Devices and Desires

Bess of Hardwick and the Building of Elizabethan England

By: Kate Hubbard

Narrated by: Heather Wilds

The critically acclaimed author of Serving Victoria brilliantly illuminates the life of the little-known Bess of Hardwick—next to Queen Elizabeth I, the richest and most powerful woman in sixteenth-century England.

Aided by a quartet of judicious marriages and a shrewd head for business, Bess of Hardwick rose from humble beginnings to become one of the most respected and feared Countesses in Elizabethan England—an entrepreneur who built a family fortune, created glorious houses—the last and greatest built as a widow in her 70s—and was deeply involved in matters of the court, including the custody of Mary Queen of Scots.

While Bess cultivated many influential courtiers, she also collected numerous enemies. Her embittered fourth husband once called her a woman of “devices and desires,” while nineteenth-century male historians portrayed her as a monster—”a woman of masculine understanding and conduct, proud, furious, selfish and unfeeling.” In the twenty-first century she has been neutered by female historians who recast her as a soft-hearted sort, much maligned, and misunderstood. As Kate Hubbard reveals, the truth of this highly accomplished woman lies somewhere in between: ruthless and scheming, Bess was sentimental and affectionate as well.

Hubbard draws on more than 230 of Bess’s letters, including correspondence with the Queen and her councilors, fond (and furious) missives between her husbands and children, and notes sharing titillating court gossip. The result is a rich, compelling portrait of a true feminist icon centuries ahead of her time—a complex, formidable, and decidedly modern woman captured in full as never before.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

The Story was Fantastic and SO WAS THE NARRATOR!

I’m always at a loss at the stinging reviews this narrator gets! I love the pitch and timbre of her voice, the “poshness” of her normal accent and the versatility and accuracy of her others. I love that I can understand every word she says, that I don’t have to crank up the volume to hear her and that she makes by far fewer mispronunciations than most other narrators I am familiar with. I like the rhythm she acquires as she gets into the story and I get caught up in it as well. Perhaps the problem is the lack of patience the complainants may have. I noticed one accused her of being AI generated. I loved this book. My mother was an Anglophile and an extreme British history buff. She passed that love to me. She took me to England when I was just a teenager and one of the places she showed me was Hardwick Hall as she was quite knowledgeable about Bess of Hardwick. How I wish I could have shared this book with her!

Great content, horrible ai generated readin

The actual book is terrific and quite interesting. But it's pretty obvious that they didn't hire someone yo actually read the book. They sampled the reader's voice, and not very thoroughly. The end result is that every single sentence has exactly the same inflection. Terrible. They also didn't bother to check pronunciation so some names and places are pronounced absurdly. Amazon is so determined to reduce basic expenses, to boost profits they can't even lay for some one to read the whole book or check the ai generated mispronunciation. Pathetic and disappointing.

Terribly Written Book

I didn’t like this book. It was not all that interesting. I believe it could have been written better. Also the performance of the reader was at times corny. The accents she was doing were horrible. Especially when she was speaking in a Scottish accent for Mary Queen of Scots. Mary actually would have had a French accent.

Unfortunate narration

I could not listen to this as the narration was so off putting. The preview didn’t sound bad at all and then the story began with very odd pauses and inflection. Had enjoyed reading the book very much.