Listen to Latest Full Audiobooks in Fiction, LGBTQ+

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/650624 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: The Fraud

Author: Zadie Smith

Narrator: Zadie Smith

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 12 hours 26 minutes

Release date: September 7, 2023

Ratings: Ratings of Book: 4 of Total 3

Genres: LGBTQ+

Publisher's Summary:

Brought to you by Penguin. The extraordinary first historical novel from bestselling author of White Teeth Zadie Smith It is 1873. Mrs Eliza Touchet is the Scottish housekeeper - and cousin by marriage - of a once famous novelist, now in decline, William Ainsworth, with whom she has lived for thirty years. Mrs Touchet is a woman of many interests: literature, justice, abolitionism, class, her cousin, his wives, this life and the next. But she is also sceptical. She suspects her cousin of having no talent; his successful friend, Mr Charles Dickens, of being a bully and a moralist; and England of being a land of facades, in which nothing is quite what it seems. Andrew Bogle meanwhile grew up enslaved on the Hope Plantation, Jamaica. He knows every lump of sugar comes at a human cost. That the rich deceive the poor. And that people are more easily manipulated than they realise. When Bogle finds himself in London, star witness in a celebrated case of imposture, he knows his future depends on telling the right story. The 'Tichborne Trial' captivates Mrs Touchet and all of England. Is Sir Roger Tichborne really who he says he is? Or is he a fraud? Mrs Touchet is a woman of the world. Mr Bogle is no fool. But in a world of hypocrisy and self-deception, deciding what is real proves a complicated task... Based on real historical events, The Fraud is a dazzling novel about truth and fiction, Jamaica and Britain, fraudulence and authenticity, and the mystery of 'other people.' PRAISE FOR ZADIE SMITH: 'A writer of remarkable wit and originality' Observer '[Smith] packs more intelligence, humour and sheer energy into any given scene than anyone else of her generation' Sunday Telegraph 'A brilliant writer' A M Homes ©2023 Zadie Smith (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/650298 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: Everything There Is

Author: M.G. Vassanji

Narrator: Vik Sahay, Leslie Ann Sheppard

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 9 hours 31 minutes

Release date: September 5, 2023

Genres: LGBTQ+

Publisher's Summary:

From two-time Giller Prize winner M.G. Vassanji, one of Canada’s finest and most celebrated writers, comes a brilliant new novel that vividly examines the seemingly incongruous worlds of science, religion and desire. Nurul Islam is a world-renowned physicist, professor at Imperial College, London, and one half of the Islam-Rosenfeld theory, the first step in a grand unification of forces and a Theory of Everything. A family man profoundly influenced by his pious father, Nurul is happily married to Sakina Begum by an arranged marriage. They have three children. But when Nurul travels to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to give a public lecture at Harvard, he falls in love with a graduate student, Hilary Chase. At the same time, Nurul Islam's outspoken, philosophical views about the nature of physics and God have earned him the ire of fundamentalist preachers in Pakistan. He makes enemies of the political and military establishments when he refuses to contribute to Pakistan's nuclear weapons project. Meanwhile, a contingent of physicists begins a smear campaign, claiming that Nurul Islams's contribution to the unification theory was plagiarized. All these events converge upon Sakina Begum who, smarting from her husband's betrayal, unwittingly commits a betrayal of her own. Everything that has worked together as though preordained since his childhood to take him to the pinnacle of scientific achievement suddenly falls apart. An exceptionally wise and intimate account of love, honour, guilt and genius, Everything There Is gives us an engaging portrait of a traditional, spiritual man facing the onslaught of inescapable forces.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/649353 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: The Romantic: A novel

Author: William Boyd

Narrator: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 17 hours 21 minutes

Release date: August 15, 2023

Genres: LGBTQ+

Publisher's Summary:

From the award-winning, internationally best-selling author, a beguiling romp of a novel, at once intimate and panoramic, about the adventures and misadventures of a nineteenth-century everyman 'Picaresque, big-hearted and moving, this is Boyd at the top of his game.' —The Guardian One man, many lives . . . Cashel Greville Ross experiences more of everything than most, from the rapturous to the devastating, from surprising good luck to unexpected loss. Born in 1799, Cashel seeks his fortune across the turbulence of multiple continents, from County Cork to rural Massachusetts, from Waterloo to Zanzibar, embedded with the East Indian Army in Sri Lanka, sunning himself alongside the Romantic poets in Pisa. He travels the world as a soldier, a farmer, a felon, a writer, even a father. And he experiences all the vicissitudes of existence, including a once-in-a-lifetime love that will haunt the rest of his days. In the end, his great accomplishment is to discover who he truly is—which is the romance of life itself, and the beating heart of The Romantic.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/649336 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: Under the Tamarind Tree

Author: Nigar Alam

Narrator: Sneha Mathan

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 10 hours 13 minutes

Release date: August 15, 2023

Genres: LGBTQ+

Publisher's Summary:

A compellingly heartbreaking debut novel about the echoes of Partition and four friends whose dark secrets lead to a life-changing night that comes back to haunt them decades later. One night. Four friends. Countless secrets. 1964. Karachi, Pakistan. Rozeena is running out of time. She'll lose her home—her parents' safe haven since fleeing India and the terrors of Partition—if her medical career doesn't take off soon. But success may come with an unexpected price. Meanwhile the interwoven lives of her childhood best friends—Haaris, Aalya, and Zohair—seem to be unraveling with each passing day. The once small and inconsequential differences between their families' social standing now threaten to divide them. Then one fateful night someone ends up dead and the life they once took for granted shatters. 2019. Rozeena receives a call from a voice she never thought she’d hear again. What begins as an ask to look after a friend’s teenaged granddaughter struggling with her own demons grows into an unconventional friendship—one that unearths buried secrets and just might ruin everything Rozeena has worked so hard to protect.  Captivating and atmospheric, Under the Tamarind Tree shows us the high-stakes ripple effects of generational trauma, and the lengths people will go to protect the ones they love.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/650866 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store: A Novel

Author: James McBride

Narrator: Dominic Hoffman

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 12 hours 21 minutes

Release date: August 8, 2023

Ratings: Ratings of Book: 4.28 of Total 138

Ratings of Narrator: 4.62 of Total 52

Genres: LGBTQ+

Publisher's Summary:

THE RUNAWAY NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • A NEW YORK TIMES READERS PICK: 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY WINNER OF THE 2024 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PRIZE FOR AMERICAN FICTION FROM ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE OF 2024 NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY NPR/FRESH AIR, WASHINGTON POST, THE NEW YORKER, AND TIME MAGAZINE ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2023 “A murder mystery locked inside a Great American Novel . . . Charming, smart, heart-blistering, and heart-healing.” —Danez Smith, The New York Times Book Review “We all need—we all deserve—this vibrant, love-affirming novel that bounds over any difference that claims to separate us.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post From James McBride, author of the bestselling Oprah’s Book Club pick Deacon King Kong and the National Book Award–winning The Good Lord Bird, a novel about small-town secrets and the people who keep them In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Moshe integrated his theater and where Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. When the state came looking for a deaf boy to institutionalize him, it was Chona and Nate Timblin, the Black janitor at Moshe’s theater and the unofficial leader of the Black community on Chicken Hill, who worked together to keep the boy safe.     As these characters’ stories overlap and deepen, it becomes clear how much the people who live on the margins of white, Christian America struggle and what they must do to survive. When the truth is finally revealed about what happened on Chicken Hill and the part the town’s white establishment played in it, McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community—heaven and earth—that sustain us.     Bringing his masterly storytelling skills and his deep faith in humanity to The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, James McBride has written a novel as compassionate as Deacon King Kong and as inventive as The Good Lord Bird.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/646992 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: Daisies Are Forever

Author: Liz Tolsma

Narrator: Carol Jacobanis

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 11 hours 1 minute

Release date: August 8, 2023

Genres: LGBTQ+

Publisher's Summary:

In the final days of Nazi Germany, the strength of one woman’s heart will determine the fate of a family. Prussia, 1945 The fall of the Third Reich is imminent. As the merciless Red Army advances from the East, the German people of Prussia await the worst. Among them is twenty-year-old Gisela Cramer, an American living in Heiligenbeil with her cousin Ella and their ailing grandfather. When word arrives that the Russians will invade overnight, Ella urges Gisela to escape to Berlin—and take Ella’s two small daughters with her. The journey is miserable and relentless. But when Gisela hears the British accent of a phony SS officer, she poses as his wife to keep him safe among the indignant German refugees. In the blink of an eye, Mitch Edwards and Gisela are Herr and Frau Josep Cramer. Through their tragic and difficult journey, the fabricated couple strives to protect Ella’s daughters, hoping against hope for a reunion. But even as Gisela and Mitch develop feelings beyond the make–believe, the reality of war terrorizes their makeshift family. With the world at its darkest, and the lives of two children at stake, the counterfeit couple finds in each other a source of faith, hope, and the love they need to survive. “Tolsma isn't afraid to detail the horrors of war as she depicts how tragedies can be obstacles to one's Christian beliefs.” —Romantic Times, 4-star review “[Daisies Are Forever] is a compelling and fast-paced tale about the atrocities and tremendous losses endured by those marked forever by World War II. Recommended for fans of ­Rosamunde and Robin Pilcher, Kate Morton, and historical romances.” —Library Journal “Excellent storytelling, accurate historical reporting and gritty, persevering characters make this WWII-era novel a must-read.” —CBA Retailers + Resources

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/644793 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: The Princess

Author: Wendy Holden

Narrator: Mary Jane Wells

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 11 hours 7 minutes

Release date: August 1, 2023

Genres: LGBTQ+

Publisher's Summary:

'Readers are transported to 1961 Britain in this fascinating tale about beloved Princess Diana....What follows is an astonishing story of Diana's route to the altar and beyond.'—Woman's World The whole world saw Diana Spencer step from a gilded carriage for her wedding. But before that fairy-tale moment came a difficult journey.… Bestselling author Wendy Holden explores the astonishing backstory and young adulthood of the ultimate royal celebrity. Britain, 1961: A beautiful blonde baby is born to Viscount Althorp, heir to the Spencer earldom. But Diana grows up amid the fallout of her parents’ messy divorce. She struggles at school. Her refuge throughout is romantic novels. She dreams of falling in love and being rescued by a handsome prince. In royal circles, there is concern about the Prince of Wales. Charles is nearing thirty and the right girl needs to be found, fast. She must be young, aristocratic and completely free of past liaisons. Pure and innocent. Eighteen-year-old Diana Spencer is just about the only candidate. Her yearning to be loved dovetails with royal desperation for a bride. But the route to the altar is perilous. There are hidden dangers. Ruthless schemers. Can Diana’s romantic dream survive?

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/652137 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: The Bookbinder: A Novel

Author: Pip Williams

Narrator: Annabelle Tudor

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 13 hours 37 minutes

Release date: July 25, 2023

Ratings: Ratings of Book: 4.33 of Total 9

Ratings of Narrator: 4.2 of Total 5

Genres: LGBTQ+

Publisher's Summary:

A young British woman working in a book bindery gets a chance to pursue knowledge and love when World War I upends her life in this new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the Reese’s Book Club pick The Dictionary of Lost Words. “Williams spins an immersive and compelling tale, sweeping us back to the Oxford she painted so expertly in The Dictionary of Lost Words.”—Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife It is 1914, and as the war draws the young men of Britain away to fight, women must keep the nation running. Two of those women are Peggy and Maude, twin sisters who live on a narrow boat in Oxford and work in the bindery at the university press. Ambitious, intelligent Peggy has been told for most of her life that her job is to bind the books, not read them—but as she folds and gathers pages, her mind wanders to the opposite side of Walton Street, where the female students of Oxford’s Somerville College have a whole library at their fingertips. Maude, meanwhile, wants nothing more than what she has: to spend her days folding the pages of books in the company of the other bindery girls. She is extraordinary but vulnerable, and Peggy feels compelled to watch over her. Then refugees arrive from the war-torn cities of Belgium, sending ripples through the Oxford community and the sisters’ lives. Peggy begins to see the possibility of another future where she can educate herself and use her intellect, not just her hands. But as war and illness reshape her world, her love for a Belgian soldier—and the responsibility that comes with it—threaten to hold her back. The Bookbinder is a story about knowledge—who creates it, who can access it, and what truths get lost in the process. Much as she did in the international bestseller The Dictionary of Lost Words, Pip Williams thoughtfully explores another rarely seen slice of history through women’s eyes.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/649108 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: Jezebel: A Novel

Author: Megan Barnard

Narrator: Perdita Weeks

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 8 hours 40 minutes

Release date: July 25, 2023

Ratings: Ratings of Book: 5 of Total 1

Genres: LGBTQ+

Publisher's Summary:

Jezebel. You’ve heard the name. But you’ve never heard her story. 'Historical fiction at its finest,' (Louisa Morgan) this propulsive novel is a stunning reimagining of the story of a fierce princess from Tyre and her infamous legacy Jezebel was born into the world howling. She intends to leave it the same way. When Jezebel learns she can't be a king like her father simply because she’s a girl, she vows never to become someone’s decorative wife, nameless and lost to history. At fifteen she’s married off, despite her protests, to Prince Ahab of Israel. There, she does what she must to gain power and remake the dry and distant kingdom in the image of her beloved, prosperous seaside homeland of Tyre, beginning by building temples to the gods she grew up worshipping. As her initiatives usher in an era of prosperity for Israel, her new subjects love her, and her name rings through the land. Then Elijah, the prophet of Yahweh and her former lover, begins to speak out against her. Bitter at having been abandoned by Jezebel, he lashes out, calling her a slut. Harlot. Witch. And the people, revering their prophet’s message, turn on her. As ancient powers and faiths are pitted against each other, bloodshed descends on Israel and Jezebel faces the fall of her legacy. Determined despite the odds to make Israel a great nation, she must decide how far she's willing to go to protect her family, her throne—her name. A stunning revision of a notorious queen’s story, Jezebel is a thrilling lyrical debut about a fierce woman who refuses to be forgotten.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/646647 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: Follow the Sun

Author: Liz Locke

Narrator: Victoria Carr

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 8 hours 54 minutes

Release date: July 25, 2023

Ratings: Ratings of Book: 4.14 of Total 7

Ratings of Narrator: 3.5 of Total 2

Genres: LGBTQ+

Publisher's Summary:

“Locke's novel is a travelog of epic proportions, an enticing love story and an emotionally resonant tale of the empowerment of following one's dreams that is as sleek and chic as an episode of Mad Men.” —Entertainment Weekly For fans of Jess Walter’s Beautiful Ruins, Follow The Sun paints a portrait of the 1960s International Jet Set Era through the eyes of an aspiring singer-songwriter, desperate to forge her own path in music and in love. Readers will delight in this sun-drenched trip through a world of fashion, film, and sixties pop culture, written with an emotional, heartbreaking voice reminiscent of Chanel Cleeton. For socialite Caroline Kimball, travel has become an escape—a way to run from her adult responsibilities while hiding her musical ambitions from her disapproving mother. When she meets handsome magazine photographer Jack “Tex” Fairchild beside a hotel pool in Acapulco, everything changes. His encouragement shows her she could have a life beyond that of a beautiful, bored heiress, and he convinces her that maybe her childish daydreams aren’t so impossible after all. Realizing she no longer fits inside her golden cage, Caroline leaves it all behind and runs away with Tex to a small Spanish island, where she finally confronts the tragic death of her father. But when her mother's hidden secrets catch up to her, and a ghost from her past makes a surprising reappearance, Caroline will find herself torn between her whirlwind relationship with Tex, pursuing her music career, or saving her family from financial destitution. Across the stunning beaches of Acapulco and down the powdered ski slopes of Gstaad, Follow the Sun will take readers from the turquoise waters of Formentera to the Sunset Strip, telling a captivating story about following your dreams to discover the person you were always meant to become.