How To Get Full Audiobook in Fiction, Historical Best Sellers

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Title: The White Queen

Author: Philippa Gregory

Narrator: Emilia Fox, Sandra Duncan, Gareth Armstrong

Format: Abridged

Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-01-09

Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 25 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Internationally bestselling author Philippa Gregory brings the tumult and intrigue of The Wars of the Roses to vivid life through the women of the House of Lancaster and the House of York, beginning with the story of Elizabeth Woodville, the White Queen.

A woman who won the love of a king and ascended to royalty by virtue of her beauty, Elizabeth fought tenaciously for the success of her family -- her daughter who would one day unite the warring dynasties, and her two sons whose eventual fate has confounded historians for centuries: the Princes in the Tower. An active player in the power struggles that surrounded her, she made hard and courageous choices, always trying to protect those whom she loved. Informed by impeccable research and framed by her inimitable storytelling skills, Philippa Gregory gives an unforgettable voice to an extraordinary woman at the heart of a devastating conflict.

Members Reviews:

too short

very well read except for the male voices especially king edward. but always a great story look forward to the unabridged version.

Brilliant!

Even though this is an abridged version, this audio is really good to listen to. I have several of Philippa's novels in hardcopy and have found that out of all of them, I haven't managed to actually read this one yet. Having listened to it though, I am eager to pick up the book and read it and pick up on the parts that have been missed out.

I love the way the different voices are portrayed with the different readers. It gives a sense of almost acting it out yet it is totally being read.

Once again a fantastic historial novel. Philippa has done a magnificent job in the writing of this book and I recommend you give this audio version a listen. You won't be disappointed.

Frustrated about unabridged version not available

Apparently this is due to be broadcast as a TV adaptation this Spring (2013), so I was keen to listen before the programme comes out. The narration is good, and the story from the women's perspective is always engaging to me. The problem is the abridged version means you miss out on so much and the book is if finished too quickly. I am sure at least half the book is cut out. I would listen again if an unabridged version came out.

Not in the same league as Wolf Hall

I downloaded this as I had listened to Wolf Hall which had given me a taste for historical fiction. Having enjoyed the film production of The Other Boleyn Girl, I thought I would try a book by Philippa Gregory and The White Queen caught my eye. Unfortunately it was rather too Mills and Boons-ish for me, was too historically inaccurate and contained an annoying amount of witchcraft references. That said, I might have enjoyed it better if I hadn't just listened to Wolf Hall which rather blew it out of the water.

Philippa Gregory does it again

I have a passion for historical novels and this one does not disappoint. Elizabeth Woodville is a fascinating woman who achieves greatness through her wits and beauty. Whether you like her or not you have to admire her. Beautifully read and I especially liked the way the war scenes were read by a man.

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Title: Bones of the Hills

Author: Conn Iggulden

Narrator: Rupert Farley

Format: Unabridged

Length: 17 hrs and 53 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-13-09

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 52 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

The fatherless boy, exiled from his tribe (whom listeners have been following in Wolf of the Plains and Lords of the Bow, has grown into the great king, Genghis Khan. He has united the warring tribes and even taken his armies against the great cities of their oldest enemies. Now he finds trouble rising west of the Mongolian plains. His emissaries are mutilated or killed; his trading gestures rebuffed.

So, dividing his armies, using his sons as generals of the various divisions, he sends them out simultaneously in many directions, ranging as far as modern Iran and Iraq.

As well as discovering new territories, exacting tribute from conquered peoples, laying waste the cities which resist, this policy is also a way of diffusing the rivalries between his sons and heirs and working out who should succeed the khan.

Members Reviews:

Captivating!

Absolutely loved the third installment of the series especially coming from the slow paced and tedious second book. The narration by Rupert Farley only made the story more pleasant.

A good read

I have enjoyed all the books about the life of Genghis highly entertaining and strongly recommended.

An action packed audio hit.

Takes Genghis from a local warlord to a world player. All the main characters are developed and deepened within the known historical facts and background. Igulden's historical knowledge of the period is intervoven into the story maintaining the sense of historical awe of what the mongul empire was capable of. The narration is excellent and consistent across the story. Above all, it is a roller coaster of a story with plenty of action. suspense and intrigue. A big thumbs up to a master storyteller.

Wonderful rendition!

A fantastic tale of tragedy. Beautifully read. So expressive I felt that I could smell the sweat and mutton fat.

Good Book

excellent writing 3rd book in this series...not a nice piece of history..believable characters and good history narrator is good thank you

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Title: Lustrum

Author: Robert Harris

Narrator: Oliver Ford-Davies

Format: Abridged

Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-01-09

Publisher: Random House AudioBooks

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Robert Harris's Lustrum is a thriller that pitches the listener into the power struggles and vicious factionalism of the Roman republic at one of its most tumultuous moments, as Cicero is alerted to a plot to overthrow the government and take over the state. The conspiracy is led by the aristocratic politician Catalina, backed by other, shadowy factions; even Julius Caesar is implicated. Undeterred, Cicero devotes himself to exposing the treachery, and after a bloody struggle, emerges triumphant.

But the gods are pitiless - and the most talented men over-reach themselves. When the sexually voracious senator and nobleman Clodius is put on trial, accused of entering a sacred women-only religious ritual in pursuit of Caesar's wife, Cicero finds himself embroiled in the case as the reluctant star witness for the prosecution. He has made many enemies, and as Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey grasp political power, he discovers that he has sown the seeds of his own downfall.

Meticulously researched and brilliantly written, Lustrum is an entirely self-contained novel, but it is also a continuation of Cicero's story as told in Robert Harris's best-selling Imperium. A third Roman volume will complete the trilogy in 2011.

Members Reviews:

Do not start Robert Harris here!

As someone who has enjoyed all of Harris' books, I will advice to you listen to his other works before this one. It is simply too unfocused to ever get me wound up in the story. It is all also too short, and I don't understand why it has been abgridged (unless the unabridged version would have been even more unfocused).

I recomend instead you hear Pompeii (ancient rome setting) or Ghost (modern thriller).

Great but too short

I would have preferred the full version but this was still enjoyable. harris is a great story teller and it was well narrated.

Magisterial

The historical research that has been done, the perspicacity with which he draws his characters, the imagination by which he constructs his stories, all these leave the reader with the conviction that Robert Harris is one of the best writers of the 20th and 21st century.

Using that unique period of time which marked the end of the Roman Republic as his framework, Harris offers us insight into the use of power as well as observing its corrupting influence in the lives of those who wield it. Cicero, Pompey, Caesar, Cato - all step from the pages of history books, and take life within our own consciousness. What is more, Robert Harris has brought the method of narration by a single character in this case, Cicero's secretary Tiro to a consummate art.

His first book with Cicero as the protagonist was Imperium; Lustrum continues the story. Even those who know nothing of Roman history, nor are interested in the decline of the Roman Republic, will find in these books of Robert Harris something that engages their mind as well as their eye, and will be offered insight into the grandeur and the folly of our common humanity.

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Title: A Separate Country

Author: Robert Hicks

Narrator: Sherman Howard, Isabel Keating, Kevin T. Collins

Format: Unabridged

Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-23-09

Publisher: Hachette Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 30 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Robert E. Lee promoted him to major general after the Battle of Antietam. But the Civil War would mark him forever. At Gettysburg, he lost the use of his left arm. At the Battle of Chickamauga, his right leg was amputated. Starting fresh after the war, he married Anna Marie Hennen and fathered 11 children with her, including three sets of twins. But fate had other plans. Crippled by his war wounds and defeat, ravaged by financial misfortune, Hood had one last foe to battle: yellow fever.

A Separate Country is the heartrending story of a decent and good man who struggled with his inability to admit his failures - and the story of those who taught him to love, and to be loved, and transformed him.

Critic Reviews:

"Hicks's stunning narrative volleys between Hood, Anna Marie and Eli, each offering variety and texture to a story saturated in Southern gallantry and rich American history." (Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

Okay but not what I expected.

First I will say I missed "Fiction" in the books description. (my fault I was so excited to think there was a new biography I had not read)

Being a civil war buff, I guess I expected "The General" and not this man that is depicted in this book.

I truly believe General Hood had regrets but he is seen in this book as that is all he has. General Hood lead successful campaigns and was a well respected General. In this book his whole career is nothing but regrets, his life after the war is all most nothing but regrets. He suddenly turns against all that he has ever believed in and fought for. A career General does not change in an instant and in this book it is "an instant".

To me, the book does not give justice to the life General Hood. Even if it is fiction.

Having said that, the plot was okay, even if a little circus like. Dwarfs, killer Frenchmen, and a orphan turned Priest.

It has many twists and turns and can keep you entertained if you are not expecting even a bit of reality.

exceptionally boring

Having read, The widow of the south, and being a Civil War buff I expected this book to be right up my alley! well, it was a big disappointment. BORING BORING BORING, don't waste your credits. I don't think the author was really sure where he was going with this and it just dragged on.

Wonderful!

I loved the story. The characters were interesting. The voice actors made me feel as though I was back in 19th century New Orleans. I highly recommend this book to all listeners but I especially recommend it to those people who love stories of the civil war or the post war south.

Just ok

Basically it was boring. Not enough characters and not enough going on. I did manage to finish it but I really wanted to abort early on.

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Title: Shadows on the Hudson, Volume 2

Author: Isaac Bashevis Singer

Narrator: Theodore Bikel, Julie Harris, John Rubinstein

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-19-09

Publisher: Phoenix Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 12 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

At the center is Boris Makaver, a pious and wealthy businessman. His greatest trial is his daughter, Anna. Unhappy in her current marriage, she plans to escape with Hertz Grien, a man torn between ascetic yearnings and romantic entanglements.

From Makaver's gloomy Upper West Side apartment to the pastel resorts of Miami amid family quarrels, zealous religious debates, crooked seances, and a myriad of affairs and marriages Singer weaves a rich tapestry of American Jewry. Despite the characters' fervent and often ironic attempts to decipher life's enigmas, their questions remain, for the most part, unanswered.

Members Reviews:

excellent!

Very quick delivery, excellent!

Five Stars

good read

Life is hell and then you die

It's true that that the characters exist for the purpose of delivering long philosophical rants decrying the

their existence along with everyone else they know. Of course this story takes place in the shadow of the

holocaust which effects their every moment of their existence. It was understandably impossible for them

to form relationships, or experience happiness based on the unspeakable trauma they experienced.

They escaped the holocaust but the ghosts but they were driven by the ghosts of the past.

This was a very heavy book and I felt relief when it was over. Would not recommend if

you have a history of depression.

A Brilliant Work

This is a long, deep novel that deals with some of the fundamental problems of human existence. More than any other writer, Singer (at least in this book) reminds me of Dostoyevsky, whose characters were constantly in existentialist turmoil over questions such as good vs. evil and whether or not there is a God (and if there is, is He good, evil or indifferent?) Of course, while Dostoyevsky was a Christian, all of the characters in Shadows on the Hudson are Jewish holocaust survivors who have recently emigrated to New York from Europe shortly after World War ll. This is something that none of them can forget, even for a day, as many barely escaped while their loved ones perished. Beyond this confrontation with evil and death, the novel is largely about the philosophical war between religious orthodoxy and hedonistic modern life. Contemporary readers who do not come from a strongly religious background may have some difficulty appreciating this dilemma. The mass culture that Singer found vulgar and amoral in the 50s has now all but taken over in America, leaving many people no frame of reference for any other type of existence. While there is much philosophizing, Singer succeeds in creating flesh and blood characters whose moral anguish is not simply abstract, but put to the test in daily life. The character we spend the most time with is Hertz Grein, a middle-aged man whose religious yearnings are in stark contrast to his lifestyle. He is a married man who has had a long affair with another woman. As the novel opens, he is preparing to run off with yet another woman. Grein's behavior through most of this book is both irrational and indefensible. He lies to all three women, and makes all his decisions on the whim of the moment. At the same time, he is hardly without a conscience. On the contrary, he is deeply ashamed of the pain he causes others and desperately wants to redeem himself.

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Title: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Author: Vicente Blasco Ibañez

Narrator: Frederick Davidson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 53 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-05-09

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Julio Desnoyers, a wealthy young Spanish American, tries to escape the dirt, blood, and horror of World War I. Why should he fight on foreign soil for a country that is his father's land and not his own? But everywhere he turns, war and its ravages follow Julio, changing everything. His lover Marguerite no longer desires their old life of abandoned intimacy, and his father has no use for his cowardly, profligate son.

When Julio finally decides to fight, the world and his family know him for a different man.

Members Reviews:

The most beautiful book ever written.

I love this book. I read it many years ago...The beginning starts off peacefully, like a romance, you become part of the scenerios, you fall in love with the characters...Then all of a sudden there is war (World War 1)...This novel is about people in that epoch, about tango dancing, about France and Argentina. About money and the pampas...About Germany...In fact about all of Europe...It is about an epoch in which people thought the world would end in war and genocide and everyone was just trying to have sex and fall in love and live life to the fullest before it all came to an end...The name Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse which is a phrase taken from the last book in the Bible which talks about Armageddon (better known as "the end of the world." This book is like a mix of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy and Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell, only better. The English translation of this book is so true to the original...nothing, absolutely nothing, is lost in translation here....Read this book if you want to read great literature.

WOW!

I was spurred to read this book because the 1921 film adaptation is so great; usually I read the book before seeing the movie based on it, if I see the movie based on a book at all. The book is even better than the already phenomenal film; since the film is only about two hours long, it obviously couldn't fit in everything that happens in the book, and there were some things invented, left out, or cut and pasted together (in a respectful tasteful way though). The book gives an even more complete and complex picture of the Desnoyers family and their circle of friends, like having a lot more details about their life in Argentina before Julio, the main character, his sister Chichi, and their cousins the von Hartrotts were born, as well as having more details about their life back in Europe when they returned there shortly before WWI broke out. Having the powerful images from the film in my head made the characters, plotline, and descriptions in the book even more powerful. There were also some things that the book made clearer than the film had, although personally I felt that the ending line of the book wasn't as powerful or effective as the final intertitles of the movie. Still, it's a great book, powerful historical fiction about WWI and the years leading up to it. My only gripe is that this translation is a bit dated, such as in certain words or turns of phrase that now have different connotations or have fallen into such disusage that the modern reader would have to look them up.

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Title: Royal Escape

Author: Georgette Heyer

Narrator: Cornelius Garrett

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-15-08

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 55 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Dispossessed of crown and kingdom, crushed and routed at the Battle of Worcester, the young Charles II is forced to flee for his life. Out of the heat of battle, the outlaw king and his tiny party must try to escape to France.

©2001 Georgette Heyer; (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Members Reviews:

The Great Escape

This is not exactly a "romance novel", but it is good history even though the "Marie King's" escape takes a long, long time. The reader did a very good job with a subject that got tiresome at times.

Tedious

I normally love Heyer's novels, but I find her historical books quite tedious. This one is no exception, and I struggled to get through it. It is well narrated, but that cannot make up for the fact that everything happends really slowly. It deals with Charles II and his escape from England, it takes him an entire book to escape. Perhaps if I was more conversant with history around this event, I would have enjoyed the book more, but I feel that a good historical novel shouldn't rely on the reader's previous knowledge.

Excellent

If you could sum up Royal Escape in three words, what would they be?

Left me with a desire to read more books about Charles II. Very easy entertaining listening.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Charles II of course.

Which character as performed by Cornelius Garrett was your favorite?

Great narration.

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

Enjoyed the description.

More of a 17th Century Travelogue than a Novel

It is hard for me to make too many negative comments about a Heyer novel. And I knew what to expect when I started this book. As every reviewer stated, there was very little plot and the tension one would expect in a story about a fugitive attempting to escape from certain death, was definitely lacking. Charles II on the run for his life seemed to approach the world and his predicament with the same joie de vivre and humor as the 19th century courtiers in her Regency comedies of manners. It was obvious that Heyer found him a very sympathetic character and considered his adversaries as simpletons. It was in some ways one of her most "classist" novels, and that is saying a lot.

All of that said though, it is still a well written book and she managed to stretch out a six week adventure in rural England with a predetermined ending into a readable and lengthy book. I know that Heyer has a reputation as a stickler for accuracy in historical detail, but I have no idea how much of this story is true, beyond the battle itself, the king, Wilmot and the fact that they did eventually escape to France. But she certainly presented a plausible and believable tale of what very well might have happened.

I usually enjoy Cornelius Garrett's narration on Heyer novels. But he always has to make at least one character have a very annoying lisp. He did it in this book as well, and I found it even more annoying than usual.

I still recommend the book. But go into it with your eyes open. This does not have the plot, pace or conclusion of other Heyer books, whether her romances, mysteries or other historical fiction.

Easy listening

This is unlike most of Georgette Heyer's sparkling comedies being about the escape from England of King Charles II after a losing battle.

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Title: The King's Secret Matter

Author: Jean Plaidy

Narrator: Anne Flosnik

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-15-08

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 38 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

The 12-year marriage of Henry and Katharine has declined from an idyllic union into an uneasy stalemate. The king's love for his aging queen has grown cold, and he is angry with her failure to give him the heir to the throne he desperately wants. When the seductive Anne Boleyn arrives at court, the king is captivated by her dark beauty and bold spirit and becomes obsessed by the desire to possess her. With his chief advisor, Cardinal Wolsey, the king devises a secret plot to declare the marriage with Katharine null and void. But Katharine refuses to surrender to his wishes and fights desperately to retain her title and safeguard her daughter, Mary. The ensuing power struggle is one of the turning points in English history, and these pages capture it in spellbinding detail.

©1990 Eleanor Hibbert; (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic Reviews:

"Plaidy excels at blending history with romance and drama." (New York Times)

"Jean Plaidy, by the skilful blending of superb storytelling and meticulous attention to authenticity of detail and depth of characterization, has become one of the country's most widely read novelists." (Sunday Times)

"Full-blooded, dramatic, exciting." (Observer)

Members Reviews:

Not much of a secret

This is the last book in Jean Plaidy's trio of books about Henry's first wife Katherine of Aragon. This book goes over the bit of her life that we all know pretty well, his disillusion with her for not bearing sons, his infatuation with Anne Boleyn, the political and religious intrigue.

But Plaidy does it in her characteristic style. You're not subject to too much of Anne Boleyn here, but see her in a chess piece kind of way. She's not unimportant, but she's not the focus of the novel and that is just right. I also liked that Plaidy does spend time on Katherine's exile from Court, something many books and movies don't seem to worry about. You also get to feel a bit of what Katherine is feeling too when it comes to missing her daughter, Mary.

Again the narrator's accent isn't great, but it grated on me less here than it did in the three previous books with her reading them.

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Title: Captain's Rangers

Author: Elmer Kelton

Narrator: Kevin Orton

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-28-08

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 15 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

This entry in Elmer Kelton's

Tales of Texas series whisks us away to witness a violent 1875 conflict. Thirty years after the Battle of San Jacinto, Texans and Mexicans are still spilling blood over control of the Nueces Strip. And Horse thieves and bushwhackers transform this hot, dry stretch between the Nueces and Rio Grande rivers into a lawless inferno. Despite long odds, Captain McNelly and his small band of Texas Rangers strive to bring lasting peace to this swirling vortex of murder and racial hatred.

©1996 Elmer Kelton (P)2008 Recorded Books

Members Reviews:

Five Stars

No problem.

Lots of twists and turns

Not Kelton's best, in my opinion, but a good yarn full of western flavor. Really quite good as an historic novel and the yarn is well-spun in typical Kelton style.

Another good book

Very interesting and informative on our TEXAS history even though it's a novel

good book.

story of struggles in south west texas along the border and job done by the texas rangers. another good book by elmer kelton.

Five Stars

One of the great western writers

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Title: Trouble in the Teton Valley

Subtitle: Medicine Wagon Series #3

Author: Gary McCarthy

Narrator: Jerry Sciarrio

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 52 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-28-08

Publisher: Books in Motion

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Henry and Samantha struggle against a town to save a family from typhoid fever. The townspeople refuse to help and openly threaten Henry. Ice is the major commodity needed to keep the fevers down, and little is available in town. Samantha volunteers to go to the nearby mountains and bring ice down in her wagon with the help of a local mountain man.

The pair meet up with disastrous consequences in the mountains, when it appears there is no ice. Meanwhile, Henry's ability to curb the potential epidemic is failing. As the fever spreads from different quarters, Henry is hard pressed to find the real source of the disease.