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Title: Motherland

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: William Nicholson

Narrator: Gabrielle Glaister

Format: Unabridged

Length: 16 hrs and 34 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-09-13

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

From an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, an epic novel of love and loss and the long shadows war leaves behind.

Summer, 1942: Kitty, an army driver stationed in Sussex, meets Ed, a Royal Marine commando, and Larry, a liaison officer with Combined Ops. She falls instantly in love with Ed, who falls in love with her. So does Larry. Both men go off to war, and Ed wins the highest military honor for his bravery. But sometimes heroes dont make the best husbands.

Motherland follows Kitty, Ed, and Larry from wartime England and the brutally tragic Dieppe raid to Nazi-occupied France, India after the war, and Jamaica before independence. Against this ever-changing backdrop - as they witness history being made and participate in the smaller dramas of romance, friendship, and parenthood - these three friends make choices that will determine the challenges and triumphs of their lives. But the insistent current running through all they experience is the unacknowledged tension of the love triangle that binds them together and must somehow be resolved.

Written by an award-winning screenwriter whose novels have earned extraordinary critical praise, Motherland is a compelling, pause-resisting narrative brimming with stunning war scenes, pageantry, politics, and questions about faith and art, as well as quiet, intimate moments of passion, doubt, and longing. Above all, it is a great love story about three people struggling to find happiness and meaning amid war and its aftermath.

Members Reviews:

Enjoyable read!

I enjoyed the subject matter, characters and pace of the story. My only criticism is that the ending is rushed and seems to try and wrap things up to get the story over with.

Boring, Trite, Wordy

Very disappointed after reading many rave reviews.

I love books about the WW2 era, but this was a bore.

After forcing myself to read two chapters I gave up.

I didn't care about the characters or the plot and there were far too many wordy, dull descriptions.

The dialogue was straight from airport bookstore romance novels.

If you want a brilliant book set in this period, read "Fair Stood the WInd From France" by H. E. Bates.

Interesting story of WW2 and post-war India

British author and screenwriter William Nicholson's new novel, "Motherland" is, in part, peopled with characters he's included in previous novels. This novel, which takes place - mainly in the WW2 era England and post-war/independent India - begins and ends with a modern setting, which establishes some of the characters and their places in the story. By the way, "Motherland" seems to refer to the British Empire.

For me as an Amazon reviewer, the hardest reviews to write are the 3 star reviews. At Amazon, 3 stars are lumped in with "negative" ratings, but they really shouldn't be. It's fairly easy to write a 4 or 5 star review; basically you either liked the book or really liked the book. One and 2 star reviews are equally easy to write; just explain the reasons you hated a book or why you really hated a book. Three stars, on the other hand, mean a mixed bag. I wish Amazon would view three stars as "neutral"; neither good nor bad, and possibly appealing to readers, while other readers shouldn't bother with it.

Nicholson's three main characters - one woman and two men - form the ever-popular romantic triangle.

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Title: The River People

Author: Kristen James

Narrator: Amanda Terman

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 31 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-04-13

Publisher: Kristen James

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

River-Song's father, Chief Sits-and-Thinks, is growing old and sick, but he trusts in her to lead their people as they face changes. Her best friend has become her rival as they compete to marry the big chief's son. But as River-Song proves herself to him, she begins to see he isn't the man she thought. Then she must use her gift of words when a wandering band of braves seek a new home with them. They speak her mother's language so she can understand them. River-Song feels pulled to their leader but confused about her place in the tribe. Can this young girl hold her tribe together as the new braves join them, and again when hostile warriors attack their valley?

Come visit the River People in the Pacific Northwest before fur traders or missionaries arrived. River-Song lives in a valley of meandering streams that give them salmon and trout to eat. Oak trees abound in the valley, and a forest of cedar and fir surround them, making a canopy and giving them planks for their long houses, canoes, and totem poles.

Visit the author's new website at www.writerkristenjames.com. Interact at www.facebook.com/TheRiverPeople.

Members Reviews:

Captivating tale

I enjoyed this rich and descriptive story of the river people. The writing was vivid, characters lovely and I felt like I was running along the river with the natives and speaking to the salmon too.

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Title: Rats of Las Vegas

Author: Lisa Pasold

Narrator: Donna Postel

Format: Unabridged

Length: 15 hrs and 39 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-29-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Millard Lacouvy is a short, plain, fiercely independent prodigy in the male world of poker. She learns her craft in Depression-era Vancouver and then graduates to high-stakes games on the Canadian Pacific Railway. When the trains fail to satisfy either her ambition or her need for security, she goes to Bugsy Siegels Las Vegas. There she is haunted by the handsome conman she has known all her life, and learns that love can also be a game of chance. Along the way, Pasold gives us a rich and convincing historical portrait of Vancouver and Vegas in the 40s.

Editorial Reviews:

Rats of Las Vegas follows young poker prodigy Millard Lacouvy as she learns her trade in Depression-era Vancouver before moving on to higher stakes games that lead her all the way to Las Vegas. Lisa Pasold's writing is full of vivid, historical detail, including scenes of dingy saloons and sleek trains that are brought to life by Donna Postel. Postel is most expert at putting the listener in Millard's shoes as she tries to assert herself as a young woman in a predominantly male world, capturing her defiantly independent attitude.

Members Reviews:

engrossing

Fabulous book. I was so into it I was reading it after dark in northern ghana, no lights around, with warthogs outside my window

A fascinating, original story

I raced to the end of Rats of Las Vegas, unable to tear myself away from the fascinating story of Millard, a young poker-playing Canadian woman in 1940s Vancouver who seeks her fortune in the the still very new city of Las Vegas. It's so refreshing to read a story free of clichés, rich in historical detail yet resolutely modern in its approach. You can almost feel the damp and the desperation of wartime Vancouver, its ghettos, its bars, its rain-slicked streets as Millard, still a girl, struggles to find her place in the world as a card-playing prodigy. Of course there's the complicated love interest, there's the extended dysfunctional family, there are the thugs and the reluctant guardian angels...all of the characters are so believable, it makes it hard to say good bye to them as Millard heads south. But it's also a relief to follow her to the dry, sunbleached city of Las Vegas where the young woman goes to find a safe place in the world from those who might harm her, either physically or emotionally. For those of us who only know the Vegas of today, the image the author paints of an almost empty, dusty city full of seedy casinos and a handful of swankier joints run by gangsters is as intriguing as the new cast of characters introduced to us, from showgirls and cross-dressers to card dealers and swindlers. As Millard slowly finds herself in over her head, not sure who she can trust and not sure if she can trust her heart, her life turns into a poker match itself, where the ability to bluff and the luck of the draw will determine her fate. Impossible to put down, Millard is an unforgettable character; I hope there's a sequel! :)

Fabulous book, I loved it

I was introduced to Lisa Pasold while watching "Paris Next Stop" and was transported to another country from my living room by Lisa's beautiful way of describing the city to viewers. I thought to myself "I bet this lady can write" and went looking for her books. And, yes indeed, she can! Please write more books Lisa.

Lisa Pasold

is one of my new favorite writers.

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Title: Only a Mother Knows

Author: Annie Groves

Narrator: Sue Jenkins

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-14-13

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

A compelling novel about four young women in wartime London, from the best-selling author of London Bellesand My Sweet Valentine.

In Article Row, in Londons Holborn four young women - Tilly, Sally, Dulcie and Agnes - have already been witnesses to the heartache and pain that Hitlers bombs have inflicted on ordinary Londoners. Tilly is desperate to wed her beau, Drew. Terrified that something will happen to prevent them from being together, her fears seem to be coming true when he is called back home to America.

For her mother, Olive, this only adds to her worries for Tilly. But she has her own hands full when her friend and neighbour, Sergeant Dawson, gets some terrible news. When Olive lends a hand, she finds herself at the sharp end of some unwelcome gossip.

For Dulcie, the war has brought an old flame, David, back into her life. But his terrible injuries have changed his life forever. Can something more develop out of their friendship? And for Agnes, she is about to find out something that will change her life, too.

In this seemingly endless war, the girls will learn about love, loss, and heartache. But they, like thousands of other Londoners, are determined to win the battle on the home front - no matter what it takes.

Critic Reviews:

"An engrossing story" (My Weekly)

"A stirring and heartrending family sagaAgainst a backdrop of change when the suffragette movement was coming to the fore, the choices and dreams of a generation of women combine to create this passionate story" (Liverpool Daily Post)

"Heartwrenching and uplifting in equal measure a tragic indictment of what can happen when you swap passion for duty. Roll on the sequel!" (Take a Break)

"Written from the heart" (My Weekly)

Members Reviews:

A poor substitute

I really loved the first three books in the series, but you can tell immediately that this was written by someone else. The characters are completely different from what they had developed into. The writing style is wrong, and even the references to things that already happened in the first three books were wrong. Did the new author even bother to read the other books before writing this???

glad to see some closure

Possible spoiler alert!

I am disappointed in the almost no happy endings - the previous books had such incredible build up - it was hard to believe that the person who picked up the reins from Annie Groves to finish the books had even read the previous books. Right from the first cheaper when Olive is upset about Drew and Tilly going away when in the last chapter of the previous book Olive is the one that came up with the idea and was to send them with her blessing.

Four Stars

A good story by Annie Groves .

Ugh!

Could easily tell this book was written by a different author! The characters are completely different from the previous books in the series.

Second time

This is the second time I have read this book and unfortunately it didn't keep my attention like the last time.

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Title: The Courier's Tale

Author: Peter Walker

Narrator: Elijah Alexander

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-04-13

Publisher: Audible Studios for Bloomsbury

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

As the King's young cousin, an admired scholar living in Italy, it falls to Reginald Pole to make the case for Henry's divorce from Katherine of Aragon. And it falls to the hapless Michael Throckmorton - the younger son of an impecunious titled family - to become Thomas Cromwell's messenger to Pole in Rome.

This dubious privilege makes of Throckmorton's life a tragicomedy of endless journeys back and forth between England and Italy, but it also makes him a canny observer of the great dramas of his time. And like his King, he too nurses a thwarted desire.

Members Reviews:

Excellent research. A little spread-out

Excellent research. A little spread-out, but otherwise a great job turning a little-known angle of Henry VIII's reign into novel form. I loved the protagonist's voice, his pragmatism and his conclusion to the religious debates that tore his century apart: very simply (and honestly), his conclusion as to whether the reformers or the counter-reformers were right was: "I don't know."

Far better than "Wolf Hall"

If you enjoyed "Wolf Hall", read "The Courier's Tale" for another, much better, account of the same historical period. If Hilary Mantel's laconic, dispassionate style disappointed you, take heart: Peter Walker is a much better writer. While never losing narrative momentum, the quality of his descriptions as his character journeys between England and Italy are superb.

The courier, Michael Throckmorton, meets many great and notorious figures, from Michelangelo to Thomas Cromwell, but none exceed his master, Reginald Pole. It is extraordinary that this Englishman, who nearly became Pope but could also have been King of England, is so little-known today. Walker's extensive research tells us much about the period, but never at the expense of the human drama: Throckmorton's yearning for his native land, and for Judith, the love of his life, is at the centre of the story. This is a formidable debut novel which deserves as much, if not more, success as "Wolf Hall".

Brilliant!

`The Courier's Tale' is brilliant and deserves a detailed critique-I consumed this book non-stop in a couple of days. The dialogue is resoundingly truer than Hilary Mantel's and there's line perfect characterisation in particular Tom Rutter. The humour throughout delighted and shone...'When I stated the year in question - 1541 -their eyes bulged in wonder that such infinite distances should be compassed by the mind of man.' A breadth of human experience is portrayed in Throckmorton's story-personal grief and public glory. It is a novel to devour and enjoy for lovers and non-lovers of history alike.

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Title: Darker Angels

Author: S. P. Somtow

Narrator: Judith West

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-25-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Based on an acclaimed short story that was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award, "Darker Angels" takes the reader from the bloodstained battlefields of Virginia to the slave auctions of Haiti. Walt Whitman, Abraham Lincoln, Lord Byron, and Marie Leveau, the legendary voodoo queen of New Orleans, all have a part to play in the epic tale of a mysterious, one-eyed shaman who dares to raise the dead from the battlefields of the Civil War.

Members Reviews:

Daker Angels Shines Through!

I've read MOONDANCE some years ago and was totally capitivated by the story. Now several years later, I come across Darker Angels (though out of print, I got from the used section at Amazon and the service was EXCELLENT!). Here, Somtow weaves another fabulous tapestry of horror, fantasy and history all in one! (Just reading the other better reviews is proof positive.) We even get to see the origin of the most foul Cordwainer Claggett [sic] a villain we met in MOONDANCE. In Darker Angels, the multi-level narration by the different players is fantastic (though at times tricky but works out well in the end). Just a word of warning, this book is not for the faint of heart or the easily offended. I look forward to more from this author. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

Complex Civil War Alternate History Rewarding When Savored

What a rich and diverse tapestry is S. P. Somtow's Darker Angels, a dark novel of the Civil War that's told as a phantasmagorical series of stories within stories like concentric rings. There's really no way to do justice to its structure in this brief description, but it must be said that such a potentially intrusive device here causes no confusion and indeed takes nothing away from the desperately grim beauty of the words that make up each and every narration.

From the strange beginning, in which the recently widowed Mrs. Paula Grainger meets Walt Whitman while clandestinely visiting the body of the just-slain Abraham Lincoln, to the whirling, wild, wonderful stories of the war later told by Whitman and his young friend, Zachary Brown, and then the stories told by those within the stories ... about the elderly voodoo prince, Old Joseph, who as a free slave raises black Union soldiers from the dead for one last skirmish, and the boy preacher who may have killed his own father, Jimmie Lee Cox, and Tyler Tyler, the young soldier with no arms, and bewitching Phoebe, the voodoo priestess who holds the power to transform herself into a black panther, and finally re(folding) back onto the Reverend Grainger--whose correspondents include Edgar Allan Poe, Lord Byron, and the President himself, and who is not at all quite the way his wife thinks him to be.

This is a novel of transformation, of being, of death, and of living the true life that only the grimness of death can bring. It's a novel less about the Civil War than about all wars, but it is quite specifically a Civil War novel, in which the richness of the themes runs like blood spilled between brothers and comrades, masters and slaves. This novel is grotesque, yet it makes such wise statements about the grotesqueness of war and slavery and religion that its own gruesomeness seems not only natural but necessary. Composer and film-maker S. P. Somtow weaves together so many disparate narrative voices yet produces a single cloth of intense beauty and rage, in which inhumanity vies with love as the fiercest of emotions.

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Title: Evel Knievel Days

Author: Pauls Toutonghi

Narrator: Evan Greenberg

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-22-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

From the critically-acclaimed author of Red Weather comes a heartwarming, witty story of immigration and belonging, false starts and new beginnings, and finding out what home truly means....

Khosi Saqr has always felt a bit out of place in Butte, Montana, hometown of motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel. Half-Egyptian, full of nervous habits, raised by a single mother, owner of a name that no one can pronounce - Khosi has never quite managed to fit in. But when a mysterious stranger arrives in town (and Khosi's longtime love uses Butte's annual festival, Evel Knievel Days, as a time to announce her impending marriage to someone else), Khosi takes his first daredevil like risk, and travels to Egypt to find his father - and a connection to his heritage.

What he discovers, in Cairo, is much more startling than he'd imagined it could be. The city is a thrilling mix of contradictions - and locating his father turns out to be the easy part. Through mistaken identity, delicious food, and near tragedy, Khosi and his parents rediscover what it means to be connected to each other, to a family, and to a culture.

The timely story of a young man searching for his roots, and along the way finding his identity, Evel Knievel Days is Khosis charming and funny journey to learn where he came from, and who he is.

Critic Reviews:

"A funny, heart-warming, compulsively readable novel about the unbreakable bonds of family - and baklava. (Garth Stein, New York Times best-selling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain)

Members Reviews:

A Second Triumph

The modus operandi of this newcomer to the world of fiction is interesting. In his first book,Red Weather: A Novel, he took an iconically all-American city, Milwaukee, which has been sadly underutilized in literature, and used it as the locus of a very funny yet moving tale, with elements of growing-up, political tensions, and ethnic issues, particularly between immigrant and native generations. In it he paid tribute to his maternal ethnic roots in Latvia (which explains the seeming plurality of his first name) giving a warm, incisive look into a tiny minority in America.

In the current book he again takes a neglected city, Butte, Montana this time, and skillfully exploits its special features: a famed daredevil, an unusual lynching out of the run of 'normal' racist horrors. And he manages this time to explore his paternal heritage from the middle east. In both books he offers an enticing plot, the interest in which never flags. He is a master of striking metaphors and similes, yet his style is direct and straightforward. Above all, he makes the reader think about the issues he raises.

I warmly welcome this addition to the writer's oeuvre. It is a page-turner, or in my case and probably yours, a tab-pusher. I look forward to more successful explorations of the human condition in all its varieties from his pen.

An absolute treat

A heartwarming story filled with crisp, captivating prose, unexpected moments of humour, and even a few secret Egyptian cooking recipes.

Pauls Toutonghi masterfully shares with us the world of Khosi Saqr, the novel's half-American, half-Egyptian, obsessive-compulsive, completely enchanting hero. Khosi embarks on a brave and imaginative journey in search of his father, and we are along for the ride.

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Title: A Hero's Daughter

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Andrei Makine

Narrator: Gregory St. John

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 58 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-05-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

In World War II Ivan Demidov won the Red Army's highest award for bravery, that of Hero of the Soviet Union. But the decades following the War have brought him a life of hardship, alleviated only by his pride in this achievement and the modest privileges granted to War veterans. His daughter, Olya, on the other hand, born in 1961 and trained as a linguist, takes up a post as an interpreter at Moscow's International Business Center with access to a metropolitan lifestyle beyond the dreams of her parents. The only catch is that her job involves servicing foreign businessmen around the clock and passing on information about them to the KGB.

This is a stunning drama of disillusionment and tension between the two generations: the one that grew up under Stalin and saw its faith in him crumble, and the one that grew up under Brezhnev, fixated on the glamour of the West and its material goods. Makine's vivid and authentic evocation of daily life in post-war Soviet Russia matches in its intensity the portraits of 19th century Russian life offered by Dostoevsky and Tolstoy.

Editorial Reviews:

Actor Gregory St. John performs this intricately plotted thriller, which explores the bonds of family even in the face of intergenerational and sociopolitical tensions. A Heros Daughter, written by Andrei Makine, tells the story of Olya, the daughter of a Russian World War II veteran whose training as a linguist leads her to a job as an interpreter, which carries with it just one catch: Shell have to work as a spy for Russias KGB.

Makines portrayal of a country split between old and new guards is tense and compelling, and Gregory St. John reads with a deft, quick confidence that keeps this thrilling novel marching swiftly forward at an irresistible pace.

Members Reviews:

Dream debut

Promising 1990 debut novel by Andre Makine(AM), translated and published in English only in 2004. He grew up in the former Soviet Union (SU) with a French grandmother and became bi-lingual. He sought political asylum in France in 1987. Since 1990, he has written a series of highly-acclaimed novels about the (post-)communist SU.

AM is a born storyteller in this and later books, covering many violent and deceitful personal dramas in the history of his birth land. The SU prevailed against the German invasion of 1941 despite great losses: a huge, multiethnic nation, enthralled by and living in fear of leader Stalin and his security organs, suffered 20m war dead and millions of widowed, orphaned, disabled and traumatized survivors.

The novel's hero is much-decorated Corporal Ivan, who enlisted in 1941, lying about his age (17). AM describes his near death and rescue by his future wife. The homecoming of returning soldiers is a recurring theme in AM's future novels. The great drought of 1946 is evoked, when no relief was sent to stricken regions. Ivan's baby son dies. The distraught parents move to Borissov, a small town 100 km from Moscow, where Ivan becomes a driver, his handicapped savior/wife (three fingers missing, a piece of shrapnel constantly threatening her heart) a worker in a furniture factory. They have a daughter, Olya.

Ivan's wife's sudden death during a scuffle of pushy shoppers is a turning point in his life, or the straw that broke the camel's back: he starts to drink heavily and to dissemble, come apart. More so after he finds out what his beloved Olya does for a living...

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Titel: Der Medicus

Autor:: Noah Gordon

Erzähler: Christian Brückner

Format: Abridged

Spieldauer: 10 hrs and 34 mins

Sprache: Deutsch

Veröffentlichungsdatum: 01-30-13

Herausgeber: Random House Audio, Deutschland

Kategorien: Fiction, Historical

Zusammenfassung des Herausgebers:

Das Hörbuch entführt in eine von christlich-religiösen Spitzfindigkeiten zerriebene Epoche. Es vermittelt ein höchst spannendes, Epochenbild wie es nur wenige Autoren zu zeichnen vermögen.

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Title: Snow Fox

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Susan Fromberg Schaeffer

Narrator: Carrington MacDuffie

Format: Unabridged

Length: 16 hrs and 28 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-25-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 2.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

One thousand years ago, chaos loosed itself upon Japan, upending an era in which the arts flourished. At the dawn of 250 years of civil war, in the opulent court of Lord Norimasa, the beautiful but cruel poet Lady Utsu wages war with men's hearts and holds the fearsome lord and his devoted samurai Matsuhito in her thrall. As the two men raze Japan's landscape in futile battles for unity, Utsu falls for Matsuhito even as Lord Norimasa continues to love her.

The epic romance of Utsu and Matsuhito resumes itself decades later, when they meet as vagrants so transformed by time that they no longer recognize each other; they are reunited through their mystical connection to a pair of snow foxes that are their only company in the Japanese wilderness. The heartbreaking story of their renewed love is fraught by the Japanese concept of mono no awarelife's ephemeral naturethat weighs on the lovers.

Critic Reviews:

"A spare, subtle, moving love story that builds and sustains its own utterly believable world." ( Washington Post)

"A haunting tale of thwarted love and unsolved mysteries...achieves a transporting magic." (Publishers Weekly, Starred Review)

"Schaeffer tells her story in epic style....She conjures up a society defined by both exquisite beauty and bloody battles." (New York Times Book Review)

Members Reviews:

pale version of memories of a geisha

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

The narrator should have been Japanese. The story was trite and melodramatic, maybe it got better by the end but I didn't want to waste any more time on it.

Would you ever listen to anything by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer again?

NO