Download the Best Full Audiobooks in Fiction, Historical

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Title: Mr. Vertigo

Author: Paul Auster

Narrator: Kevin Pariseau

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-11-09

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 51 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

In Mr. Vertigo, his dazzling eighth novel, Paul Auster introduces a quintessentially American hero who, early in his life, masters the art of the unimaginable, and then must live out his days long after the magic has been lost and forgotten.

It is 1927, the year of Babe Ruth and Charles Lindbergh and of Walter Claireborne Rawley, a streetwise orphan from Saint Louis who becomes "Walt the Wonder Boy", a diminutive showman famous for stunning audiences across the country with his feats of levitation. Walt's teacher is Master Yehudi, a mysterious iconoclast who rescues him from poverty and instills in him the faith, fearlessness, and devotion to hard work essential to such a magnificent venture.

Inevitably, Master Yehudi and Walt fall prey to the sinners, thieves, and villains of America in its pre-depression heyday, from the Kansas Ku Klux Klan to the Chicago mob, and Walt's resilience, like that of his young nation, is over and again challenged.

Paul Auster, a "literary original" (Wall Street Journal) whose "bounties of intelligence, mystery, and literary magic nourish and delight the mind" (Chicago Sun-Times), embraces both the realist and the mythic traditions in American literature. Walt and Yehudi are classic entrepreneur adventurers, and what they sell in Walt's performance is defiance of the natural laws governing men. This is an extraordinary, exuberant novel that captures the aspirations and excesses of a country ready to soar.

As an added bonus, when you purchase our Audible Modern Vanguard production of Paul Auster's book, you'll also get an exclusive Jim Atlas interview that begins when the audiobook ends.

Critic Reviews:

"A charmer pure and simple.... Nothing less than the story of America itself." (Washington Post)

"The story is witty, inventive in its language, and invitingly playful with its metaphors. It has a fairy tale's compulsion to it." (The New York Times)

The characters speak a lusty lingo peppered with vintage slang, while a postmodern authorial irony tugs their innocence askew. The prose grows particularly electric when demystifying "loft and locomotion." Implicit is an analogy between levitation and the construct of fiction: both require fierce discipline to maintain a fleeting illusion. (Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

Interesting Ideas Bludgeoned

The book makes many profound points often explored in Auster's writing. Many of the reviews state something like "I kept waiting for the point". Auster writes in a style that explores the point rather than state it bluntly. He doesn't say, "let's look at the process and discipline of writing which, done with discipline, can make the reader suspend belief and bend reality." But instead, he gives us the story of a boy who works hard to master something more than a mere magic trick intended to strike the audience with awe and make the lad a fortune.

Sometimes this style plays out nicely as with the New York Trilogy. Sometimes, as with this book, the ideas are hammered too hard. The delicate concepts of disciplined writing and the role of the father are bludgeoned by a potentially good story not well told.

The book lacks the magic you expect from reading the summaries. Perhaps that's part of the point in that writing isn't magic, it's work.

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Title: The Hope Within

Author: Tracie Peterson

Narrator: Ruth Ann Phimister

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-25-09

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 55 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

In the late 1800s Dianne Selby and her family love their simple life in the rugged Montana countryside. But a devastating fire forces them to leave it all behind. She seeks God's help after a cold reception by her husband's family in Kansas causes tension and strain on their marriage. Desperate, Dianne makes a radical decision - one that will affect the lives of everyone she loves.

Members Reviews:

Slow moving

Would you listen to The Hope Within again? Why?

Although the book started off slowly, I enjoyed it. The book held my interest til the end. All the characters were real as well as their experiences. I would recommend this book if one enjoys reading about the pioneer way of life and likes Christian fiction.

no hope

I had a really hard time with the narrator's voice and the way it was read. I might have enjoyed it more if the book was read by someone else.

The performance is terrible

The book is great but the reader is bad. She is very wooden and unnatural sounding.

Love and Adventure in the Settling of Montana

This book was a great conclusion to the Heirs of Montana series. Tracie Peterson never disappoints and this book focuses on a family who settles in Montana and works to build their ranch and establish their family. The dangers and joys of establishing this untamed territory gives the reader a glimpse of life during this period of history. This is a great read for anyone who enjoys Christian historical fiction.

Great story. Dreadful narrator.

True to form, Tracy Peterson always delivers a story I find difficult to put down. Having heard this narrator on past books, this one finally was too much. Her wet sounds and smacking make my stomach clench. As long as she is reading this "reader" won't be listening.

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Title: Wolf Totem

Author: Jiang Rong

Narrator: Jason Culp

Format: Unabridged

Length: 22 hrs and 32 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-09-09

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 62 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Published under a pen name, Wolf Totem was a phenomenon in China, breaking all sales records there and earning the distinction of being the second most read book after Mao's little red book. There has been much international excitement too-to date, rights have been sold in thirteen countries.

Wolf Totem is set in 1960s China - the time of the Great Leap Forward, on the eve of the Cultural Revolution. Searching for spirituality, Beijing intellectual Chen Zhen travels to the pristine grasslands of Inner Mongolia to live among the nomadic Mongols - a proud, brave, and ancient race of people who coexist in perfect harmony with their unspeakably beautiful but cruel natural surroundings. Their philosophy of maintaining a balance with nature is the ground stone of their religion, a kind of cult of the wolf. The fierce wolves that haunt the steppes of the unforgiving grassland searching for food are locked with the nomads in a profoundly spiritual battle for survival - a life-and-death dance that has gone on between them for thousands of years. The Mongols believe that the wolf is a great and worthy foe that they are divinely instructed to contend with, but also to worship and to learn from. Chen's own encounters with the otherworldly wolves awake a latent primitive instinct in him, and his fascination with them blossoms into obsession, then reverence.

After many years, the peace is shattered with the arrival of Chen's kinfolk, Han Chinese, sent from the cities to bring modernity to the grasslands.

Members Reviews:

Incredibly moving tale vividly told

How did Inner Mongolia turn from a lush grassland full of wildlife to the desolate desert that blows huge sand storms to Beijing every spring? How did the ancient traditions enable herdsmen maintain the delicate balance between man and nature for thousands of years? How much do you really know about wolves? These are the things I didn't care nor wanted to learn but now deeply love. Read the book.

Heart-Breaking

Simply an unbearable story for lovers of the natural world. A difficult book, worth the effort, to be read only once. Not for the weak hearted.

Thank you, Jiang Rong, for this story

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. This book gives its readers a look into a part of our world that will never be seen again. The point of view of the narrator, a foreigner to the Mongolian grassland, develops the theme of how difficult it is to truly understand a different culture, its relationship to place and its core values and beliefs as if one were native to that culture. As Chen Zhen finally starts to truly understand it, he allows the reader to share the last glimpse of a beautiful culture and land that history has destroyed and how his own actions have contributed to destroying the very thing he loves.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Papa Bilgee. He was kind enough to help out the Han students to try to teach the Han students how his people live.

Have you listened to any of Jason Culps other performances before? How does this one compare?

The accents are a bit weird.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This book started out a bit slow, but it broke my heart. I saw the loss of the beauty of the grassland and its inhabitants through the eyes of one of the last people to be able to tell how it was.

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Title: The Book of Unholy Mischief

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Elle Newmark

Narrator: Raul Esparza

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-30-08

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 105 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

The Book of Unholy Mischief is more than terrific historical drama; its a love story, an investigation into ancient religious secrets that haunt us today, and its a story of intrigue replete with pulse-pounding chase scenes, murderous assassins, torture chambers and conniving, desperate characters. It's beautifully written, authentically detailed, and fiendishly well-plotted. Listeners will want their friends to read or listen to it so they can talk about it over dinner in their favorite Italian restaurant.

Members Reviews:

Highly entertaining

I found this book engaging, often humorous, and well-written. It is definitely not young adult, as the first reviewer suggests. Although not everything is completely plausible, taken as a whole, it was well-researched and internally consistent. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Depends on how young you think young adut is..

First and foremost, a well written historical based fiction is appropriate for any age that can separate fact from fiction. Having said that, many adults aren't ready either. But I liked this story. And if the behavior of the early church is shocking and upsetting to religious folk - get over it. It's what it was. Mostly, it's a mystery and adventure with a nice big buttery chunk of history in a format that educates while entertaining. Think of it as Dickens for the Pope crowd - there's a lot of "scary" stuff in his work too. :)

Mystery, historical fiction, and food!

What more can I ask for! I started it while traveling in Italy, finished while traveling in Spain. Perfect.

Not the same as The Chef's Apprentice

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Says it's the same and is word for word, but skips parts of the Chefs Apprentice very noticeably. Great Narator but can't finish the book as it's incomplete. References things in the print version not in audible. Says it's the same book but is not. Don't know why and I'm disappointed that the complete audio is not available. The print version says previously published as The Book Of Unholy Mischief. Not sure what happened. Large chunks missing makes it impossible to.

Read the print version of "The Chef's Apprentice".

Delicious reading

Oddly, this book has been published under 3 different titles: Bones of the Dead, The Chef's Apprentice, and The Book of Unholy Mischief. I discovered this when doing research for my book club discussion. What a way to confuse! The premise is interesting (I won't spoil), but it's a little murky to me how the chefs' secrets began and were handed down from generation to generation. The narrative sparkles and provides insight into the daily lives, especially cuisine 15th and 16th century Venice. The wrap-up was a bit rushed and I'd like to have known more about what happened to Luciano and his family and why he...well, that would be a spoiler, too.

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Title: Lady Beware

Author: Jo Beverley

Narrator: Simon Prebble

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-24-08

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 113 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Lady Beware introduces Horatio Cave, a handsome heir struggling to redeem his long-tarnished family name. The Cave family has a dark, checkered past. Horatio, now home from a war in which he was distinguished for uncommon bravery and courage, is titled Viscount Darien.

Making his way into London society, Lord Darien searches for a woman who will help him turn the page on his family's years of scandal and misfortune. And then he meets the beautiful and elegant Lady Thea Debenham. Their lust is immediate and unquenchable, but Thea's brother, Dare, of the Company of Rogues, does not approve of their dalliance. Will Thea and Horatio be doomed to suffer the Cave curse?

Critic Reviews:

"Risk, deception, and desire all come together brilliantly in Beverley's latest delectably, sexy, and wickedly witty Regency historical." (Booklist)

Members Reviews:

Thoroughly enjoyable!

I have enjoyed all of the books in this series and Lady Beware is no exception. It has a great mix of adventure and romance with characters that are both engaging and believable. Simon Prebble does a great job with the narration which adds to the overall listening experience.

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Title: Wallaby Track

Subtitle: Outback Series, Book 4

Author: Aaron Fletcher

Narrator: Kris Faulkner

Format: Unabridged

Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-17-08

Publisher: Books In Motion

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 9 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

A brilliant young doctor, Stephen Brendell, loves the continent his forebears died trying to conquer, and he vows to use his skills helping settlers survive. Roaming from the teeming cities to the uncharted interior, he carves a life as tempestuous and unbounded as Australia itself.

A woman of wealth and privilege, Deirdre Kerrick has the courage to venture into unknown regions without a second thought. But when the heir to her family's sheep station lies dying, she fears their shining destiny will be destroyed until she finds the one man who can save their future and win her heart.

Members Reviews:

Wallaby Track

excellent Story, reasonable naration considering Americans have no idea about the Australian accent , but iverall very good.

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Title: No Graves As Yet

Subtitle: A World War One Novel #1

Author: Anne Perry

Narrator: Michael Page

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-21-08

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 163 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

What has happened to this explosive document, if indeed it ever existed? How had it fallen into the hands of their father, a quiet countryman? Not even Matthew, with his Intelligence connections, can answer these questions. And Joseph is soon burdened with a second tragedy: the shocking murder of his most gifted student, handsome Sebastian Allard, loved and admired by everyone. Or so it appeared.

Meanwhile, England's seamless peace is cracking - as the distance between the murder of an Austrian archduke by a Serbian anarchist and the death of a brilliant university student by a bullet to the head becomes shorter with each day.

Members Reviews:

A Slow Introduction to the Great War

I've put off reading this series for a few years and I am not certain why. It covers one of the most fascinating times in recent history - the First World War - and I tend to read anything I can about that time period. It is by an author whose other works I enjoy - to a degree. I found the first few books of the Monk series fascinating, the Pitt series far less so, although I read several of them. The problem with Perry is, while I like to read series books in order and one after the other, when possible, the books in her series tend to run together and they all begin to sound like essentially the same book with different secondary characters and London locations inserted into the same plot line.

I was hopeful that would not be the case with this series. I enjoyed No Graves as Yet, the first book in the series. It takes place at the cusp of the war, the main event that drives the plot actually occurs the day the Archduke is shot. There was a family of main characters to get to know and while they all seemed dry and stiff, based on Perry's style of character development, as well as the time period the book was set in and the class of the family, that probably makes sense. There are more colorful characters when the plot moves to Cambridge and London, which keep the reader engaged. The problem was there wasn't anybody the reader could really like or really hate. There were several characters I found very annoying though. But the storyline was complex enough it kept my interest even if the characters always didn't.

The mystery revolved around a plan to keep England out of the war.It seemed a little far fetched and overly complicated, but since this plan was the reason for the mystery that drove the book, I was OK with that. The end held a few surprises, which was great. In her other series, the endings quickly became predictable.

The book was full of details regarding the ramp up to the war and Perry did an excellent job with her research and her ability to so clearly define a specific time and location.

I usually enjoy Michael Page's narration, and he did a good job with this as well. The only problem I noticed with the narration was there were too many middle-aged male characters for him to give each a unique voice, inflection or diction and I had trouble telling who was talking sometimes.

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Title: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Author: Michael Chabon

Narrator: David Colacci

Format: Abridged

Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-20-08

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 604 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Inspired by their own fantasies, fears, and dreams, Kavalier and Clay create the Escapist, the Monitor, and the otherworldy Mistress of the Night, Luna Moth, inspired by the beautiful Rosa Saks, who will become linked by powerful ties to both men. The golden age of comic books has begun, even as the shadow of Hitler falls across Europe.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is a stunning novel of endless comic invention and unforgettable characters, written in the exhilarating prose that has led critics to compare Michael Chabon to Cheever and Nabokov. In Joe Kavalier, Chabon, writing "like a magical spider, effortlessly spinning out elaborate webs of words that ensnare the reader" (Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times), has created a hero for the century.

Critic Reviews:

"Virtuoso Chabon takes intense delight in the practice of his art, and never has his joy been more palpable than in this funny and profound tale of exile, love, and magic." (Booklist)

"This thoughtful and entertaining work is so well presented by Colacci - even down to the Yiddish accents - that his performance is a truly memorable experience." (AudioFile)

Members Reviews:

Great book, lousy abridgment

This is the worst abridgment I've ever heard, and an excellent example of why I usually steer clear of them. It's only a slim exaggeration to say that it seems as if the editor who chopped this book down did it without reading the text. In one sequence, we go from our hero standing by himself to "...stepping away from her..." with no indication of when the "her" walked onto the scene. These sorts of jarring omissions occur every 15 minutes.

Equally frustrating are the times when the book refers back to events that were chopped out. Chabon's writing is so good that you feel genuinely ripped off by the omissions.

From now on I won't buy abridged titles unless they are approved by the author.

Abridgment didn't work

Michael Chabon's writing has an elegant flow that grabs you and carries you into whatever universe he has created. This abridgment interfered with that flow and simply threw out much of what makes Chabon's writing so distinctive. It's a shame, really, because the book was a very good read a few years ago, while I could still see well enough to read. Wish I could say the same about this abridged audiobook version.

I was hoping for much more!

The subject matter of this book intrigued me, so I bought it. This abridged version was awful. It totally lacked flow. The random jumping around from situation to situation and from one time period to another and from one location to another without any bridging narrative left me totally bewildered and disappointed.

The author does have artistic talent and paints wonderful word descriptions of just about everything.

I think that if I had the opportunity to listen to an unabridged version, my rating would be considerably higher.

Wonderful story, unfortunate abridgement

I thoroughly enjoyed the story and became very fond of the characters, but as others have written, the abridged version is not well done and several times I was startled by the sudden jump in the story. Because I knew this was an abridged version, I understood my need to fill in the gaps, but why offer an abridged version in the first place? I would have preferred the entire book.

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Title: The Captive Queen of Scots

Author: Jean Plaidy

Narrator: Jilly Bond

Format: Unabridged

Length: 17 hrs and 39 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-08-08

Publisher: ISIS Audio Books

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 63 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

So begins the treacherous battle between two of history's most powerful and ruthless women. Without once meeting her cousin, Mary is held captive for 19 years, whilst Elizabeth rules in the shadow of countless Catholic plots against her life.

Critic Reviews:

"Paints a fresh and vivid picture...truly impressive in its breadth of canvas" (Sunday Times)

Members Reviews:

And Her Soul Yearned to be Free

This book tells the story of Mary's life during her exile in England. She expected to be treated like a queen by her cousin, Elizabeth I, and was, instead, treated like an incompetent invader in need of watching.

The book is chaptered by castles. While one might think this would be very boring it is not. Every move, and thus chapter, contains something new in Mary's life. Yes, her life was dull after a while, her health and beauty suffering from the damp and cold, but there is no end to the intrigue that happens while Mary is in England. From plots to marry her off to different men, to those wanting her on the throne of England, and those concerning just getting her back to Scotland. You find out the fate of her son, James, and her third husband the Earl of Bothwell.

Again Plaidy keeps you on the edge of your seat from the beginning to end. I couldn't stop listening to this. I loved how even though I knew what was going to happen I still cried at the end. You know the ending, but Plaidy makes you lament this even if you didn't always like her, and I'll admit at times she was stubborn and foolish. Very worth while bit of your time.

Captivating

Who was your favorite character and why?

Mary, which really surprised me. I found my love for the UK and its history through reading about Elizabeth I as a child and I have always looked at Mary as the evil one, the usurper to be. Jean's characterization of her made me feel sympathy and brought me to see her through new eyes.

What about Jilly Bonds performance did you like?

I rather enjoyed her ability to work with various accents and give an identity to each character so smoothly without it seeming like she was acting, it was very fluid.

Any additional comments?

The character and constant friend, Mary Satan (?) is she real or fictional? The narrator's pronunciation kept throwing me because I couldn't fathom someone in that period being named Satan, much less referred to as such and I couldn't find anything on her in researching.

I did appreciate the author's summation at the end, even down to the details of the pet.

Good

This book is a good listen, however it does not captivate me as much as other books have. I found the book to move rather slowly. It was a good story, but a little long.

this book was fantastically well read

This book was fantastically well read to me. so much so I felt It brought Queen Mary back to life. my heart genuinely wept at the end and I felt bereft that the book was over, so much is the intimate feeling on listening to the story of our I'll fated queen on audible.

Chock full of facts!

This historical novel is jam packed with the main life events of Mary Queen of Scots all dramatised for the listener to take in easily. I haven't read any Jean Plaidy for years. Now I have I can't think why. It's as fresh today as it was 40 years ago and could have been written yesterday.

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Title: Whispers of Winter

Author: Tracie Peterson

Narrator: Christina Moore

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-17-08

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 76 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

With Leah's husband and brother still lost in the Arctic, it's difficult for her to sustain hope. She values her friends and treasures her one-year-old twins. But what if both men remain forever frozen in Alaska's cruel embrace?

Members Reviews:

Good, but not great

This book could have ended several times, but didn't. Kind of left me feeling like it drug on longer than it needed to, but overall a good book.