
The Widow and Her Hero
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $20.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Beverley Dunn
-
David Tredinnick
-
By:
-
Tom Keneally
About this listen
But Leo never returned from a commando mission masterminded by his own hero figure, an eccentric and charismatic man who inspired total loyalty from those under his command. The world moved on to new alliances, leaving Grace, like so many widows, to bear the pain of losing the love of her life and wonder what it had all been for.
Sixty years on, Grace is still haunted by the tragedy of her doomed hero when the real story of his ill-fated secret mission is at last unearthed. As new fragments of her hero's story emerge, Grace is forced to keep revising her picture of what happened to Leo and his fellow commandoes - until she learns about the final piece in the jigsaw, and the ultimate betrayal.
As absorbing as it is moving, this timely novel reminds us of the terrible costs of war as it questions why men so willingly and fatally adopt the heroic code.
©2008 Tom Keneally (P)2007 Bolinda PublishingListeners also enjoyed...
-
A Sailor of Austria
- The Otto Prohaska Novels, Book 1
- By: John Biggins
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spring of 1915, a young Austro-Czech naval lieutenant Ottokar Prohaska finds himself posted to the minuscule Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Submarine Service in the Adriatic port of Pola. In some trepidation at first, because he has no experience whatever of submarines, his fears are soon set at rest when he discovers that nobody else has either: least of all his superiors.
-
-
CNO Reading List -- GREAT Choice
- By MasonicReading~EdK on 08-17-17
By: John Biggins
-
11-22-63
- A Novel
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Craig Wasson
- Length: 30 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? In this brilliantly conceived tour de force, Stephen King - who has absorbed the social, political, and popular culture of his generation more imaginatively and thoroughly than any other writer - takes listeners on an incredible journey into the past and the possibility of altering it.
-
-
I Owe Stephen King An Apology
- By Kelly - Write Well Academy on 04-16-12
By: Stephen King
-
Ender's Game
- Special 20th Anniversary Edition
- By: Orson Scott Card
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Harlan Ellison, Gabrielle de Cuir
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why we think it’s a great listen: It’s easy to say that when it comes to sci-fi you either love it or you hate it. But with Ender’s Game, it seems to be you either love it or you love it.... The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Enter Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, the result of decades of genetic experimentation.
-
-
6 titles in the series so far
- By Kapila Wimalaratne on 01-29-03
By: Orson Scott Card
-
The Alice Network
- A Novel
- By: Kate Quinn
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 15 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the chaotic aftermath of World War II, American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and on the verge of being thrown out of her very proper family. She's also nursing a desperate hope that her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive.
-
-
We are standing on the shoulders of giants...
- By Marie on 02-25-18
By: Kate Quinn
-
The Clan of the Cave Bear
- Earth's Children, Book 1
- By: Jean M. Auel
- Narrated by: Sandra Burr
- Length: 22 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This novel of awesome beauty and power is a moving saga about people, relationships, and the boundaries of love. Through Jean M. Auel’s magnificent storytelling we are taken back to the dawn of modern humans, and with a girl named Ayla we are swept up in the harsh and beautiful Ice Age world they shared with the ones who called themselves the Clan of the Cave Bear.
-
-
Production and Narration didn't quite ruin it
- By nolagal on 07-28-14
By: Jean M. Auel
-
The Time Traveler's Wife
- By: Audrey Niffenegger
- Narrated by: Fred Berman, Phoebe Strole
- Length: 17 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Clare and Henry have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was 36. They were married when Clare was 23 and Henry was 31. Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: periodically his genetic clock resets and he finds himself misplaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity from his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing.
-
-
One of my favorite books
- By Joey on 01-13-08
-
A Sailor of Austria
- The Otto Prohaska Novels, Book 1
- By: John Biggins
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spring of 1915, a young Austro-Czech naval lieutenant Ottokar Prohaska finds himself posted to the minuscule Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Submarine Service in the Adriatic port of Pola. In some trepidation at first, because he has no experience whatever of submarines, his fears are soon set at rest when he discovers that nobody else has either: least of all his superiors.
-
-
CNO Reading List -- GREAT Choice
- By MasonicReading~EdK on 08-17-17
By: John Biggins
-
11-22-63
- A Novel
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Craig Wasson
- Length: 30 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? In this brilliantly conceived tour de force, Stephen King - who has absorbed the social, political, and popular culture of his generation more imaginatively and thoroughly than any other writer - takes listeners on an incredible journey into the past and the possibility of altering it.
-
-
I Owe Stephen King An Apology
- By Kelly - Write Well Academy on 04-16-12
By: Stephen King
-
Ender's Game
- Special 20th Anniversary Edition
- By: Orson Scott Card
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Harlan Ellison, Gabrielle de Cuir
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why we think it’s a great listen: It’s easy to say that when it comes to sci-fi you either love it or you hate it. But with Ender’s Game, it seems to be you either love it or you love it.... The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Enter Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, the result of decades of genetic experimentation.
-
-
6 titles in the series so far
- By Kapila Wimalaratne on 01-29-03
By: Orson Scott Card
-
The Alice Network
- A Novel
- By: Kate Quinn
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 15 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the chaotic aftermath of World War II, American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and on the verge of being thrown out of her very proper family. She's also nursing a desperate hope that her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive.
-
-
We are standing on the shoulders of giants...
- By Marie on 02-25-18
By: Kate Quinn
-
The Clan of the Cave Bear
- Earth's Children, Book 1
- By: Jean M. Auel
- Narrated by: Sandra Burr
- Length: 22 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This novel of awesome beauty and power is a moving saga about people, relationships, and the boundaries of love. Through Jean M. Auel’s magnificent storytelling we are taken back to the dawn of modern humans, and with a girl named Ayla we are swept up in the harsh and beautiful Ice Age world they shared with the ones who called themselves the Clan of the Cave Bear.
-
-
Production and Narration didn't quite ruin it
- By nolagal on 07-28-14
By: Jean M. Auel
-
The Time Traveler's Wife
- By: Audrey Niffenegger
- Narrated by: Fred Berman, Phoebe Strole
- Length: 17 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Clare and Henry have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was 36. They were married when Clare was 23 and Henry was 31. Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: periodically his genetic clock resets and he finds himself misplaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity from his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing.
-
-
One of my favorite books
- By Joey on 01-13-08
-
A Place Called Freedom
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 14 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This lush novel, set in 1766 England and America, evokes an era ripe with riot and revolution, from the teeming streets of London to the sprawling grounds of a Virginia plantation. Mack McAsh burns with the desire to escape his life of slavery in Scottish coal mines while Lizzie Hallim is desperate to shed a life of sheltered subjugation to her spineless husband. United in America, their only chance for freedom lies beyond the Western frontier - if they're brave enough to take it.
-
-
Expected better than a historical romance
- By Lynette Garet on 01-09-17
By: Ken Follett
-
Beautiful Ruins
- By: Jess Walter
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 12 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story begins in 1962. On a rocky patch of the sun-drenched Italian coastline, a young innkeeper, chest-deep in daydreams, looks out over the incandescent waters of the Ligurian Sea and spies an apparition: a tall, thin woman, a vision in white, approaching him on a boat. She is an actress, he soon learns, an American starlet, and she is dying. And the story begins again today, half a world away, when an elderly Italian man shows up on a movie studio's back lot - searching for the mysterious woman he last saw at his hotel decades earlier.
-
-
My mind wandered
- By Ella on 11-25-12
By: Jess Walter
-
World War Z
- An Oral History of the Zombie War
- By: Max Brooks
- Narrated by: Max Brooks, Alan Alda, John Turturro, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of 30 million souls, to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet.
-
-
needs to be unabridged
- By Catherine on 11-17-08
By: Max Brooks
-
Across the Nightingale Floor
- Tales of the Otori, Book One
- By: Lian Hearn
- Narrated by: Kevin Gray, Aiko Nakasone
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A tour-de-force novel set in ancient Japan filled with passion, fantasy, and feuding warlords. The first volume in the highly anticipated Tales of the Otori trilogy.
-
-
Wonderful epic story
- By Jody R. Nathan on 10-04-03
By: Lian Hearn
-
The Paris Wife
- A Novel
- By: Paula McLain
- Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet 28eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway and her life changes forever. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled “Lost Generation”—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.
-
-
Narration Issues
- By Sara on 10-06-15
By: Paula McLain
-
Into the Wilderness
- A Novel
- By: Sara Donati
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 30 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Weaving a vibrant tapestry of fact and fiction, Into the Wilderness sweeps us into another time and place...and into the heart of a forbidden, incandescent affair between a spinster Englishwoman and an American frontiersman. Here is an epic of romance and history that will captivate readers from the start.
-
-
So much for "if you like Gabaldon"
- By randomactsofpunctuation on 11-24-15
By: Sara Donati
-
A Long Petal of the Sea
- A Novel
- By: Isabel Allende, Nick Caistor, Amanda Hopkinson
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the late 1930s, civil war grips Spain. When General Franco and his Fascists succeed in overthrowing the government, hundreds of thousands are forced to flee in a treacherous journey over the mountains to the French border. Among them is Roser, a pregnant young widow, who finds her life intertwined with that of Victor Dalmau, an army doctor and the brother of her deceased love. In order to survive, the two must unite in a marriage neither of them desires.
-
-
Impressive
- By Jean on 05-24-20
By: Isabel Allende, and others
-
Semper Fi
- The Corps, Book 1
- By: W. E. B. Griffin
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From Shanghai to Wake Island, the Corps was America’s first line of defense as the winds of war exploded into the devastating surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. This is the story of the men of the Marine Corps, their loves and loyalties, an elite fraternity united by courage and honor, as they steel themselves for battle, prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice....
-
-
I Cannot Believe I Passed Up Griffin For Years!
- By Chip Atkinson on 04-02-12
By: W. E. B. Griffin
-
The Lieutenants
- Brotherhood of War, Book 1
- By: W. E. B. Griffin
- Narrated by: Eric G. Dove
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They were the young ones, the bright ones, the ones with the dreams. From the Nazi-prowled wastes of North Africa to the bloody corridors of Europe, they honorably answered the call. War - it was their duty, their job, their life. They marched off as boys and they came back - those who made it - as soldiers and professionals forged in the heat of battle....
-
-
Not just a Novel about War
- By Rochelle in Montana on 08-03-12
By: W. E. B. Griffin
-
A Town Like Alice
- By: Nevil Shute
- Narrated by: Robin Bailey
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jean Paget is just twenty years old and working in Malaya when the Japanese invasion begins. When she is captured she joins a group of other European women and children whom the Japanese force to march for miles through the jungle. While on the march, the group run into some Australian prisoners, one of whom, Joe Harman, helps them steal some food, and is horrifically punished by the Japanese as a result.
-
-
An all time favorite I have read many times...
- By Peyton on 03-16-10
By: Nevil Shute
-
War Brides
- By: Helen Bryan
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As war moves ever closer, the sleepy English village of Crowmarsh Priors settles into a new sort of normal: Evacuees from London are billeted in local homes. The nightly German air raids become grimly mundane. Rationing curtails every comfort. Men leave to fight and die. And five women forge a bond of friendship that will change their lives forever in this engrossing novel of loyalty, loss, and love in the shadow of World War II.With the hardships of war intensifying every day, the women band together to defeat formidable enemies and find remarkable strength within themselves to help one another. It is a war-forged loyalty certain to endure years and distance. When four of the women return for a celebration fifty years later, their mission is not simply to commemorate or remember. They’ve returned to confront a traitor whose actions cost countless lives — and to avenge one of their own at last.
-
-
Ruined by Narration
- By Sara on 08-28-14
By: Helen Bryan
-
Palindrome
- By: Stuart Woods
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Award-winning author Stuart Woods has crafted a masterful novel no reader will soon forget. For years, Liz Barwick has been battered by her brutal husband, a famous pro football player. The beautiful and talented photographer retreats to an island paradise off Georgia’s coast to find solitude - and herself.
-
-
Fantastic Story
- By Linda T. on 02-02-21
By: Stuart Woods
What listeners say about The Widow and Her Hero
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- rod
- 04-09-12
Based on a true episode
What did you love best about The Widow and Her Hero?
It was a insight to an episode in Australian War history from a woman's point of view.
What other book might you compare The Widow and Her Hero to and why?
Nancy Wake's story was a thriller as well.
What does Beverley Dunn and David Tredinnick bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Beverley Dunn has a way with her involvment in the text. You feel that you are there with her.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
At the end, Beverley was speaking slowly and drawing out every word.
Any additional comments?
I loved this audio book, well written, it gave Beverley Dunn and David Tredinnick a difficult task but a memorable one.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Cynthia Franks
- 05-08-12
Interesting, but the story never gets going
I love books that bring a different perspective to historical events, and this one about a young Australian war widow peeked my interest. I didn't know Australia fought in WWII. This book feels like a retelling of actual events, but it's not. It begins with Grace, the widow, describing what she finds out 40+ years later was how her husband died. It's an interesting way to start the story, the problem is since I know how it ends, it feels like the story never engages. I kept waiting for "the other thing" to emerge, but it never does. It really is about Grace's 40+ year reluctant journey to finding out what happened to her first husband.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- L. Lyter
- 04-29-11
Definately not "Unbroken"
Very different from "Unbroken." You know from the start that it will end in disaster for the Australian commandos and it's very sad and difficult to listen to how events played out. The print version got great reviews, but for me this was just too tough a listen. The accent of the narrator seems completely British to my ear, which didn't seem to really fit the story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 02-14-12
What?
This was a disappointing listen. The reader did her best in a story with little real depth which aimed, I imagine, for great depth but felt flat.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Warnie
- 07-19-12
Very good
Looks like not everyone's been terribly impressed by this one, but I really enjoyed it. I'm not entirely sure what folks were expecting, but having read another of Keneally's books (Victim of the Aurora), I knew I was probably in for a quiet and very convincing piece of historical fiction, and I wasn't disappointed one bit.
80-something-year-old Grace tells the story of her life with Leo, from courtship to marriage to widowhood, and of Leo's involvement with one Major Doucette and his obsession with dangerous missions to Singapore. It's a story of love and war and heroism and, maybe, about how the ghosts of your past can follow you for the rest of your life, if you let them.
As for the narration, Beverly Dunn, who was the voice of Grace, was fantastic--I absolutely loved her. I had a much more difficult time with David Tredinnick's narration for Leo's parts, because he just sounded so much older than I pictured Leo being at the time, and I could never quite reconcile the voice with the words. But there really aren't a whole lot of Leo bits, so it wasn't enough to really detract from the story as a whole.
Anyway, I definitely consider myself a fan of Keneally's at this point, and look forward to reading more of his work!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lyn
- 07-17-12
Interesting insight into a past era
Interesting insight into a past era. A nice Keneally book which kept me interested to the end
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Diana
- 09-16-11
The Widow and Her Hero
I like a good story that deals with history but when the writer uses the F word in it, I loose interest very quickly. I wish that there was a way to do a rating on books the same as movies. I hate to use money to buy a story and then have to delete it because of foul language.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- fishcakesgirl
- 01-18-17
A truly wonderful book.
This is such a truly wonderful book.
Superbly narrated. One of those stories you don't want to end because you have enjoyed the journey so much.
The characters are so real. I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Australian history of our part in WW2.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kerri
- 06-18-12
Such a beautiful story
Would you listen to The Widow and Her Hero again? Why?
Would definitely listen to this again. There are so many layers to the story once does not do it justice.
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Widow and Her Hero?
Memorable is the way The Widow copes with the disclosures of others about Leo's deeds. Leo is not the only hero.
What does Beverley Dunn and David Tredinnick bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Beverley and David make the characters real and personable. It's like listening to your Grandma talk about your Granddad. The wistful way Beverley remembers her beautiful man and the anguish in her voice at not being able to touch him is palpable. David as Leo is truly what you would imagine a young man would sound like, as he describes his mates and their adventures.
If you could rename The Widow and Her Hero, what would you call it?
I couldn't rename it, it's just right.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lisa
- 09-22-13
Great Story! Thought provoking!!!
The reader did a super job of pulling me into this story. She was perfect. I grew to really care about the characters and was left heartbroken thinking of all the great patriots they represent. David did a good job reading the part of "the hero" but it was short. I liked having 2 perspectives though. I highly recommend!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!