know the intricate genealogy of minor royals and aristocracy of France and England, the architecture, decor and repairs, if needed, of every property visited by the King and Queen (and there are an awful lot), shopping lists for banquets, supplies for the royal stables or the names and wages of numerous employees of the royal households. The latter might be of interest if the shillings per week weren’t just converted into exactly equivalent decimal currency, I don’t need to be told that 1 shilling equals 5 pence, but how much that wage would be taking into account inflation. All this detail bogs down what should be an interesting historical novel and converts it into an academic thesis in which a student has to show that she has dug out every fact available about medieval life. It would be tedious to read but totally unsuitable for an audio book in which it’s difficult to skip the boring bits.
By the time I gave up the book seemed more about Edward II’s lack of judgement and extravagance and yet another example of why monarchy as a way to govern a country is a lottery.

The narrator is good and I sympathsize with her having to read such a long book of facts.

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

A Gripping Story

I loved this as much as I had the book. Having become a night time listener this was, for me, an ideal saga of a strong and powerful woman. As always Alison Weir brings a wealth of facts into the narrative but never distracts from the story. The narrator was just right.

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13 people found this helpful

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

Excellent

I was a bit apprehensive about this book due to my hatred of historical romance fiction, which Weir is known for, but this book was so well researched and interesting. I wasn't entirely convinced about her argument that Edward the second hadn't been murdered, but had in fact, run away, but it's not something that detracts from the overall book. Whilst other reviewers have complained that the book is bogged down in unnecessary detail, for me, this was incredibly interesting, as it helped me really imagine the world that Isabella inhabited in her day-to-day life. I cannot recommend this book enough!

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11 people found this helpful

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

Great!

The usual story of this time but with so much extra evidence that it turns certain long thought ideas on its head.

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5 people found this helpful

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

loved it

very interesting to understand why she underttok an invasion against her husband and her own life story

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4 people found this helpful

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

Educational and enlightening.

I hadn’t previously known anything about Isabella but this provides a good jigsaw puzzle piece to gaps in my historical knowledge.
Love the narrator, excellent performance. My only criticisms of the whole thing are as follows;

Equivalent modern monetary values would be useful, and I note that Alison Weir includes these in later books.

The editing is a little clipped and not smooth in places, between paragraphs and some sentences.

However, well worth a listen.

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3 people found this helpful

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

Good story bad editing

Badly edited. One sentence not properly finished before another chapter being announced. Takes away from the story a little bit

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3 people found this helpful

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

history brought to life

enjoyed this book. great insight into life in the 14 th century. worth a listen

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3 people found this helpful