Listen to Popular Titles Audiobooks in Fiction, Historical

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Title: The Heavenly Table

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Donald Ray Pollock

Narrator: Kirby Heyborne

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 54 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-12-16

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 168 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

From Donald Ray Pollock, author of the highly acclaimed The Devil All the Time and Knockemstiff, comes a dark, gritty, electrifying (and, disturbingly, weirdly funny) new novel that will solidify his place among the best contemporary American authors.

It is 1917, in that sliver of borderland that divides Georgia from Alabama. Dispossessed farmer Pearl Jewett ekes out a hardscrabble existence with his three young sons: Cane (the eldest, handsome, intelligent); Cob (short, heavyset, a bit slow); and Chimney (the youngest, thin, ill-tempered). Several hundred miles away in Southern Ohio, a farmer by the name of Ellsworth Fiddler lives with his son, Eddie, and his wife, Eula. After Ellsworth is swindled out of his family's entire fortune, his life is put on a surprising, unforgettable, and violent trajectory that will directly lead him to cross paths with the Jewetts. No good can come of it. Or can it?

In the Gothic tradition of Flannery O'Connor and Cormac McCarthy, with a healthy dose of cinematic violence reminiscent of Sam Peckinpah, Quentin Tarantino, and the Coen Brothers, the Jewetts and the Fiddlers will find their lives colliding in increasingly dark and horrific ways, placing Donald Ray Pollock firmly in the company of the genre's literary masters.

Critic Reviews:

"In a crowded room full of voices, Don Pollock's voice is so distinct you'll hear first and won't ever, ever forget it. Nor will you want to. And the kicker is this: He somehow keeps getting better." (Tom Franklin, author of Poachers and Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter)

"The Heavenly Table is the latest and strongest evidence that Donald Ray Pollock is one of the most talented and original writers at work today. With uniquely vivid and graceful prose he renders a tale destined to linger in the reader's mind, a story by turns violent and darkly amusing, and always powerful. The novel is sure to be ranked among the year's best." (Michael Koryta, New York Times best-selling author of Those Who Wish Me Dead)

"The Heavenly Table is a ferociously gothic ballad about desperate folks with improbable dreams and scant means. It is potent and chimeric, dank, violent, swamped in tragedy - and funny as hell." (Daniel Woodrell, author of The Maid's Version and Winter's Bone)

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Title: The Woman in the Photo

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Mary Hogan

Narrator: Tavia Gilbert, Cassandra Campbell

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-14-16

Publisher: HarperAudio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 93 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

In this compulsively listenable historical novel from the author of the critically acclaimed Two Sisters comes the story of two young women - one in America's Gilded Age, one in scrappy modern-day California - whose lives are linked by a single tragic afternoon in history.

1888 Elizabeth Haberlin, of the Pittsburgh Haberlins, spends every summer with her family on a beautiful lake in an exclusive club. Nestled in the Allegheny Mountains above the working-class community of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, the private retreat is patronized by society's elite. Elizabeth summers with Carnegies, Mellons, and Fricks, following the rigid etiquette of her class. But Elizabeth is blessed (cursed) with a mind of her own. Case in point: her friendship with Eugene Eggar, a Johnstown steel mill worker. And when Elizabeth discovers that the club's poorly maintained dam is about to burst and send 20 million tons of water careening down the mountain, she risks all to warn Eugene and the townspeople in the lake's deadly shadow.

Present Day On her 18th birthday, genetic information from Lee Parker's closed adoption is unlocked. She also sees an old photograph of a genetic relative - a 19th-century woman with hair and eyes likes hers - standing in a pile of rubble from an ecological disaster next to none other than Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross. Determined to identify the woman in the photo and unearth the mystery of that captured moment, Lee digs into history. Her journey takes her from California to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, from her present financial woes to her past of privilege, from the daily grind to an epic disaster. Once Lee's heroic DNA is revealed, will she decide to forge a new fate?

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Title: The Book of Harlan

Author: Bernice McFadden

Narrator: Robin Miles

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-14-16

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 242 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

The Book of Harlan opens with the courtship of Harlan's parents and his 1917 birth in Macon, Georgia. After his prominent minister grandfather dies, Harlan and his parents move to Harlem, where he eventually becomes a professional musician. When Harlan and his best friend, trumpeter Lizard Robbins, are invited to perform at a popular cabaret in the Parisian enclave of Montmartre - affectionately referred to as "the Harlem of Paris" by black American musicians - Harlan jumps at the opportunity, convincing Lizard to join him.

But after the City of Light falls under Nazi occupation, Harlan and Lizard are thrown into Buchenwald - the notorious concentration camp in Weimar, Germany - irreparably changing the course of Harlan's life.

Based on exhaustive research and told in McFadden's mesmeric prose, The Book of Harlan skillfully blends the stories of McFadden's familial ancestors with those of real and imagined characters.

Critic Reviews:

"Simply miraculous.... As her saga becomes ever more spellbinding, so does the reader's astonishment at the magic she creates. This is a story about the triumph of the human spirit over bigotry, intolerance and cruelty, and at the center of The Book of Harlan is the restorative force that is music. (Washington Post)

"McFadden packs a powerful punch with tight prose and short chapters that bear witness to key events in early twentieth-century history: both World Wars, the Great Depression, and the Great Migration. Partly set in the Jim Crow South, the novel succeeds in showing the prevalence of racism all across the country - whether implemented through institutionalized mechanisms or otherwise." (Booklist)

"Through this character portrait of Harlan, McFadden has constructed a vivid, compelling narrative that makes historical fiction an accessible, literary window into the African-American past and some of the contemporary dilemmas of the present." (Publishers Weekly)

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Title: The Moon in the Palace

Subtitle: The Empress of Bright Moon, Book 1

Author: Weina Dai Randel

Narrator: Emily Woo Zeller

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-19-16

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 78 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

There is no easy path for a woman aspiring to power.

A concubine at the palace learns quickly that there are many ways to capture the emperor's attention. Many paint their faces white and style their hair attractively, hoping to lure in the One Above All with their beauty. Some present him with fantastic gifts, such as jade pendants and scrolls of calligraphy, while others rely on their knowledge of seduction to draw his interest. But young Mei knows nothing of these womanly arts, yet she will give the emperor a gift he can never forget.

Mei's intelligence and curiosity, the same traits that make her an outcast among the other concubines, impress the emperor. But just as she is in a position to seduce the most powerful man in China, divided loyalties split the palace in two, culminating in a perilous battle that Mei can only hope to survive.

In the breakthrough first volume in the Empress of Bright Moon duology, Weina Dai Randel paints a vibrant portrait of ancient China - where love, ambition, and loyalty can spell life or death - and the woman who came to rule it all.

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Title: Healing Ruby, Volume 1

Author: Jennifer H. Westall

Narrator: Andi Arndt

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-24-16

Publisher: Jennifer H. Westall

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 102 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen..."

Ruby Graves, a young girl in Depression-era Alabama, faces the hardships of poverty and loss with as much faith as she can muster. At only the age of 13, she's already lost a younger brother to illness and now faces losing both her father and the boy who's stealing her heart to illnesses as well. Armed with her beloved scriptures, she prays daily for their healing, only to have her tender faith shattered by her father's death.

Through her pain, she's able to connect with her long-lost Uncle Asa, whose mere presence at his brother's funeral brings murmurs of a scandalous past involving her parents and a prominent local pastor, Irwin Cass. When Ruby discovers that one of Asa's many secrets is an ability to heal, and that she may be next in line for the "gift", she vows to find the faith that has eluded her so far, a faith that could mean never losing loved ones again.

But faith and doubt can't reside in the same heart, not according to her father, and doubt is Ruby's constant companion. As she struggles to find the true meaning of faith, she's opposed at every turn by the pastor who would see her family destroyed and a community that can't see deeper than the color of one's skin. Through her search for a faith that could move mountains and a true understanding of her gift, can Ruby trust in a God that may require the ultimate sacrifice?

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Title: While the World Is Still Asleep

Subtitle: The Century Trilogy, Book 1

Author: Petra Durst-Benning, Edwin Miles - translator

Narrator: Teri Clark Linden

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-23-16

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 139 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

It isn't easy for a woman to cut loose in 1890s Berlin. But the winds of change are blowing, and nothing can stop Josephine from pursuing her dreams.

After the tragic death of her little brother, Josephine travels to the Black Forest to heal. There she discovers a feeling of freedom astride a brand-new invention called the "velocipede". The very idea of a woman on a bicycle is beyond taboo - it is indecent and even illegal - but Josephine will not be deterred. She simply needs to find a way to ride without provoking a scandal. Back home, Josephine has the brilliant idea of riding under cover of night, while the world is still asleep. But Berlin's streets are dangerous, especially on a bicycle.

Can Josephine's fighting heart help her overcome the obstacles in her path? Will the passion she feels for this new adventure lead her toward true love?

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Title: The Noise of Time

Author: Julian Barnes

Narrator: Daniel Philpott

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-28-16

Publisher: Whole Story Audiobooks

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 163 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

In May 1937, a man in his early 30s waits by the lift of a Leningrad apartment block. He waits all through the night, expecting to be taken away to the Big House. Any celebrity he has known in the previous decade is no use to him now, and few who are taken to the Big House ever return.

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Title: Blessing in Disguise

Subtitle: Red River of the North Series #6

Author: Lauraine Snelling

Narrator: Callie Beaulieu

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-21-16

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 135 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

The Bjorklund family has received word that Augusta Bjorklund is on her way from Norway to join them in North Dakota. When the train arrives in the town of Blessing with no Augusta aboard, the worried family hopes that she will be on the train in the morning. However, only her trunk arrives, so Bridget Bjorklund insists that Hjelmer, Augusta's brother, go find her.

Augusta, after discovering that her intended bridegroom had married someone else, decided to leave her broken heart in Norway and start a new life in America. But knowing no English, Augusta misunderstands a ticket agent's directions in St. Paul, Minnesota, and in the harried confusion she boards the wrong train. When she arrives at the end of the line, she is met by a handsome young rancher, Kane Moyer, waiting for his Norwegian mail-order bride....

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Title: The Relic Master

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Christopher Buckley

Narrator: James Langton

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-08-15

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 452 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

From New York Times best-selling author Christopher Buckley, "one of the funniest writers in the English language" (Tom Wolfe), a compelling and hilarious adventure featuring a 16th-century relic hunter and his best friend, Albrecht Dürer, who conspire to forge the Shroud of Turin.

The year is 1517. Dismas is a relic hunter: one who procures "authentic" religious relics for wealthy and influential clients. His two most important patrons are Frederick the Wise, elector of Saxony; and soon-to-be Cardinal Albrecht of Mainz. While Frederick is drawn to the recent writing of Martin Luther, Albrecht pursues the financial and political benefits of religion and seeks to buy a cardinalship through the selling of indulgences. When Albrecht's ambitions increase his demands for grander and more marketable relics, Dismas and his artist friend, Dürer, conspire to manufacture a shroud to sell to the unsuspecting noble. Unfortunately Dürer's reckless pride exposes Albrecht's newly acquired shroud as a fake, so Albrecht puts Dismas and Dürer in the custody of four loutish mercenaries and sends them all to steal Christ's burial cloth (the Shroud of Chambéry), Europe's most celebrated relic.

On their journey to Savoy, where the Shroud will be displayed, they battle a lustful count and are joined by a beautiful female apothecary. It is only when they reach their destination that they realize they are not alone in their intentions to acquire a relic of dubious legitimacy. Filled with fascinating details about art, religion, politics, and science; Vatican intrigue; and Buckley's signature wit, The Relic Master is a delightfully rich and intelligent comic adventure.

Critic Reviews:

"[James] Langton carries the narrative portions of the audiobook well with strong projection and great pacing. His pronunciations of German, Latin, and other languages roll smoothly into the story. His character voices are unique, consistent, and well chosen in tone." (AudioFile)

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Title: Sword of Honor

Author: David Kirk

Narrator: Erik Singer

Format: Unabridged

Length: 16 hrs and 28 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-03-15

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 63 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

In the epic historical novel Sword of Honor, David Kirk continues the saga of Musashi Miyamoto, the greatest samurai in Japanese history, as he journeys to the ancient city of Kyoto to fight for his life and his ideals.

Having survived the cataclysmic battle of Sekigahara, which established the mighty Tokugawa Shogunate, young Musashi Miyamoto travels through Japan determined to proclaim his revolutionary epiphany that the "way of the sword", the ancient code that binds samurai to their masters, needs to be abolished.

But during the battle Musashi insulted an adept of the powerful Yoshioka School, and a price has been put on his head. Musashi travels to Kyoto, domain of the Yoshioka, for a reckoning. He has taken up with Ameku, a beautiful blind woman branded as a witch; his burgeoning love for her will make him vulnerable.

Musashi intends to deal a crushing blow to the traditional samurai dogma by destroying the Yoshioka warriors, but Musashi will learn that his spectacular gifts with the sword are no match for the cunning of powerful lords. The wily Tokugawa governor, still struggling to establish dominance in Kyoto, sees in Musashi just the weapon he needs to overcome the rebellious Yoshioka.

Sword of Honor seamlessly blends meticulous research, mesmerizing action sequences, and a driving narrative to bring this extraordinary figure to life.

Critic Reviews:

"There are lots of elements that make this novel an extraordinary read: the throat-gripping set pieces, beautiful imagery, crafty politics, and themes of ego, power, and individualism. Most of all, it is how this tale of a masterless samurai is rendered in language that feels like it's from a different time and place - not because of archaisms or cheap tricks but because it is slow without being tedious, and it emerges from a wholly foreign worldview without being incomprehensible to the modern mind. Musashi is an unforgettable character, and this novel should make Kirk a leading name in historical fiction." (Booklist)

"[P]oetic.... Kirk's vigorous and robust prose complements the action to make rousing historical and philosophical statements." (Kirkus Reviews)

"So authentic, it's easy to forget one is reading a novel...solid, action-packed, thoughtful." (Library Journal)

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