Large Library of Full Audiobooks in Fiction, Historical New Releases

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Title: The Orchid Tree

Author: Siobhan Daiko

Narrator: Gill Hoodless

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-03-15

Publisher: Siobhan Daiko

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

A coming-of-age story set against the background of conflict and changing values in society.

Fifteen-year-old Kate Wolseley lives a rarefied life of wealth and privilege in the expatriate community. But when the Japanese take over the colony in December 1941, she's interned in squalid Stanley Camp with her parents. Forty miles away, in Macau, Sofia Rodrigues' suspicions are aroused when her father invites a Japanese family to dinner, an event that leads to a breach between Sofia and her controlling half brother, Leo. Enduring cramped conditions, humiliation, disease, and starvation, Kate befriends 17-year-old Charles - who's half Chinese - and they give their hearts to each other under the orchid tree. Can their love survive the war? In December 1948, Kate returns to Hong Kong, determined to put the past behind her. Sofia dreams of leaving Macau and starting a new life, and she won't let anyone, not even Leo, stop her. A young Englishman, James, becomes the link between Kate and Sofia. The communist-nationalist struggle in China spills over into the colony, catapulting the protagonists into the turmoil with disastrous consequences.

Members Reviews:

Beautifully Written Love Story

Where does The Orchid Tree rank among all the audiobooks youve listened to so far?

Near the top

What other book might you compare The Orchid Tree to, and why?

Most of the other books I have listened to have been Murders/Thrillers etc so cannot compare.

Have you listened to any of Gill Hoodlesss other performances? How does this one compare?

No, not yet

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Any additional comments?

This is a beautifully written love story set against the second world war in Hong Kong and after. It is not a straight forward love story and follows two couples from very different backgrounds who have to overcome many obstacles such as, the war, their differing backgrounds and family objections. It is a love story that triumphs over tragedy and racial bigotry.Kate Worsley was 15 years old when war came to Hong Kong. Interned with her parents in a Japanese prisoner of war camp Kate meets Charles a half Chinese boy also interned with his family.Sofia is half Portuguese half Chinese who lives in Macau which is neutral territory during the war. Her father is a wealthy gold dealer. James is a poor boy from England who fought during the war and came to Hong Kong after the war to make his fortune.Siobhan Daiko has a way with words and beautifully describes each situation with great detail and makes you almost believe you are there with the characters in the book.I highly recommend this book, not only will you learn about how people survived during the war in Hong Kong but you will also learn about the prejudices people experienced. It is a rich tableau of life during and after the war and well worth the read.

great audio book.

The reader had a mellifluous and non-intrusive voice and changed characters with skill. the story was gripping.

I loved this audiobook

and would happily listen again.

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Title: One Man's Fire

Author: Ralph Compton, Marcus Galloway

Narrator: Lee Aaron Rosen

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-01-15

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Eli had always led the life of an outlaw. Cutting corners and breaking the law, he knows how to get away with pretty much anything - until he's caught red handed attempting to rob a wagon set out as a trap. Imprisoned and alone, Eli is unsure whether the members of his gang have made it out alive, or if the men behind the disguised wagon are after his life. But he is sure about Lyssa - the beauty who selflessly takes care of him in prison. As Eli struggles to reform his law breaking ways, he is forced to come into terms with the man he has become and who he wants to be.

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Titre: L'art français de la guerre

Auteur: Alexis Jenni

Narrateur: Philippe Caubère

Format: Abridged

Durée: 19 hrs and 59 mins

Langue: Français

Date de publication: 05-27-15

Éditeur: Gallimard

Evaluation: 4 sur 5 sur 5 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Résumé de l'éditeur:

"Quand j'ai rencontré Victorien Salagnon, il ne pouvait être pire, il l'avait faite la guerre de vingt ans qui nous obsède, qui n'arrive pas à finir, il avait parcouru le monde avec sa bande armée, il devait avoir du sang jusqu'aux coudes. Mais il m'a appris à peindre. Il devait être le seul peintre de toute l'armée coloniale, mais là-bas on ne faisait pas attention à ces détails. Il m'apprit à peindre, et en échange je lui écrivis son histoire. Il dit, et je pus montrer, et je vis le fleuve de sang qui traverse ma ville si paisible, je vis l'art français de la guerre qui ne change pas, et je vis l'émeute qui vient toujours pour les mêmes raisons, des raisons françaises qui ne changent pas."

©2011 Éditions Gallimard (P)2012 Éditions Gallimard

Revues par les critiques:

À propos de ce titre

Prix Goncourt 2011.

Avis des membres:

Instant classic, does not shy away from big topics

This is the boldest French novel I have heard/read in a while. I can see why it earned the author - an unknown biology teacher from Lyon - not only a book deal with Gallimard, but also the prestigious Prix Goncourt in 2011.

First and foremost, the novel holds no punches in examining crucial questions of French identity. This includes an exploration of the relationship between French citizens and the military, racism and de Gaulle.

More specifically, it tells the story of a soldier, Victorien Salagnon, who fights in wars for a twenty-year period (in WWII, Indochina and Algeria) between 1942 to 1962. At the same time, it follows the narrator of the story in modern France as he grapples with the effects of these years (and the lack of open discussion about them) on his own life and France in general.

Though the narrative can sometimes drag (or maybe that was just my French listening skills that made it seem so), the book really comes alive as the narrator presents his often brilliant and thought-provoking analyses of modern France in various asides throughout the novel.

The audiobook is abridged, but not significantly. For every 100 pages of text maybe 5 are skipped.

"fiction de gauche qui se voudrai un documentaire"

L'auteur décrit le film "la bataille d'Alger" comme "une fiction de gauche qui se voudrait être un documentaire". C'est exactement ce que ce livre m'inspire, une fiction de gauche qui se voudrait être un essais sociologique sur la nature de la société française.

le style est morne, intentionnellement naif pour donner l'illusion qu'une reflexion philosophique sous tend le propos alors qu'il ne sagit que d'un point de vus partial et arbitraire.

le text alterne entre l'histoire de Victorien Salagnion, ancient FFI, ancien para d'Indochine et d'Algérie, et la vie bizarre du narrateur

le personnage de Salagnion est intéressant et le livre à le mérite de donner voie aux soldats des guerres coloniales de façon relativement objective.

le narrateur est un individu insipide, se laissant porter mollement au grès des circonstances et de l'assouvissement de ses petits désirs.

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Title: Backlands

Author: Victoria Shorr

Narrator: Carla Mercer-Meyer

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-11-15

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 1 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Set in the sparse frontier settlements of northeastern Brazil, Backlands tells the true story of a group of nomadic outlaws who reigned over the area from about 1922 until 1938. Taking from the rich and feared by the poor, they were led by the famously charismatic bandit Lampiao.

A one-eyed goat rancher who first set out to avenge his father's murder in a lawless land, Lampiao proved to be too good a leader, fighter, and strategist to ever return home again. By 1925, he commanded the biggest gang of outlaws in Brazil. Known to this day as a "prince", Lampiao had everything: brains, money, power, charisma, and luck. Everything but love, until he met Maria Bonita.

"You teach me to make lace, and I'll teach you to make love" - this was the song the bandits marched to, and it was Maria Bonita who made it come true. She was stuck in a loveless marriage when she met Lampiao, but she rode off with him, becoming "Queen of the Bandits". Together the couple - still celebrated folk heroes - would become the country's most wanted figures, protecting their extraordinary freedom through cunning.

Critic Reviews:

"Shorr has really found the voice to tell the story." (Alex Shoumatoff, author of The Rivers Amazon)

Members Reviews:

Five Stars

Takes you clearly to another world. We were sorry when it ended.

Brazilian frontier stories

atmospheric book, rendering the eternal sertao to all readers. Very faithful to Euclides da Cunha who brought the severity, violence and mysticism of the Northeast to national consciousness. At bottom, this is a love story of the lost who refuse to surrender.

FantasticBook

I was not able to put it down. what a great read

It was surprising to have been written by an american but then americans are are discovering something good.

This is a very well done story about a time and place in Brazil and the people involved in it. It was surprising to have been written by an american but then americans are are discovering something good.

Five Stars

Loved it! Victoria Shorr is an amazing writer. Highly recommend.

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Title: No Decent Gentleman

Author: Patricia Grasso

Narrator: Felicity Munroe

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-16-15

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Sabrina Savage has been raised to be a perfect lady. When her father dies under mysterious circumstances, she is shocked and upset. At his funeral,she meets a stranger, Adam St. Aubyn, marquess of Stonehurst, who helps her mourn and promises to help her uncover the truth about his untimely death. She can barely admit it to herself, though, how much a man she has never met before can stir her heart and her passions, can make her feel like she has known him all her life, can make her feel as if he is her savior. Then, at the reading of her father's will, she learns that she has been pledged to Adam since childhood and that he had come to collect his unknown bride.

Fiercely independent of spirit, Sabrina challenges Adam to release her from their vows if she should find a more suitable match among London's ton. But in her heart, she cannot resist the powerful seduction of his personality. He guards his secrets as closely as he guards his heart while his gaze pierces her soul. And, unknown to her, he is as deeply stricken with love for Sabrina as she is with love for him.

Members Reviews:

"Fate Has Been Set Into Motion, and Cannot be Undone"

Sabrina Savage and half-sister Courtney were adopted when babies and had a wonderful life. Then their father was found hanging in his study. The Marquess Adam St. Aubyn and his uncle, a Baron, show up at the funeral to help the girls who are in their late teens. Adam is the most handsome man Sabrina has ever seen and there is instant attraction between them. Everyone says Sabrina's father committed suicide, but the girls are sure he was murdered. Plans are made for the girls "coming out", and they all travel to London. There are lots of characters in this Regency story.

The story is convoluted, somewhat complex, and mostly based on cultural prejudices. The writing could use some work; it doesn't flow, and some issues are brought up but not really addressed. For instance, Sabrina decides there is no way Adam could be having sexual relations outside of marriage. Ha! He has a mistress, even if he has stopped sleeping with her since he met Sabrina. Sabrina never discusses this with Adam.

This was an OK read, but could have been so much better.

Five Stars

Great book

Four Stars

Great read

Five Stars

Another great author and book!

Standard stuff, amusing enough

The book opens with the death ruled as being suicide of Sabrina Savageï¿s adopted father. Sabrina and her sister are attempting to get their father an honourable burial, but are being thwarted by both their parish priest and their good friend. Adam, Marquess of Stonehurst proves himself a saviour when he arrives and helps Sabrina toll the bell for her father. The two have not met before, but it emerges that Adam was on his way to meet with the Savage family. Further, that their families have long arranged the betrothal of the two. Drawn to Adam, Sabrina nonetheless vows not to marry until her fatherï¿s death is proven to be the murder she and her sister know that it must be. Further, she will marry Adam only if she cannot find a more ï¿suitableï¿ fiancé among Londonï¿s ton. Adam knows she will not, and agrees to her conditions. But Adam is not entirely what he seems.

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Title: The Dressmaker of Dachau

Author: Mary Chamberlain

Narrator: Julie Teal

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-09-15

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Spanning the intense years of war, The Dressmaker of Dachau is a dramatic tale of love, conflict, betrayal, and survival. It is the compelling story of one young woman's resolve to endure and of the choices she must make at every turn - choices which will contain truths she must confront.

London, spring 1939. Eighteen-year-old Ada Vaughan, a beautiful and ambitious seamstress, has just started work for a modiste in Dover Street. A career in couture is hers for the taking - she has the skill and the drive - if only she can break free from the dreariness of family life in Lambeth.

A chance meeting with the enigmatic Stanislaus von Lieben catapults Ada into a world of glamour and romance. When he suggests a trip to Paris, Ada is blind to all the warnings of war on the continent: This is her chance for a new start.

Anticipation turns to despair when war is declared, and the two are trapped in France. When the Nazis invade, Stanislaus abandons her, and she is taken prisoner, sent to Germany as slave labour, and forced to survive on her wits alone. Resilient at every turn, Ada finds the strength that extremity breeds and survives the only way she knows how: by being a dressmaker.

Critic Reviews:

The Dressmaker of Dachau is a thrilling story, brilliantly told. I couldn't put it down. Ada Vaughan is a character to fall in love with: utterly real, flawed and beguiling. (Saskia Sarginson, author of The Twins and Without You)

Members Reviews:

Believe able but heartbreaking .

At first I thought come on, is this going to be a bit far fetched... But no take into consideration how the world was at this time, and it's just heartbreaking how so much can happen to this woman.

Well worth a read .. Well worth.....

Good listen although a bit depressing

This is a very good listen about survival but depressing as you think how can one person have so much bad luck!

Enjoyed it all, what a sad life!

Quite a different style to what i have been used to, no mystery you might think......you could be wrong.

Another snap shot of the war years and innocence with its ensuing atrocities. Your blood will boil reading about male superiority. Was really a good story that is very believable. Julie Teal hasn't let me down, and i feel she only chooses stories of substance to narrate.

Emotional and compelling

Could not put it down. My fastest read ever. Only took me one session so no housework got done....excellent thanks

A dark, bitter tale

I was curious about the story that was developed around the title and had no preconceptions as to what it might hold. It has a strong and unusual story line that requires some suspension of belief, but any artifice in this regard does not detract from its theme. Depending on your gender, one's perceptions and empathy for the central character may vary, but that said one can't but pity the heroine, the awfulness of successive situations, some not of her making, others because of well intended but disastrous decisions that she makes. Ultimately, the novel provides the reader with a perspective on the dark side of male exploitation of women. As the story unfolded one hoped that the heroine would at last reach some condition of grace and justice, but the ending is a bitter conclusion. Despite the darkness, the story was engrossing and well written.

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Title: Shame and the Captives

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Thomas Keneally

Narrator: Heather Bolton, Paul English

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-24-15

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Based on true events, this beautifully rendered novel from the author of Schindler's List and The Daughters of Mars brilliantly explores a World War II prison camp where Japanese prisoners resolve to take drastic action to wipe away their shame.

Alice is a young woman living on her father-in-law's farm on the edge of an Australian country town while her husband is held prisoner in Europe. When Giancarlo, an Italian anarchist at the prisoner-of-war camp down the road, is assigned to work on the farm, she hopes that being kind to him will somehow influence her husband's treatment. What she doesn't anticipate is how dramatically Giancarlo will expand her outlook and self-knowledge.

But what most challenges Alice and her fellow townspeople is the utter foreignness of 1,000-plus Japanese inmates and their culture, which the camp commanders fatally misread. Mortified by being taken alive in battle and preferring a violent death to the shame of living, they plan an outbreak, to shattering and far-reaching effects on all the citizens around them.

In a career spanning half a century, Thomas Keneally has proved a master at exploring ordinary lives caught up in extraordinary events. With this profoundly gripping and thought-provoking novel, inspired by a notorious incident in New South Wales in 1944, he once again shows why he is celebrated as a writer who "looks into the heart of the human condition with a piercing intelligence that few can match" (Sunday Telegraph).

Members Reviews:

Unecessarily complicated wording!

I feel darn brutal giving this book only one star, but I did not like it.

It is a book of historical fiction which parallels the Cowra Breakout. In August 1944 over a thousand Japanese prisoners of war escaped from an internment camp located near Cowra, a small farming community in New South Wales, about 300 km west of Sydney. There is an adequate epilogue that explains what is fact and what is fiction. So if you are curious about the event maybe you want to read this book.

Some events described are violent. Just a word of warning.

Doesnt everybody know how the Japanese feel about the shame of surviving war? This is a central topic of the book. Another theme concerns how people may feel obligated to treat prisoners of war justly so that their own prisoners of war will be treated well too. This I found terribly far-fetched, at least how it is presented in this book.

Along with the events of the breakout are fictional love relationships which in my mind are told crudely. They feel as padding to the main story. And so predictable.

The breakout is exciting but the lead up takes forever. Remember that padding it doesnt draw you in.

I don't like the author's choice of words. This is the central problem I had with the book. Over and over again I thought what a strange way the author had of expressing the events both what happens and the individuals' thoughts. Too complicated. Strange words used when what is to be said could have been so simply stated.

OK, here is one insignificant example: "She opened the oven and was inspecting the lamb and probing it with a fork when the telephone rang. Fork in rigid hand, she immediately suspended her inquiry into the condition of the meat......" What is it with suspended her inquiry? I mean you could more simply say: she poked the meat, and then the telephone rang.

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Title: Ramage's Trial

Author: Dudley Pope

Narrator: Steven Crossley

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-29-15

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Captain Lord Ramage and the Calypso return from Devil's Island, but Ramage's new wife, Sarah, is missing. The captain would like nothing better than to sail home immediately, but instead he is ordered to shepherd a lumbering convoy of merchant ships back to England. On the way bizarre events lead him to a full court-martial in Plymouth, presided over by his old nemesis, Rear Admiral Goddard. Ramage must clear his name--or face a sentence of death!

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Title: Return to Night

Author: Mary Renault

Narrator: Joan Walker

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-26-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Losing out on a promotion to her ex lover, Hilary Mansell, a talented doctor, moves to a rural hospital. She is bored and unchallenged, but the routine and long hours dull her disappointment.

When Julian Fleming is admitted with a serious head injury, Hilary's skill and quick thinking save his life, and after his recovery he seeks her out. Julian is handsome, intelligent and a decade younger than Hilary, and although at first she resists his advances, she cannot help falling in love with him. Julian is a gifted actor but denies himself the career he longs for, and she senses that beneath his charm and humour something is holding him back.

Before long, it becomes clear that his overbearing mother makes all the decisions in his life, and she doesn't approve of his ambitions - or of Hilary.

Members Reviews:

Gave up!

I found this book so unengaging that I finally gave up! Generally I love this narrator too, but 4 hours in, I simply couldn't generate any interest in the characters. I gave up. Perhaps I'll try again another time.

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Title: Hide Her Name

Author: Nadine Dorries

Narrator: Emma Gregory

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-15-14

Publisher: Lamplight Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

No one knows who did it, least of all the police. Somewhere, in this tight-knit Irish Catholic community, someone must know something. Fourteen-year-old Kitty Doherty, pregnant with the dead man's child, is a danger to everyone who needs to keep the secret. Her mother, Maura, and best friend Nellie's grandmother decide the girls must be spirited away to Ireland to await the birth of the baby. But it isn't easy to keep a secret that big.

Critic Reviews:

"The characters are engaging, the streets scenes cinematic and the theme of the novel powerful." (The Times)

"A vigorous and vibrant story... As fast-paced as it is entertaining. An addictive novel to be devoured in one sitting." (The Sunday Express on The Four Streets)

Members Reviews:

Very enjoyable

After listening to 'The Four Streets', I had to know more and find out what happens next in the lives of the characters. Therefore continued with the follow up book 'Hide her Name'. Equally enjoyable and well read by the narrator, just need to know which book comes next .....,,!

Fantastic

Loved the second book and can't wait for the next one please hurry because I can't wait to hear what's next

Very enjoyable

Having finished The Four Streets I just had to read the follow up. The story makes for uncomfortable reading in places but is so well written you just have to read on. The twists and turns and predictability just leave you wanting more. I think that the narrator s voice lends perfectly to this story.

This kept me gripped

Having read "the 4streets" and enjoyed it I am not disappointed with this book. In fact I hear there is another which I will defiantly forward to.

Remember this writer

This is the 2nd book in this series and both have been fantastic to hear. I cannot fault either and will now begin the last in the series knowing how much I will admire it. Hope there will be more books by this author.