Listen to Best Full Audiobooks in Fiction, Historical Popular Authors

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Title: Bitva zheleznyih kantslerov

Author: Valentin Pikul

Narrator: Vladimir Samoylov

Format: Unabridged

Length: 15 hrs and 30 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-15-14

Publisher: Dmytro Strelbytskyy / Ardis studio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Valentin Savvich Pikul - izvestnyiy pisatel, avtor populyarnyih istoricheskih romanov. Pikul byil pervyim, kto otkryil sovetskomu chitatelyu russkuyu istoriyu, sumel interesno i uvlekatelno rasskazat o realnyih istoricheskih faktah i personazhah. Ego proizvedeniya chitali vzahleb, za ego knigami vyistraivalis ocheredi u knizhnyih magazinov.Bitva zheleznyih kantslerov roman o slozhnyih russko-germanskih otnosheniyah v period tyazheleyshih evropeyskih politicheskih krizisov 5070-h godov XIX veka. V tsentre povestvovaniya - diplomaticheskaya duel mezhdu kantslerami knyazem Aleksandrom Mihaylovichem Gorchakovyim i ego antipodom nemetskim reyhskantslerom Otto Bismarkom.Kniga yavlyaetsya logicheskim prodolzheniem romana Perom i shpagoy i opredelyaetsya pisatelem kak sugubo politicheskiy roman: Bez prikras. Bez vyimyisla. Bez liriki. Roman iz istorii otechestvennoy diplomatii.

Please note: This audiobook is in Russian.

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Title: Birds Without Wings

Author: Louis De Bernieres

Narrator: Hugh Bonneville

Format: Abridged

Length: 5 hrs and 25 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-09-14

Publisher: Random House Audiobooks

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Set against the backdrop of the collapsing Ottoman Empire, the Gallipoli campaign, and the subsequent bitter struggle between Greeks and Turks, Birds Without Wings traces the fortunes of one small community in south-west Anatolia - a town in which Christian and Muslim lives and traditions have coexisted peacefully for centuries.

When war is declared and the outside world intrudes, the twin scourges of religion and nationalism lead to forced marches and massacres, and the peaceful fabric of life is destroyed.

Birds Without Wings is a novel about the personal and political costs of war, and about love: between men and women; between friends; between those who are driven to be enemies; and between Philothei, a Christian girl of legendary beauty, and Ibrahim the Goatherd, who has courted her since infancy.

Epic in sweep, intoxicating in its sensual detail, it is an enchanting masterpiece.

Members Reviews:

An abridged too far for me!

I read the novel years ago and wanted to hear it again. Although l really enjoyed it, l found that too much of the story had been cut out making it very patchy and difficult to follow. The narration was excellent, l would love to hear HB tell the whole story or a better abridged version.

A perfect accompaniment to a holiday in Turkey

My wife and I have both read the full unabridged book. This abridged version is excellent, but for the sake of brevity has sacrificed details and chapters that frames the story differently.

It was lovely to revisit moments from the book while on holiday in Turkey and while visiting Kaya Koy- the town on which Eskabache is based. For this purpose this audiobook was perfect.

I'd recommend a newcomer to the story to discover the full unabridged version first. You will have a deeper appreciation of the history and tragedies, you will learn more about the enigmatic Mustafa Kemal and you will be taken on a more intense emotional journey.

Good book but not unabridged

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

Disappointed as I didn't realise I had bought the abridged version. I have now purchased the unabridged version. Make sure you purchase the right one. Never noticed this before.

this is heavily abridged. i want the other half.

where is the rest of the book? this is heavily abridged. where do i look ?

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Titel: Manduchai

Untertitel: Die letzte Kriegerkönigin

Autor:: Tanja Kinkel

Erzähler: Tanja Fornaro

Format: Unabridged

Spieldauer: 17 hrs and 57 mins

Sprache: Deutsch

Veröffentlichungsdatum: 09-25-14

Herausgeber: Argon Verlag

Bewertung: 5 von 5 von 2 Stimmen

Kategorien: Fiction, Historical

Zusammenfassung des Herausgebers:

Manduchai heiratet den letzten direkten Nachfahren des großen Dschingis Khan, um ihr Volk zu Ruhm und Größe zurückzuführen. Dafür verzichtet sie auf die Liebe ihres Lebens.

Wan Zhen'er war zunächst die Kinderfrau des chinesischen Kaisers, dann seine Geliebte, und stieg schließlich in den Rang einer kaiserlichen Konkubine auf. Sie ist die wahre Macht hinter dem Thron Chinas. Erst in Manduchai erkennt Wan die ebenbürtige Gegnerin. Sie sieht die Gefahr, die von der Mongolei für das Reich der Mitte ausgeht und gibt das größte Bauwerk der Welt in Auftrag: Die chinesische Mauer. Als sich die Frauen nach Jahren der Intrigen und Kriege gegenüberstehen, wissen sie, dass es in ihren Händen liegt, ob das Töten weitergeht...

©2014 Droemer Verlag. Ein Unternehmen der Droemerschen Verlagsanstalt Th. Knaur Nachf. GmbH & Co. KG, München (P)2014 Argon Verlag GmbH

Mitglieder Bewertungen:

Loved it !!!

Any additional comments?

Oh my gosh, I loved this audio book. The narrator did an excellent job. The writing was smooth and the story was awesome. I don't even know how I should express how much I loved this book.

I didn't even care that she took some liberties in the story. For example following my research (internet) Manduchai married her adopted son when he was 19 years old. In this book she married him when he was 5 or so.

Anyway, for that the author produced a great story. I don't blame her for taking an creating approach.

If you want to brush up your German, this is the book to listen to.

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Title: Rainey Royal

Author: Dylan Landis

Narrator: Jorjeana Marie

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-09-14

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 12 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Greenwich Village, 1970s: Rainey Royal - 14 years old, talented, and troubled - lives in a once-elegant, now decaying brownstone with her father, a jazz musician with a cultish personality. Her mother has abandoned the family, and Rainey fends off advances from her father's best friend while trying desperately to nurture her own creative drives and build substitute family. She's a rebel, even a criminal, but she's also deeply vulnerable, fighting to figure out how to put back in place the boundaries her life has knocked down and, more than that, struggling to learn how to be an artist and a person in a broken world.

Rainey Royal is told in 14 narratives of scarred and aching beauty that build into a fiercely powerful novel: the harrowing and ultimately affirming story of a young artist.

Members Reviews:

Enchanting /couldn't put it down..

The story is a heartbreaking tale of a young girl whose life is an unstable /poorly structured mess. I really came to care about the characters. I highly recommend this book.

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Title: War Comes to the Big Bend

Subtitle: A Western Story

Author: Zane Grey

Narrator: B. J. Harrison

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-01-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

First serialized in 1919, the novel takes place during WWI and tellls the story of Kurt Dorn, a wheat farmer in the state of Washington whose father is German and his mother American. Though he has a successful farm, there are groups that would like to prevent wheat from being harvested at all, including a group of Bolsheviks, the Industrial Workers of the World, which is led by a German spy financed not only by Germany but also secretly by a German wheat magnate.

Members Reviews:

ZANE GREY ....THE UNDISCOVERED SIGNIFICANCE OF AN AMERICAN STORYTELLER

WAR COMES TO THE BIG BEND (2012) is a restored version of Zane Grey's THE DESERT OF WHEAT (first published in magazine serialization in 1918 and book form in 1919), now with material from Grey's holograph version. This is one of Grey's social awareness novels; though much different as a contemporary story and not as famous "old West" as his Riders of the Purple Sage (1912), which is reviewed elsewhere. The publisher of War Comes To The Big Bend has also restored several other ZG novels since the 1990s, including Riders Of The Purple Sage (2005).

WAR COMES TO THE BIG BEND / THE DESERT OF WHEAT is the story of contemporary 1917 American fears and hopes in the face of the first World War, the Great War as it was called. This novel provides today's reader with a renewed - and perhaps undiscovered - view of why ZG stories are not just "action adventure" tales of the mythical American West, but rather provide insight into the belief in Vital American Values, retold in the context of stories about different locales and real people in that historical West. This novel clearly exemplifies ZG's brand of American "historical romance". See, Grey's own definition of his literary style in his introduction in To The Last Man (1921).

IN A SINGLE PLOT WITH SEVERAL INTERTWINED HISTORICAL AND FICTIONAL CONFLICTS, War Comes To The Big Bend / The Desert of Wheat brings together : (1) The First World War and ZG's strong objections, as in several of his other novels, about how this country mistreated or forgot its returning War Veterans; (2) a Washington state wheat farmer, migrant from Germany, and his American born son who joins the army to fight Germans in France while the father is still loyal to Germany; (3) violence between wheat farmers and migrant "hobo" workers being organized by the Industrial Workers of the World (the IWW or "Wobblies") who were inspired by the Bolsheviks and many of whom violently opposed US participation in the War ; and (4) the undercurrent of early 20 Century socialist vs. capitalist ideas, seen in practical application of the mechanization in the wheat farms of Washington state that had before used many thousands of migrant workers.

ZANE GREY WEAVES THESE SEPARATE CONFLICTS WITH LITERARY THREADS of: (a) historical accuracy, (b) vivid geographical descriptions of the wheat growing area at the big bend of the Columbia River in eastern Washington state, and (c) the steadfast romance of a "modern", sexually liberated girl for the German-American boy who becomes severely wounded in France.

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Title: Really the Blues

Author: Joseph Koenig

Narrator: Kevin Kenerly

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-15-14

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Eddie Piron thinks that performing in jazz clubs in Nazi-occupied Paris is bad enough, but when the drummer in his band is found face down in the Seine and the police start asking questions, he realizes that his trouble is just beginning.

Paris, 1941. American jazz musician Eddie Piron has lived in the City of Light since before the war began. But Paris under occupation is not what it once was, and things are looking a lot darker for a man like Eddie. The great jazz artists of the day, like Django Reinhardt, are lying low or being swept away under the racial policies of the Nazis. But the SS has a paradoxical taste for the "Negermusik," and their favorite gathering place is La Caverne Negre, where Eddie leads the band.

One night the drummer for "Eddie et Ses Anges" disappears. When his body is found in the Seine the next day, Eddie becomes entangled in the murder investigation. He soon himself in the clutches of a mercenary intelligence broker who discovers why Eddie Piron is really in Paris - and what he's really hiding.

Members Reviews:

Three Stars

Just couldn't get involved with the characters. The story had promise but fell short.

Very good read

Very interesting novel with fine development of the major characters and an interesting plot.

I hate it

Boring repetitive dialogue

Top mystery set in war-time Paris

Joseph Koenigâs debut novel Floater was one of those first crime reads that helped hook me on the genre. Floater was originally published in 1986 and was nominated for an Edgar. In between 1986 and 1993, Koenig had 4 books published before disappearing from the shelves until 2004 when he returned with a novel titled, Osud. (Osud is the only one of his books that doesnât sit on my shelves and was apparently released by Vantage Press, who were a âvanity publisherâ until closing doors a year or two ago.) After this he vanished until 2012 when Hard Case Crime released False Negative. After only a two year gap this time around heâs back with Really the Blues.

Set in Paris in 1941, we are in the company of American jazz musician Eddie Piron and life under the Nazi occupation. Eddie isnât too interested in the politics of the time as long as he can play his music and spend some time with his rich girlfriend. Events conspire to change his outlook and bring him some unwanted attention from the occupiers. The drummer in his band disappears and turns up dead; its murder arranged to look like suicide. The drummerâs girlfriend dies next in a gas explosion, or does she? Add a blackmailer to the mix, threatening to reveal Eddieâs history to the occupiers and his beau and life in war-torn Paris is losing some of its appeal.

With Eddieâs girlfriend pregnant and harbouring a few right-wing views. Itâs an uncomfortable time when he reveals his bloodline â heâs an octoroon - and whilst he might be able to âpassâ successfully in Paris, back in New Orleans â a city he left in a hurry â heâs subject to the same laws and discrimination as other non-whites.

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Title: Jubilee

Author: Eliza Graham

Narrator: Anne Dover

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-14-14

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Publishers Ltd

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

It's the Queen's Golden Jubilee, and Rachel and her aunt Evie are celebrating with the crowds on the village green. The scene is tranquil, but Rachel and her aunt can never forget what happened exactly 25 years ago. On that day, Evie's young daughter Jessamy vanished. She hasn't been seen since. Soon after, news comes of Evie's sudden death, and Rachel must return to the village to deal with her aunt's estate. The extraordinary story she uncovers there will change everything. It is a story of departure and return, of atrocity and betrayal, of unrequited love and the dreadful legacy of war.

Members Reviews:

Strange Story

I have mixed feelings about this book. It was a strange story but interesting enough to finish.

I did not like the descriptions of the prison camp and the Japanese brutality. There were several characters I just did not like. There was a lot of jumping back and forth in time which I am not fond of. The narration was very good. I usually judge a good book by whether I would listen again and I will give this one a pass. This is my second book by this author.

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Title: Arctic Summer

Author: Damon Galgut

Narrator: Finlay Robertson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-31-14

Publisher: Whole Story Audiobooks

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

In 1912, the SS Birmingham approaches India. On board is Morgan Forster, novelist and man of letters. It will be another 12 years, and a second time spent in India, before A Passage to India, E. M. Forster's great work of literature, is published. During these years, Morgan will come to a profound understanding of the infinite subtleties and complexity of human nature.

Critic Reviews:

"A fictional exploration of the life and times of one of Britain's finest novelists, E. M. Forster, from a twice Man Booker shortlisted author"

"Galgut seems the most likely of the crop of young South African novelists to fill J.M. Coetzees shoes." (Guardian)

"Invites comparison with Greene, Conrad and Naipaul." (Daily Telegraph)

Members Reviews:

Passage to India's Past

I thought this was a brilliant novel, focusing not only on Forster's adventures in India, the genesis of Passage to India and Maurice, but also those he meets along the way, such as the Woolfs, Cavafy and Carpenter. Galgut brings this lost time to life and Finlay Robertson does an admirable job in narrating.

My book of the year so far.

Beautiful tender and utterly believable account of Morgan Foster's life. His slow acceptance of himself as a minorite, and even as writer. I loved every word.

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Title: The Electric Michelangelo

Author: Sarah Hall

Narrator: Joe Jameson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-30-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 10 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2004

On the windswept front of Morecambe Bay, Cy Parks spends his childhood years first in a guesthouse for consumptives run by his mother and then as apprentice to alcoholic tattoo artist Eliot Riley. Thirsty for new experiences, he departs for America and finds himself in the riotous world of the Coney Island boardwalk, where he sets up his own business as 'The Electric Michelangelo'.

In this carnival environment of roller-coasters and freak-shows, Cy becomes enamoured with Grace, a mysterious immigrant and circus performer who commissions him to cover her entire body in tattooed eyes.

Hugely atmospheric, exotic, and familiar, The Electric Michelangelo is a love story and an exquisitely rendered portrait of seaside resorts on opposite sides of the Atlantic by one of the most uniquely talented novelists of her generation.

Sarah Hall was born in Cumbria and currently lives in Norwich, Norfolk. She is the author of four novels: Haweswater, The Electric Michelangelo, The Carhullan Army, and How to Paint a Dead Man; a collection of short stories, The Beautiful Indifference; original radio dramas; and poetry.

She has won several awards, including the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Novel, the Betty Trask Award, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, the Edge Hill University Short Story Prize, and has twice been recipient of the Portico Prize. She has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, the Prix Femina Etranger, the Arthur C. Clarke Award for science fiction, the BBC National Short Story Award and the Frank OConnor International Short Story Award. This year she was named one of Grantas Best Young British Novelists.

Members Reviews:

So tedious and unfocused

I had hoped that as a book shortlisted for the Booker Prize this would be good.

It's not.

It's tiresome, poorly plotted, and completely overwhelmed by list-like description. The character of Cyril Parks (Cy) is interesting as a child but as the story moves through the next 60 years of his life, it becomes very tedious.

Visceral and touching

This is a story about a man who leaves his seaside home to escape his memories, then returns to pick them up again, like driftwood.

It's very human. This makes it sweet and affecting in some parts, and repulsive in others. There are lots of physical, detailed descriptions of illness that almost put me off wanting to keep listening at times. In the end, they just work to give the story a bloody, gritty foundation.

Excellent narrator

The narrator was excellent as he is in all the books he has read-he can make an audio book successful simply by his narration.

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Title: Given Away: A Sicilian Upbringing

Author: Marianna Marianna Randazzo

Narrator: Suzanne Cerreta

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-02-14

Publisher: Marianna Randazzo

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

In Sicily, 1935, a four-year-old child walks away from her loving family - her mother, her sister, and an infant brother - with a great-aunt for a vacation. She spends the next eight years absent from their lives. It was not an abduction nor was it an adoption. Tina lives in a one-room house in one of the poorest regions of Sicily. She sleeps between a loving aunt and a deranged uncle. She shares her breakfast with goats and chickens while living in the shadow of fascism. The child grows up while WW II ravages the town. Her school is taken over by German soldiers and things like bread and eggs that were once plentiful, no longer exist. Less than 25 kilometers away her family leads a very different life. After eight years, she returns home to find her childhood interrupted again. This time sickness, warfare, and destruction are her enemies. In wartime Europe, childhood does not exist. The child witnesses and experiences many disturbing things from her uncouth, unsanitary living conditions to the failed paratroopers dangling from trees during the Allied invasion. Tina is a survivor. She is able to forgive those who took so much away from her. Her spirit trumps adversity during the war times within and around her. As she grows older, she struggles to keep the harsh realities of World War II and abandonment at a distance through her sense of humor, imagination, and determination.

©2013 marianna randazzo (P)2014 marianna randazzo

Members Reviews:

Given Away, A Sicilian Upbringing

I especially recommend this book to all people of Sicilian descent. Reading the true life experiences of our Sicilian ancestors gives us an appreciation of the unbelievably awful living conditions they had to endure and why they chose to leave their homeland. The first time I visited Sicily I was enchanted by it's natural beauty, so much so that it brought tears to my eyes and I wondered what could cause people to leave such a beautiful place. Oh, I was somewhat aware of the poverty and the difficulties they faced, but only vaguely because I had not read any of it's history. Now that I have read many books on the subject--both about the unfair treatment of corrupt government and the shameful way they were treated by various invaders who, in many cases, confiscated their land making them virtual slaves to the wealthy landowners--I understand. Marianna Randazzo's book opens a window and gives us a clear picture of what life was like for the common citizen in war-torn Sicily during WWII. It gives me renewed compassion not only for my own Sicilian ancestors who came to America in the late 1800's, but for all immigrants who are forced to leave their beloved Motherland because of negative conditions that are beyond their control.

But it's not only about a certain place in time, it's about a little girl who was given away for no apparent reason to a kind and loving great aunt whose husband was a brut and whose living conditions were filthy. It just makes you want to snatch that little girl named Tina from that wretched environment and hug her to your heart. Nevertheless, she is smart and strong and she grows up and is brought to America where she has to learn to deal with new hardships, which she does admirably.

This book is a very good read.