Embarkations by Liz Duffy Adams, Delia Sherman
Series: Whitehall #1.1
Published by Serial Box on May 17, 2016
Source: the publisher
Narrator: Fiona Hardingham
Length: 1 hour, 31 minutes
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England gets a new queen in the first episode of Whitehall, an episodic royal tale full of true history and sensual intrigue, new from Serial Box Publishing.

Winds of change carry a young Portuguese princess towards her destiny as the sun rises on Whitehall. Sheltered but curious, Catherine of Braganza arrives in her new English home full of eager excitement, but what this pious foreigner’s arrival will mean for the Merry Monarch she is to wed – and the mistress who holds his heart – is what everyone is talking about.

This episode is brought to you by Liz Duffy Adams and Delia Sherman, who know every embarkation is an adventure about to happen.

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Review:

Ahh, this was so great. Intrigue and drama with a hint of potential scandal, and I loved it.

First of all, let me say that I’m listening to the Whitehall serial via the Serial Box app. Whitehall is available for reading on the app OR as an audio option with narration provided. I opted to listen to the episode and loved it.

Embarkations is set in May 1662 with Catherine of Braganza leaving Portugal for England, as she has been promised to Charles II after a long negotiation that aimed to join Portugal and England against Spain. This marriage would also make Catherine the Queen of England. Catherine arrives in England only to find that it takes Charles a week to come to greet her. He simply cannot be bothered because he is preoccupied with his mistress, Barbara Palmer, who is pregnant with his child.

This first episode sets up the scene and allows us to get to know Catherine and Charles, as well as Barbara. It also establishes that Catherine is a devout Catholic coming to a Protestant England, and hints that this could be a conflict of some sort in the months or years to come.

(Note: By the time that this review goes live, I’m several episodes into this serial and I LOVE IT. It is so, so good.)

Audio Notes:

This serial episode is 1 hour, 31 minutes in length with the amazing Fiona Hardingham lending her voice to the narration. It is fabulous. Ms. Hardingham is one of my favorite narrators and I absolutely squealed when I saw her name attached to this project. I will say that there were several times that I switched over to the print so I could see what a word or a name looked like in print or how it is spelled, but this was not necessarily specific to this story – I do this with everything that I listen to in audio form. I need to be able to visualize the words that I am hearing, and I tend to always listen with some form of the print story available to me.

Check out my reviews for Whitehall serial episodes:

Embarkations | Skilled Artifice | On His Blindness | Wit In All Languages
The Rules of the Game | Divine Passion | Imperfect Enjoyment | Ambitions Which Climb Upwards
The Marriage of True Minds | Our Hope Alone | A King and No King
More Harmony In Her Bright Eye | Safe Harbor