Get Popular Authors Audiobooks in Fiction, Historical Best Sellers

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Title: The Narrowboat Girl

Author: Annie Murray

Narrator: Annie Aldington

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-02-07

Publisher: ISIS Audio Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 12 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

The chance of a new life opens up when she befriends Joel Batholomew, who works on the canal. Aboard his narrowboat, she finds herself falling in love with her new life. Then Joel's feelings for Maryann begin to change, awakening all the old nightmares that she had long thought buried. The Narrowboat Girl is warm-hearted storytelling at its very best, and a testament to the overwhelming power of true love and its ability to overcome suffering.

Members Reviews:

Inspiring and chilling novel

I picked this novel originally because I love the romance of Britain's narrowboats. There is very little of that here. HOWEVER, I was pleased to find much more in this novel: a strong, well-paced story with an excellent plot line. The characters are the real pleasure here - flesh and blood characters that embody strength as well as weakness so are familiar and believable. Even the "good" and "evil" characters are humanized in that way. Some aspects of the story are chilling - the impact of sexual abuse especially - in part because they are accurately portrayed. Readers will despair at the evil but be inspired by the good in The Narrowboat Girl.

The Narrowboat Girl

Story line good if a little depressing. Narration brought the characters to life and was excellent.

a girls book

This book kept my attention - made me root for the main character. It deals with sex abuse (not a light subject), but it was worth the ending. I recommend it.

very upsetting but excellent writing

i didnt like this, the content is disturbing and i felt soiled. However, the writing is brilliant.

Stick with it

What made the experience of listening to The Narrowboat Girl the most enjoyable?

A superb but harrowing story where you were willing for the villain to get his comupance. Her stepfather was so despicable you could almost feel yourself booing when he was around

What did you like best about this story?

The sheer tenacity of Maryann to sort the problem out

Have you listened to any of Annie Aldingtons other performances? How does this one compare?

No

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The time when Maryann urged Joel back to good health

Any additional comments?

Great book with a very good follow up

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Title: Tyrant

Author: Valerio Massimo Manfredi

Narrator: Derek Jacobi

Format: Abridged

Length: 5 hrs and 12 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-01-07

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 17 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Over the next eight years, Dionysius' brutal military conquests will strike down countless enemies and many friends to make Syracuse the most powerful Greek city west of mainland Greece. He builds the largest army of antiquity and invents horrific war machines to use against the Carthaginians, whom he will fight in five wars.

But who was Dionysius? Historians have condemned him as one of the most ruthless, egocentric despots. But he was also a patron of the arts, a dramatist, poet, and a tender lover.

Members Reviews:

Manfredi is pyschic

What would have made Tyrant better?

When I bought Tyrant I was expecting a history book, not a novel based around the known facts of Dionysius's life. In my opinion it should be removed from the history section as most of the books content is just the authors imagination running wild.

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Title: Charity

Author: Lesley Pearse

Narrator: Julia Franklin

Format: Unabridged

Length: 22 hrs

Language: English

Release date: 04-17-07

Publisher: ISIS Audio Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 10 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Determined to be reunited with her siblings and to make something of herself, Charity runs away to 1960s London and begins to forge a new life.

Members Reviews:

It's an Ok book

I've read other Lesley Pearse titles and bought this same on the assumtion that they would be just as exciting. If it wasn't for the Narrator I would have left this book half way. The situations didn't add up. That is what I found most unbecoming. LP is a lovely author, but this is not one of her best books.

So exciting

If you want a book with loads of variety, action and interest with love thrown in, and just the right amount of eroticism thrown in this book will meet your criteria.

Nice book

Great book to read when you need nothing taxing. It flows well with a good story. You get totally wrapped up in the story. Sad in places but a good ending with lots going on in-between. OK its a chicks book as well!

A very good read

Although I really enjoyed reading this title because of it's wonderfull narration and moving storyline, I was a bit shocked by some very graphic descriptions in this book. I felt there didn't need to be so much lengthy graphic scenes and that this spoiled the read a bit for me. However the general story was overall moving and compelling.

Charity

What an excellent book. I couldn't put the book down. It is filled with so many emotions. Well done Lesley Pearse

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Title: The Crimson Portrait

Author: Jody Shields

Narrator: Josephine Bailey

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-01-06

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 2.5 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

It is spring 1915. On a sprawling country estate not far from London, a young woman mourns her husband, fallen on a distant battlefield. The eerie stillness in which she grieves is abruptly shattered as her home is transformed into a bustling military hospital. Recoiling from the chaos, unhinged by grief, the young widow finds unexpected refuge in a tender young soldier whose face, concealed by bandages, she cannot see. Their affair takes a fateful turn when she confronts and seizes upon the opportunity to remake her lover in the image of her lost husband.

The Crimson Portrait is a novel of glittering surfaces that belie dark truths. Its rich cast comes into focus as the novel peels back layers of suspense and intrigue to illuminate the abiding mysteries of affinity and desire.

Critic Reviews:

"Shields...renders richly textured prose and a cast of vibrant characters." (Booklist)

"Beautifully haunting....Shields' writing weaves dark, mythical symbolism with matter-of-fact medical nitty-gritty to reveal what happens when class, ignorance, hopefulness, and despair coalesce." (Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

A bit dry

I ordered this book on the strength of another I had read by the same author. Katherine, a young war widow, offers her estate to be used as a hospital for facilly disfigured soldiers. The novel focuses on the devastating effects of World War I on several key figures: Katherine, three of the doctors, a woman artist who designs prostheses for the patients, and Julian, a patient who strangely resembles Katherine's husband. While well written, the novel is a bit dry and predictable--except for a scene near the end that was both unbelievable and infuriating.

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Titel: Das Vermächtnis der Wanderhure

Autor:: Iny Lorentz

Erzähler: Anne Moll

Format: Abridged

Spieldauer: 6 hrs and 26 mins

Sprache: Deutsch

Veröffentlichungsdatum: 10-13-06

Herausgeber: Lübbe Audio

Kategorien: Fiction, Historical

Zusammenfassung des Herausgebers:

1428: Marie ist wieder schwanger - was leider auch ihre Todfeindin Hulda mitbekommt, die ebenfalls in anderen Umständen ist, und deshalb einen perfiden Plan schmiedet: Sie lässt Marie entführen und täuscht ihren Tod vor. Als Marie einen Jungen zur Welt bringt, nimmt Hulda diesen an sich und übergibt ihr stattdessen ihre Tochter und schickt beide zu dem Handelsherrn Fulbert Schäfflein, der sie als Sklavin verkauft. Wird es Michel gelingen, der ebenfalls in Bedrängnis gerät, Frau und Kinder wiederzufinden?

(c)+(p) 2006 Lübbe Audio

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Title: Apache Storm

Author: Jason Manning

Narrator: Tom Stechschulte

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-11-06

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 9 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Jason Manning, popular Western author, sets this tale at the beginning of the Civil War. Lieutenant Joshua Barlow, just out of West Point, is sent into the West by his influential father, who hopes he will be safer there. However, a different conflict is being waged on the plains. Kiannatah and his band of Apache warriors are determined to fight those who dare to invade their land, no matter how much blood is spilled.

©2004 Jason Manning (P)2005 Recorded Books

Members Reviews:

I enjoyed the book

I enjoyed the book. As usual, Jason Manning injected historical true to life characters and the struggles of the Apache people to adapt and survive the westward migration of the white settlers.

Apache. Storm

Excellent book, action, character development, suspense , can't wait to read next book in the series . Enjoyed reading from indians perspective then army perspective.

Ctive

Mr. Manning combines fast paced action, historical context ...

Mr. Manning combines fast paced action, historical context, deep colorful characters and a believable story line. I look forward to each title - please keep them coming Sir!

Another Elmer Kelton

Love Jason Manning. An equal to Elmer Kelton. I'm hooked

Five Stars

good read

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Title: Getting It Right

Author: William F. Buckley

Narrator: Patrick Cullen

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-26-06

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 8 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Two college students, Woodroe Raynor and Leonora Goldstein, meet in the fall of 1960 before embarking on separate paths. Woodroe goes to work for the indiscriminately anti-Communist John Birch Society: through his eyes, we see how anti-Communism defined American politics while nearly defeating itself in its own extremism. Leonora becomes a novitiate in the libertarian-objectivist cult of novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand: through her, we witness how sexual passion shaped Rand's movement. But a singular romance blooms as the two make their way through the tumultuous era, navigating the political fault line that would change American history.

Members Reviews:

Getting it Right

I thought this was boring until I started listening to "Conservatives Without Conscience" !

But even this uninteresting book is better than that. That's the best that I can say about it.

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Title: Back to Wando Passo

Author: David Payne

Narrator: Dick Hill

Format: Unabridged

Length: 19 hrs and 51 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-19-06

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 28 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Grappling with the tangled subject of race in America, the plot lines are haunted by an occult twist. When Ransom Hill, the contemporary protagonist, discovers a Civil War-era "prenda", an iron pot used by Cuban slaves for conjuring, he unearths something very strange indeed.

Critic Reviews:

"A luscious, engaging, and heartfelt novel with plenty to say about individual responsibility and the legacy of slavery." (Library Journal)

"Like The DaVinci Code, Back to Wando Passo takes its readers deeply into an arcane, fascinating, and dangerous body of knowledge and belief." (Lee Smith, author of Saving Grace)

Members Reviews:

Dark

This is not a horror story, but it is very dark. This story takes place in two different time periods, and for me, the story that takes place in the past was much more interesting than the one taking place in the future. I found myself wanting to fast foward through the book and listen only to half the story. It seems as though the past story was the real one, and the present story was forced into its mold.

There are many race discussions in the book, and although the author tries to explore all sides, it still left me a bit cold.

I will say again that this is a very dark story, so sensitive souls may want to rethink it.

Ruined by the narrator

The narrator was extremely hard to listen to, ruined the story really especially his crying moaning sounds; I ff so often I missed a lot of the book.

Know your past to better face your future

This was a riveting audio book the narrator was dynamic. A dark foray into the Peri-Bellum American South and it's impact on a modern family relocating and reconnecting with the Carolinian roots. Worth every penny.

Fantastic Read

This was one of the finest books I have ever listened to. The inter-related stories are compelling, and the characters are each utterly believable as they grapple with divergent life philosophies. The writing is elegant and it is read absolutely beautifully. The previous reviewer mentions that this is a "dark" story, and it is. But like all good tragedy ultimately catharsis is promised and delivered. Highly recommended.

Who Do? The Voodoo?!

This was an excellent listen, a guilty treat from the 'over 20 hours' section in Unabridged!

The story is essentially split in two, charting the lives of two couples in present day South Carolina and during the North v South war in the 1800s. Again, I have to praise audible for making history more accessible to people like me, who had no previous interest whatsoever. The detail of the war and the life in a plantation is superb.

The couples both lived in the familial plantation home and discovery of a buried pot, or cauldron, leads to spooky similarities in each couples' tales.

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Title: The Amalgamation Polka

Author: Stephen Wright

Narrator: Michael Emerson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-16-06

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 34 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Born in 1844 in bucolic upstate New York, Liberty Fish is the son of fervent abolitionists as well as the grandson of Carolina slaveholders even more dedicated to their cause. Thus follows a childhood limned with fugitive slaves moving through hidden passageways in the house, his Uncle Potter's free-soil adventure stories whose remarkable violence sets the tone of the mounting national crisis, and the inevitable distress that befalls his mother whenever letters arrive from her parents, a conflict that ultimately costs her her life and compels Liberty, in hopes of reconciling the familial disunion, to escape first into the cauldron of war and then into a bedlam more disturbing still.

Rich in characters both heartbreaking and bloodcurdling, comic and horrific, The Amalgamation Polka is shot through with politics and dreams, and it captures great swaths of the American experience, from village to metropolis to plantation, from the Erie Canal to the Bahamas, from Bloody Kansas to the fulfillment of the killing fields. Yet for all the brutality and tragedy, this novel is exuberant in the telling and its wide compassion, brimming with the language, manners, hopes, and fears of its time, all of this so transformed by Stephen Wright's imaginative compass that places and events previously familiar are rendered new and strange, terrifying and stirring. Instantly revelatory, constantly mesmerizing, this is the work of a major writer at the top of his form.

Critic Reviews:

"This book, rich in an appropriately fatuous, overblown period style, is the morbidly comic counterpoint to Doctorow's The March." (Publishers Weekly)

"An unusually captivating modernist novel set during the Civil War." (Booklist)

Members Reviews:

Surprising, Shocking, and Thoughtful

I do not understand why this book has a rating of only 3 stars (at this time). It has so much research and historicity behind it, and its character studies are vivid and lifelike.

Not only is there humor at certain points, there is also shock value galore. Not only is hatred portrayed in all its ugliness, but also love is portrayed.

I have not spent a long time thinking about it, but I have a feeling that Liberty, the main character, also forms a metaphor for America during the Civil War. I would be glad to write a term paper on that topic.

It does have some similar themes to Doctorow's recent book on the Civil War, but there is so much more "meat" here that this book stands on its own.

Hats off to Messrs Emerson & Wright

If you could sum up The Amalgamation Polka in three words, what would they be?

aural time machine

What did you like best about this story?

The way the narrator brought the characters to life. I loved the use of language and the varied dialects. Just delicious! Every detail seemed realistic and true to life, not at all fabricated or anachronistic like so many historical novels tend to be.

Have you listened to any of Michael Emersons other performances before? How does this one compare?

This was the first audiobook I've ever bought based simply on my love of the narrator's voice. From the first chapter I was drawn in to the story completely by Mr. Emerson's impressive range in portraying the book's numerous characters of various ages and origins, every one of which brought the story to life like no other audiobook ever has for me.

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Title: The Girl with a Pearl Earring

Author: Tracy Chevalier

Narrator: Kati Nicholl, Isla Blair

Format: Abridged

Length: 2 hrs and 54 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-24-05

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Griet, the young daughter of a tile maker in 17th-century Holland, obtains her first job, as a servant in Vermeer's household. Tracy Chevalier shows us through Griet's eyes the complicated family, the society of the small town of Delft, and life with an obsessive genius. Griet loves being drawn into his artistic life, and leaving her former drudgery, but the cost to her own survival may be high.

©2002 Tracy Chevalier; (P)2002 Harper Collins UK

Members Reviews:

girl with the pearl earing

Having already read the book and seem the movie the audio version was brilliant. As a new mum of a right little handful i found the readings easy to listen to in between my daughter's quite times ie when she is asleep!. Thank you so much for the chance of least being able to listen to a good book.