Read My Heart: A Love Story in England's Age of Revolution [Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Jane Dunn (Author), Wanda McCaddon (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 28, 2008

When Sir William Temple (1628–1699) and Dorothy Osborne (1627–1695) began their passionate love affair, civil war was raging in Britain, and their families-parliamentarians and royalists, respectively-did everything to keep them apart. Yet the couple went on to enjoy a marriage and a sophisticated partnership unique in its times. Surviving the political chaos of the era, the Black Plague, the Great Fire of London, and the deaths of all their nine children, William and Dorothy made a life together for more than forty years.Drawing upon extensive research and the Temples' own extraordinary writings-including Dorothy's dazzling letters, one of the glories of English literature-Jane Dunn gives us an utterly captivating dual biography, the first to examine Dorothy's life as an intellectual equal to her diplomat husband. While she has been known to posterity as the very symbol of upper-class, seventeenth-century domestic English life, Dunn makes clear that she was a woman of great complexity, of passion and brilliance, noteworthy far beyond her role as a wife and mother. The remarkable story of William and Dorothy's life together-illuminated here by the author's insight and her vivid sense of place and time-offers a rare glimpse into the heart and spirit of one of the most turbulent and intriguing eras in British history.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The era of Britain’s Civil War teems with articulate, literate personalities whose diaries yield a wealth of worthwhile political and social observations. Dorothy Osborne and William Temple found themselves and their families on opposing sides in the struggle between king and Parliament, but the two fell in love and, surmounting a host of social and political impediments, went on to marry. Their surviving correspondence offers an illuminating glimpse into their mutual passion. Dunn fleshes out this epistolary testament with prodigious research into the lovers’ family histories and historical contexts that shaped their intense emotion. She details for readers the Civil War’s horrific impacts on the Irish and explicates the larger European diplomatic milieu where Temple worked assiduously for Charles II despite ever-present intrigues at court. Portraits of the principals and detailed family trees help the reader sort through the welter of characters. --Mark Knoblauch --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Jane Dunn is the author of a number of historical books, including Elizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens; Moon in Eclipse: A Life of Mary Shelley; A Very Close Conspiracy: Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell; and Antonia White: A Life. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and lives in Bath, England. Wanda McCaddon began recording books for the fledgling audiobook industry in the early 1980s and has since narrated well over six hundred titles for major audio publishers, as well as abridging, narrating, and coproducing classic titles for her own company, Big Ben. Audiobook listeners may be familiar with her voice under one of her two "nom de mikes," Donada Peters and Nadia May. The recipient of an Audie nomination and twenty-five Earphones Awards, AudioFile magazine has named her one of recording's Golden Voices. Wanda also appears regularly on the professional stage in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Tantor Media; Unabridged,MP3 - Unabridged CD edition (October 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400159679
• ISBN-13: 978-1400159673
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,241,867 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not as advertised, January 21, 2009

By 

dinnaforget (CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Read My Heart: A Love Story in England's Age of Revolution (Hardcover)

This is the only book I've ever returned to Amazon. If you're expecting to read the full text of the letters, you will be sorely disappointed. Not only did I have to wade through chapter after chapter of begats, when the letters eventually, finally, did make an appearance they were edited down to a few lines, and there were translations into modern English inserted in the body of the letters, interrupting their flow. Mind you, I only made it through the first 75 pages before I gave up any hope that I'd eventually be able to read the complete letters, without interruption or interpretation, so I can't say that the book didn't improve in later chapters, though I did get the impression, by leafing through it, that the format remained the same throughout.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars In Depth Historical Love Affair!, June 18, 2009

By 

themom1980 (Memphis, TN) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Read My Heart: A Love Story in England's Age of Revolution (Hardcover)

I'm enjoying this book. I had not realized Britain was in such turmoil in the 1600s; civil war, political intrigue, and to top it all off a wonderful and enduring love affair! Though you should love reading history before picking this book up. Otherwise, enjoy!