Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Sacrilege cover art

Sacrilege

By: S. J. Parris
Narrated by: Laurence Kennedy
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £20.99

Buy Now for £20.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Cathedral of Bones cover art
The Alchemist of Souls cover art
The Seeker cover art
The Ashes of London cover art
The Unquiet Bones cover art
The Tudor Mystery Trials Box Set cover art
The Shock of Night cover art
A Plague on Both Your Houses cover art
The Bookseller's Tale cover art
Crimson Rose cover art
The Wolves of Savernake cover art
A Rustle of Silk cover art
An Honourable Thief cover art
A Conspiracy of Violence cover art
The King's Justice cover art
City of Vengeance cover art

Summary

Fear haunts the streets of London after the assassination of a protestant Prince, and the recurrence of the plague.

Giordano Bruno suspects someone is following him, but on confronting his stalker, he realizes it is the woman he once loved – she is on the run, accused of murder.

Bruno travels to Canterbury to help clear her name, instructed by Sir Francis Walsingham to also search for the assassin in the shadow of England’s holiest shrine…

©2012 Stephanie Merritt (P)2013 W F Howes Ltd

Critic reviews

"Impossible to resist…Parris creates a convincing sense of the past, woven with so much intrigue that the head fairly spins." ( Daily Telegraph)
"Parris writes with confident ease of Tudor London.… The dialogue balances nicely on a tightrope of period phrases and cut-to-the-chase colloquialisms." ( The Times)

More from the same

What listeners say about Sacrilege

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    430
  • 4 Stars
    209
  • 3 Stars
    36
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    5
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    474
  • 4 Stars
    129
  • 3 Stars
    25
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    370
  • 4 Stars
    198
  • 3 Stars
    44
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    5

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A Bloody Canterbury Tale

A great listen, a story that kept me gripped and aching with Bruno in his plight and battle to survive the lies and treachery around him. Grieving with him as he faces betrayal and the loss of what he holds as precious to him.

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

Great Historical drama

I could not put the book down so to speak. Court intrigue but in Canterbury : great
The narrator is one of the best I have heard.
The book is topical too: prejudice bigotry and irrational treatment of immigrants.
Do we ever learn from history?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

brilliant ! re-reading it I was enthralled !

loved it! excellent books with plenty of Elizabethan knowledge! Good stuff from a female writer!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Best so far

I have dabbled with Audible due to circumstances quite a lot recently.
After merely enjoying a variety of other abooks, Sacrilege took the enjoyment to another level. The deepening of the magical narrative is superbly performed.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Sacrilege

Loved it, and was surprised at the ending. Had it on whenever possible to see what would happen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

A Satisfying, Engaging Mystery Adventure

Giordano’s challenges and trials in this third novel of the series are as much personal as they are as an agent of the state. To enjoy the personal strand of this novel, listeners and readers are best to have listened to or read ‘Heresy’ first. Doing so will ensure that what they find in ‘Sacrilege’ has the greater import. The dual-track in this adventure works well. ‘Cloistered’ in Canterbury Giordano Bruno’s investigations for some listeners and readers will give a new perspective on Saint Thomas Becket and also the potential and power popular belief in relation to saints and relics – even beyond England. Some will argue that Bruno’s own love interest is too obsessive, and some will argue that he is highly selective about what kinds of women he allows to be worthy of his consideration. Let’s see how the remaining adventures play-out to judge on that matter. I enjoyed this Canterbury adventure, though felt it took time for the momentum to build. The double-barrel conclusion felt a bit of a surprise, but that quickly paled in the light of a greater and significant shock. There are grizzly episodes, villains to hate, people to pity - and more. Listeners and readers are kept fully occupied in pursuit of how the strands will develop and turn out. The greatest satisfaction is at the end, when listeners and readers will say, “Well! What an ending. After that, what next?” Again the performer of this audio-book is exemplary and new listeners will enjoy his clarity and narrative skills. For those who like to have the print-version too, a surprise, there is an illustrative plan.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Gripping tale

Good characters, good twists. Maybe don’t have Bruno always wake up feeling like he’s only just put his head on the pillow. There are some other annoying repetitive phrases too, having been used in previous books. “I was just about to turn away, when something caught my eye…” or similar. But on the whole a very good read and I will continue with the series.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

WOW!

This is one of the best books I have listened to, everything was perfect ! The narration was superb and the story had me hooked from the start and I can't wait to start the next book in this series !

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

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

The best so far

Excellent story, immersion once more into Bruno's adventures. Again read beautifully, edge of seat stuff!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Good story

Enjoyed the book, but it seemed to drag on at the end and I struggled to make it to the end.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!