St. Bartholomew's Eve - A Heirloom Audio Review

It has been cold and rainy here, so we have been enjoying lots of "cuddle in the living room" with a good book time.  Not just physical books, we've also been enjoying a couple of audio dramas as well.

Our most recent one is Heirloom Audio, latest release, St. Bartholomew's Eve.  We've listened to and reviewed, Wulf The Saxon production earlier this year, so we were excited about the opportunity to review this one. 

What We Received

We received a 2-CD set of the St. Bartholomew's Eve production.

What is Heirloom Audio

Heirloom Audio is a company that is passionate about bringing history to life.  

The Story Line

It’s 1667 in Paris, France we’re witnessing the day before a terrible massacre. Huguenots are preparing for a battle that will alter their life and lives of others. Catholics are seeking to destroy Huguenots because of the way they worship God. Francois and Philip are cousins who have caught word of these plans and are determined to help defend their faith. Francois travels to France to start training with his cousin Philip. There they join a resistance and work hard to excel in their combat skills. While at their training camp Catholics attacked them, so they defended themselves but were outnumbered and so they had to retreat, not before the Catholics captured Francois and another as prisoners. Philip and the others traveled to their camp to get them back knowing if they didn't act soon they would surely be killed. As they knocked on someone's door, a small child came up and told them no one was home, they curiously asked how might he know and he said to them that that was his house. The little boy showed them the suites of the Catholics who had captured their friends just hours before. That night after they had slept for a few hours they were awakened and stepped outside to see red markings on their door and doors of other Huguenots. They quickly scrubbed theirs off and went back to bed. A few hours later Catholics were swarming their chateaus and killing everyone. The men rapidly gathered their weapons and fought back killing a lot of Catholics soon the Catholics were outnumbered and retreated. To strengthen their bonds, with the Catholics who weren't persecuting them, the Huguenots had their princes to their Catholic princesses.  

Our Final Thoughts

I think they did a great job explaining the French Reformation and the courage of the French Protestants, also known as the Huguenots.  This story lead us to further explore this time period in History, that we have not yet learned about.  My boys especially will be very excited to learn more about it because they enjoyed the action and battles.

Heirloom Audio did an excellent job with sound effects and dialogue as always.  It was hard for me to follow the story, I'm not sure why, but it was.  It could be that before listening to the story, I was not familiar with the French Reformation time period, or maybe because there was just a lot going on in the story.  Our family was able to have some great discussion about this story.  The kids pointed out things from the story that had some coincidence with the Bible.  They talked about things they did not agree with, like the marrying of unequally yoke people.  We also were able to discuss what the Protestants and Catholics believe and how they have different beliefs than we do.  I love stories that encourage great conversations and critical thinking from my children.

My oldest daughter said, " Honestly, I'm not a big fan of audiobooks and found it a little hard to follow but I loved how determined Francois and Philip were to defend their faith especially being so young. I also enjoyed Argento’s optimism throughout the whole situation. This definitely has me interested in learning more about St. Bartholomew's Massacre."

My oldest son said, "This is a great story.  I like how they fought to be able to worship God."

My youngest son said, " I like this story because it talks about God and war."

My youngest daughter said, " The story was ok, it was kind of boring to me.  There was too much going on, and it was hard for me to keep up.  I did like the action that was going on."



If you are wondering how you will be able to fit an Audio drama in your forever busy day here are a few ideas.
Will you be taking a trip soon?  Do you have a day of errands coming up?  Car rides are a great time to listen, it adds some excitement to the ride and keeps the kiddos from fussing with one another.
If your children enjoy doing crafts or playing with toys, you can always pop it in during this time.

My son making a mini-golf course.

My daughter drawing or sketching a picture.

You can also listen in the evenings together as a family instead of watching TV.  During lunch or dinner time is another excellent time to listen in.

Overall we most of our family really enjoyed this production and look forward to listening to more!




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Thank you so much for stopping by today!  I enjoy your feedback and communicating with you so be sure to use the comment section.  Have a blessed day!