Download the Top 100 Audiobooks in Fiction, Historical Popular Titles

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Title: Brilliance

Author: Rosalind Laker

Narrator: Anne Cater

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-05-07

Publisher: ISIS Audio Books

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 15 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Though fate intervenes to separate them, Lisette cannot forget Daniel. She builds a new life for herself as an independent career woman. When a chance encounter reunites them, Daniel realises that she has the magic, elusive quality that will make her a star.

Members Reviews:

Disappointing

I bought this novel because I love the time period and the subject matter (the beginnings of the film industry.) I'd also read Laker's THE GOLDEN TULIP and found it entertaining. Finally, I have to give credit to the publishers--the cover is brilliant. The cover, I'm afraid, is the best part of the novel.

Stilted writing, too-perfect, over-the-top, characters, a story line which lacks depth and believability--it all makes for a book that just isn't all that interesting. I couldn't finish it.

I think the above flaws may also be found in Laker's other novels as well, but one doesn't notice them so much in stories that take place so many centuries ago; it's just more jarring in a story set in a relatively modern time period.

Very Good!!!!

I love Rosalind Laker's books, this was a enjoyable read, my favorite is To Dance With Kings. I will read more of her books.

Love Rosalind Laker...Like Brillance

I have read most of Rosalind Laker's books since I started with To Dance with King in high schhol. I know they are a little predictable and a tad cheesey, but to a female history buff and a hopeless romantic they are a pretty good read.

Brillance was good, but not great. It contained a likeable main character and great historical detail, but I felt the pacing of the book was all wrong. The exciting parts were too short and the connecting details to long and detailed. There were several sub plots that I felt were left dangling along the way. I also did not care for the ending. Why rush to get to WWI just to stop there?

Like I said it was a like not a love, but be sure my next Kindle purchase will be another Rosalind Laker!

The Story is Not As Racy as the Front Cover, but Good

Decent novel. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it was an easy, light read. Perfect for a sick day. The story is about a young girl in Paris and follows her as she loses her beloved grandmother, then her father, and then the betrayal of her fiance. A very high strung, independent spirit, she runs off with a traveling lanternist. I enjoyed this insight into the early days of "moving pictures" and I wish there had been more. Later into the novel, and not till chapter eighteen, she actually starts acting in the early movies. I feel that part of her life was rushed. The book could have been longer, giving even more insight into the beginning of the movie industry, but still a good read. There is also a nice romance mixed in, but nothing racy, as the front cover may have you believing.

Excellent story line

The story captured me from start to finish. I favor a historical romance novel and Brilliance did not disappoint me. Rosalind Laker has developed all the characters and still left room for some unexpected turn of events to keep the story interesting. I will look forward to future novels penned by Laker.

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Title: Fire in the Blood

Author: Irene Nemirovsky

Narrator: Mark Bramhall

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 27 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-31-07

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 24 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

The novel, only now assembled in its entirety, teems with the intertwined lives of an insular French village in the years before the war, when "peace" was less important as a political state than as a coveted personal condition: the untroubled pinnacle of happiness.

At the center of the tale is Silvio. In his younger years he fled the boredom of the village and made a life of travel and adventure. Now he's returned, living in a farmer's hovel in the middle of the woods, and, much to his family's chagrin, perfectly content with his solitude.

As his narration unfolds, we are given an intimate picture of the loves and infidelities, the scandals, the youthful ardor and regrets of age that tie Silvio to the long-guarded secrets of the past.

Members Reviews:

Well Written & Enjoyable

This is the first book that I have read by this author. I was reading a local magazine and the editor had suggested it. The book was very visual and I could identify with the characters. The twist in the plot really threw me for a loop. Overall a great book!

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Title: A Hearth in Candlewood

Author: Delia Parr

Narrator: Barbara Caruso

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-19-07

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 24 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

In the early 19th century, Emma, a 51-year-old widow with family far away, fills her loneliness by caring for her guests and sharing her own special blend of wisdom and humor. One stormy night, a rap at her door interrupts her musings. The 80-year-old Widow Leonard is standing in the rain, seeking refuge from her sons' constant bickering. Housing this feisty runaway granny, however, puts Emma in the crosshairs of a family feud. But this crisis is more easily resolved than the one that soon looms over Emma's future.

©2006 Delia Parr; (P)2007 Recorded Books

Critic Reviews:

"With colorful, lively characters, this story weaves in humor, friendship and faith to create a gentle retreat from our bustling world. Quietly told, this story is best for those looking for a calm book with little action, but big in heart. A Hearth in Candlewood is the first installment in the inspirational Candlewood Trilogy." (Historical Novels Review)

Members Reviews:

It's growing on me

A Hearth in Candlewood was my first exposure to Delia Parr. She strikes me as highly character-centric, which I prefer. Historically set in the canal-building era prior to the railway boon, Candlewood is a small town in the midst of transition. The characters also are in a similar state of transition, from the retired pastor and widows who live at Hill House to the young ladies who work there. In the center of it all is Emma, proprietress of the boarding house known as Hill House for its expansive hilltop viewpoint overlooking the new canal. Parr's tale of the town and the characters in it didn't draw me in as powerfully as Jan Karon's Mitford, whose characters are nearly as real to me as people I've actually met, but at the same time, I am eager to hear more of their lives. A comforting message of trusting God in uncertainty, living peaceably, and the value of having purpose in one's life regardless of age are ongoing themes in the book. At first, I was dissatisfied with the ending until I learned there were two more books in the trilogy. I guess I will be making another visit to Candlewood in the future.

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Title: Alexander

Subtitle: Child of a Dream

Author: Valerio Massimo Manfredi

Narrator: Derek Jacobi

Format: Abridged

Length: 3 hrs and 28 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-06-07

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 16 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Who could have been born to conquer the world other than a god? A boy born to a great king, Philip of Macedon, and his sensual queen, Olympias, Alexander became a young man of immense, unfathomable potential. Under the tutelage of the great Aristotle and with the friendship of Ptolemy and Hephaiston, he became the mightiest and most charismatic warrior, capable of subjugating the known world to his power.

Here is a marvellous insight into one of history's greatest characters and his quest to conquer the civilised world.

Members Reviews:

Alexander child of a dream

As always the narrator is very good .The story is that of the early years of Alexander the great.Please remember this is historical Fiction! I love these books read the trilogy years ago, just a pity these are the abridged version but still a great read.

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Title: Alexander

Subtitle: The Ends of the Earth

Author: Valerio Massimo Manfredi

Narrator: Derek Jacobi

Format: Abridged

Length: 3 hrs and 27 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-06-07

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 10 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

But there are other things on Alexander's mind. An ambitious project to unite the peoples of the empire in one homeland begins to obsess him. There are rebellions and bloodshed, but the curious beauty of Queen Roxanna gives Alexander the strength to fulfil his destiny.

Compelling, exciting, and romantic, this is the breathtaking conclusion to the best-selling Alexander trilogy.

Members Reviews:

Best of the series. A rapid-paced conclusion which fits a massive amount of events into 441 pages

Starting off just as Alexander has left the Oracle at Siwa, it's amazing to see how expertly Manfredi chronicles the events from the Battle of Gaugamela to Alexander's death in less than 450 pages.

As is typical of him, his writing style is stupendous, fluid, and with its own balanced mix of lush literate prose and straight-forward technical description.

The writing and the way the events unfold is so rich and compelling that by the time of Cleitus's death in Bactria, you feel the strain of the men as they have been on the march endlessly for years, the grueling pace they move at, and the bleak, deserted environment of the hilly areas where they hunt down Darius's murderers in essentially a guerrilla-type warfare. Looking back only two hundred pages, you're shocked to see that the Battle of Gaugamela was so close by, and yet it feels entire novels away.

The fast pace moving from rich Persia to desolate Sogdia, Arachosia, Bactria, to wet and hellish India, to the blazing hot Gedrosian desert never seems to move too fast, though Steven Pressfield's "The Afghan Campaign" spends an entire novel on just the three years Alexander spent wandering around Sogdia, Bactria, etc (modern day Afghanistan).

Manfredi's handling of such thing as Peritas' death, Bucephalus's death, and Alexander's life-threatening injuries is so tender and yet brutal as to make you feel the same emotional impact, if a bit less.

The army's hatred of Alexander over his adopting Persian customs and favoring Persian subjects is one that feels so real that you find yourself hoping that Alexander doesn't do something stupid to garner the hatred of his men.

The whole atmosphere and aura of this book is so radically different from the previous two as to feel like entirely separate novels of different time periods between them. Book 1 being the childhood of Alexander and the Hellenic wars with Thebes and Athens and such, Book 2 being the harsh wars in Asia Minor and the struggle with Memnon of Rhodes and all the way up to the Battle of Issus and the Oracle at Siwa, Book 3 being a new sort of hell in a totally new sort of war bearing little to no resemblence to that you've just read about.

Manfredi's handling of Alexander's death and Ptolemy's afterword to his dead friend is so magically handled that tears come to your eyes reading them.

My only complaint with this novel as with the previous two is that so much emphasis is placed upon the active will and participation of the supernatural, the Gods, seers, magicians, prophets and prophecies etc, as to leave absolutely no ambiguity to the will of the Gods, much less their existence.

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Title: The Gods of Newport

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: John Jakes

Narrator: Edward Herrmann

Format: Abridged

Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-25-06

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 15 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

In 1893, Sam Driver, railroad mogul and one of the few surviving robber barons of the lawless years after the Civil War, knocks on the door of fabled Newport, along with his daughter, Jenny, who is determined not to be turned away a second time.

Previously, Sam's new money was considered tainted by his rapacious reputation and his dealings with some of the most dishonest businessmen of the era. The Drivers find that some who know Sam's past won't let it rest. One enemy with a pedigree of wealth and position vows to slam every door in Sam's face.

But Sam plunges in, determined to win a place in the strange, rarefied world of Newport's brief summer season, presided over by social gadflies Ward McAllister and the androgynous Harry Lehr, both of whom will assist the Drivers ¿ for a price. Sam's daughter wants the best that Newport offers but finds herself drawn into a dangerous romance with an impoverished young Irishman.

The Gods of Newport brings this gilded age of excess to thrilling life. It was a time and place whose extremes of greed, conspicuous consumption, and social striving have an astonishing resonance and relevance for the America we see around us today.

Critic Reviews:

"Jakes is a fluent storyteller, and his meticulous reconstruction of fin-de-siècle excess will have fans savoring the lavish details of jewelry, fashion, food, and follies." (Publishers Weekly)

"The prolific Jakes scores with a lush new historical saga set on the glamorous, windswept shores of late-19th-century Newport, Rhode Island, the summer playground of the fabulously wealthy....Jakes displays his characteristic flair for class melodrama....He has fashioned yet another breezy...piece of historical fiction, sure to please his many fans." (Booklist)

Members Reviews:

Not his usual speed

Much as I hate to say it, because I loved the "North and South" trilogy, I couldn't even finish this one. I wanted to like it because I really enjoy this setting and era and like John Jakes' writing, but I found this dull, plodding and bloated with dialogue that didn't move anything along. Maybe it got great later in the book and I just missed out, but I didn't have the patience to wait for that to happen.

I usually give one star if I can't finish the book, but John Jakes isn't a one-star writer.

Historically interested

This book is about one family and their experiences in Newport before the turn of the century. It is full of interesting and entertaining little stories about both famous and infamous wealthy people, but it feels just like that a collection of stories, not like a novel. The story of the "man" and his daughter is not well developed. It feels like a movie, not a book.

Good book, but basically a pulp novel

Good book, but basically a pulp novel. I read the John Jakes Bicentennial Books series while in high school and thoroughly enjoyed them. However, either my tastes have changed (evolved as I have aged and read more books), or the author has taken a turn to the more âpulpyâ type novel, and far less historical. Will most likely not read another Jakes novel.

An interesting and engrossing look at Newport's golden age.

An engaging story taking place in a beautiful and historic city. Having visited many of the homes there and being familiar with the area made it so believable.

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Title: In the Company of the Courtesan

Author: Sarah Dunant

Narrator: Tom Hollander

Format: Abridged

Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-22-06

Publisher: Hachette Audio UK

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

1527. While the Papal city of Rome burns, brutally sacked by an invading army including Protestant heretics, two of her most interesting and wily citizens slip away, their stomachs churning on the jewels they have swallowed as the enemy breaks down their doors. Though almost as damaged as their bellowed city, Fiammetta Bianchini and Bucino Teodoldi, a fabulous courtesan and her dwarf companion, are already planning their future. They head for the shimmering beauty of Venice, a honey pot of wealth and trade where they start to rebuild their business. As a partnership they are invincible: Bucino, clever with a sharp eye and a wicked tongue and Fiammetta, beautiful and shrewd, trained from birth to charm, entertain, and satisfy men who have the money to support her. Venice, however, is a city which holds its own temptations. From the admiring Turk in search of human novelties for his Sultan's court, to the searing passion of a young lover who wants more than his allotted nights. But the greatest challenge comes from a young blind woman, a purveyor of health and beauty, who insinuates her way into their lives and hearts with devastating consequences for them all.

©2006 Sarah Dunant; (P)2006 Time Warner AudioBooks

Critic Reviews:

"What makes this audiobook enthralling is the combination of elegantly satisfactory plotting, almost cinematically vivid settings, and characters with real depth. The reader, Tom Hollander, brings them all before us as real people." (The Times)

Members Reviews:

Captivating Courtesan

This book must have one of literature's most surprising and unusual narrators. Emotionally retarded but quick-thinking dwarf Bucino. We see the lavish yet harsh environs of 16th century Italy through his eyes as the courtesan he serves flees Rome and re-establishes herself in Venice.

It's a rich tapestry of a tale that weaves itself through the colour of the times but at its heart lies humanity. We see Bucino unfold through his folly, feel his torment and his tragedy.

This version of the book is exquisitly read by actor Tom Hollander whose capacity to immerse himself in character is as embracing in voice as it is on the screen.

This will be a book that you cannot fail to remember.

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Title: Vessel of Sadness

Author: William Woodruff

Narrator: Sam Kelly

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 26 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-27-05

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 16 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Italy 1944 is the setting of one of the most convincing and quietly magnificent stories about man and war that has ever been written. They were young when they left and sang as they sailed down the Clyde. They didn't know where they were going and they didn't really care. They didn't want to fight and they hardly knew what the war was about. But they went, together, singing, to what lay before them. Here, distilled from the experiences and observations of the author, who served in Italy in the British infantry, is the story of those who fought and died at Anzio.

©2004 William Woodruff; (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Members Reviews:

You'll love the SOUND of this

In a way I'm surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. I tend to prefer linear plots-- first A happens, then B, and so on, until Z follows logically at the end. This novel doesn't follow that plan. It's more of a mosaic-- smaller stories, generally following the timeline of the British Anzio campaign in WWII, splashed on the canvas in such a way that up close you don't see exactly how they relate to each other. But by the end, you come away with a deeper sense of what it must have been like for the men at war.

I loved the rhythm of this book; the narrator was fantastic and perhaps it's a cliche, but there truly was a lyrical quality to the text. It just sounds wonderful, and the power of the spoken word is what kept me engaged when the logical side of the brain was looking for pegs to hang the stories on (it's not that there's not plenty of plot and action, it's just that the novel is not structured in that A thru Z fashion).

I enjoyed this book so much I want to buy the hardcover version to see what that lyrical prose actually looks like in print!

Superb Story Teller

It was a very skillfully written book on the battle to take Rome. I was glued to it the whole time and listened to it in one day. I was fascinated with the narrator's ability to mimic various English accents or dialects, which really brought the story to life. This was the glue that held it together for me. Vessel of Sadness is not a Ernie Pyle book on the Anzio Beach experience. It seems to be more of a rendering from a British infantry perspective with an unusual skill for weaving a story that paints a picture in your mind. I was a little disappointed that there was no mention of General Mark Clark, the hero of Anzio, the massacre of over 700 US Army Rangers by German infantry or the terror tactic of the Germans to walk long-range artillery in just to take out a single soldier they spotted. My father who is deceased was at Anzio. His unit, the 102nd Barrage Balloons, were brought in from Naples to land on the Anzio Beachhead four days after the initial invasion. He said they were in fox holes and trenches filled with water up to their chests while living in their own excrement & urine. He said they were brought up out of the trenches every three days.He said there was a British Army unit next to there's. He said the Germans hit the Allies with artillery every day. During one barrage, a British soldier came up out of the water in the trench and started walking for the open; he dropped his rifle and kept walking. British & American soldiers started yelling and hollering for him to come back, but he kept walking. Suddenly the sound of German artillery was heard coming in.

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Title: Wickett's Remedy

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Myla Goldberg

Narrator: Myla Goldberg

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-15-05

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 59 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

In a world turned almost unrecognizable by swift and sudden tragedy, Lydia finds herself working as a nurse in an experimental ward dedicated to understanding the raging epidemic, through the use of human subjects.

Meanwhile, a parallel narrative explores the world of QD Soda, the illegitimate offspring of Wickett's Remedy, stolen away by Henry Wickett's one-time business partner Quentin Driscoll, who goes about transforming it into a soft drink empire.

Throughout the novel we hear from a chorus of other voices who offer a running commentary from the book's margins, playing off the ongoing narrative and cleverly illuminating the slippery interplay of perception and memory. Based on years of research and evoking actual events, Wickett's Remedy perfectly captures the texture of the times and brings a colorful cast of characters vividly to life, none more so than Lydia, a heroine as winning and appealing as Eliza, the beloved spelling champion of Bee Season.

With dazzling dexterity, Goldberg has fashioned a novel that beautifully combines the intimate and the epic. Wickett's Remedy announces her arrival as a major novelist.

Critic Reviews:

"With its warm, involving story line and intrinsically interesting subject matter, this is sure to be popular with the book-club crowd." (Booklist)

"Well-researched, polished, and poignant." (Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

confusing to hear

I think this book has an interesting storyline but it got confusing to listen to it. There wasn't enough information to let you know "when" each chapter was taking place. I got a little bored with it and feel I missed the sense of the plot and where she was intending to go with it...and it's un-abridged!

A great listen!

I started reading this book in paper format while wandering around B&N one day, and realized about 1/4 through that it would make an awesome audiobook if done well. And what a success! Myla's reading, the hushed asides, the sound effects, and the dramatizations all make this a highly entertaining read. I found it not at all difficult to follow or understand. Ms. Goldberg's writing is divinely descriptive, and her premise is one of the most usual and creative I've yet encountered. Please give this a try! :)

hard to finish

I enjoyed Bee Season and was looking forward to Myla Goldberg's next book, but I did not enjoy this story. I found it quite boring and I still don't understand what the plot was supposed to be. As an audible book I found the parts of the story that were interviews, tours or newsclippings very confusing when they disgressed from the main story. I forced myself to finish the book, but was disappointed that it never seemed to amount to anything.

A surprising WOW

What made the experience of listening to Wickett's Remedy the most enjoyable?

I had not heard of the book so I had no idea what it was going to be. It is quirky and well written. The first few minutes were a bit confusing with the "commercials" but as soon as you get hooked on the story you will LOVE it.

Who was your favorite character and why?

any/all

Have you listened to any of Myla Goldbergs other performances before? How does this one compare?

I first listened to the Bee Season.

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Titre: Les Chevaliers du Royaume

Auteur: David Camus

Narrateur: Malik Faraoun

Format: Unabridged

Durée: 18 hrs and 6 mins

Langue: Français

Date de publication: 09-14-05

Éditeur: Audible Studios

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Résumé de l'éditeur:

En 1187, à Hattin : Saladin inflige aux croisés leur plus importante défaite depuis le début des croisades. Non content d'anéantir l'armée chrétienne et de capturer cent dix chevaliers du Temple et de l'Hôpital, la fine fleur de la chevalerie établie en Terre sainte, Saladin reprend aussi aux Francs la "Vraie Croix", la croix sur laquelle le Christ a été crucifié et qui a toujours accompagné les chrétiens dans leurs combats.

A Rome, le pape Urbain III charge alors chacun des deux ordres de moines chevaliers, les Templiers et les Hospitaliers, de récupérer modus omnibus (par tous les moyens) cette relique, la plus sainte qui soit. L'ordre qui échouera sera dissous, et ses richesses données au vainqueur.

L'auteur

Né en 1970 à Grasse,

vit et travaille à Paris.

Petit-fils de l'écrivain Albert Camus, il a réalisé des films documentaires pour la télévision, travaillé dans l'édition et accompli plusieurs traductions.

est son premier roman.

© Photos12.com/Guy de Lusignan pris dans une bataille (4 juillet 1187) et perte de la Vraie Croix

© Editions du club France Loisirs, Paris, Juin 2005 avec l'autorisation des Editions Robert Laffont

© Editions Robert Laffont 2005

© Livres Audio V.D.B., Juin 2005