Listen to Popular Titles Audiobooks in Fiction, Historical Popular Titles

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Title: We Are All Welcome Here

Author: Elizabeth Berg

Narrator: Elizabeth Berg

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-25-08

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 56 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Challenged by the effects of the polio she contracted during her last month of pregnancy, Paige is nonetheless determined to live as normal a life as possible and to raise her daughter, Diana, in the way she sees fit - with the support of her tough-talking black caregiver, Peacie.

Diana is trying in her own fashion to live a normal life. As a 14-year-old, she wants to make money for clothes and magazines, to slough off the authority of her mother and Peacie, to figure out the puzzle that is boys, and to escape the oppressiveness she sees everywhere in her small town.

What she can never escape, however, is the way her life is markedly different from the lives of others. Nor can she escape her ongoing responsibility to assist in caring for her mother. Paige Dunn is attractive, charming, intelligent, and lively, but her needs are great - and relentless.

As the summer unfolds, hate and adversity will visit this modest home. Despite the difficulties thrust upon them, each of the women will find her own path to independence, understanding, and peace. And Diana's mother, so mightily compromised, will end up giving her daughter an extraordinary gift few parents could match.

Critic Reviews:

"Full of humor, devoid of self-pity, with lively characters that rise above their circumstances, this is the story of an adolescent accepting adult responsibilities, encountering the temptations of boys and booze, and experiencing the tensions between race and class in the 1960s." (School Library Journal)

"Berg's narration of her own work captures the sweetness and loss portrayed in this story. Without sounding maudlin, she conveys Diana's frustration at being both poor and a teenager." (AudioFile)

Members Reviews:

Was it true?

It was a mother to be admired , in her strength to be positive and yet willing to live in the truth of it all that she faced.

Also an eye opener to us that don't always understand the challinges of relieing on others to live a normal day to day life. And nice to see them played out on both sides of they both are in need of hearing.

This really was a great book , I just wish the would have explained how much was really true.

Also a great message of strength and courage, and belief and faith, that everything is gonna be alright!

GET THIS BOOK

Would you listen to We Are All Welcome Here again? Why?

I believe that this story will haunt you, in a good way. I find myself thinking about this book at odd moments in my life. I would recommend it for anyone who likes the kind of story that reinforces the ability of the human spirit to overcome.

What did you like best about this story?

I was drawn to it from the beginning when the author told how she did not want to write it...she prefers to come up with her own story ideas. the character whose mother this is based on came to her and asked her to tell the story she listened and.....couldnt NOT write this book

What about Elizabeth Bergs performance did you like?

EVERYTHING.

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Title: A Covenant of Love

Subtitle: The Appomattox Saga #1

Author: Gilbert Morris

Narrator: Maynard Villers

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-31-08

Publisher: Books in Motion

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 18 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

The family stands by helplessly as cousins Clay and Gideon Rocklin vie for the hand of beautiful Melanie Benton. And Melanie's choice between the two men starts the rejected suitor on a spiraling descent into self-destruction that threatens to destroy his family as well.

Members Reviews:

Tim M.

book 1 of 10. this is a christian fiction book. this book also is family friendly

A good listen

I enjoyed this book. It was a little slow but kept my interest. I didn't care for the narrator's clipped way of speaking at first, but I got used to it. I appreciate the integrity of the characters in this inspirational romance. I don't intend to get the sequel as it had a nice conclusion, though it took awhile to get there.

enjoyable

enjoyable story, interesting characters, easy listening

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Title: Songs in Ordinary Time

Author: Mary McGarry Morris

Narrator: Sandra Burr

Format: Unabridged

Length: 27 hrs and 56 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-08-08

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 74 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Among a fascinating cast of characters, we meet the children's alcoholic father, Sam Fermoyle, now living with his senile mother and embittered sister; Sam's meek brother-in-law, who makes anonymous "love" calls from the bathroom of his ailing appliance store; and the Klubock family, who - in complete contrast to the Fermoyles - live an orderly life in the perfect house next door.

Members Reviews:

Don't waste your time.

I was really disappointed in this book. Everyone in this town is either crazy or delusional. It just seemed totally unrealistic. There were too many different story lines and none of them had an ending. If this story was a shirt, it would fall apart because of all of the loose ends. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

An annoying waste of time

I kept listening, thinking something good or resonable would happen. But no. Just hours of low life, grim, crazy people getting into bad situations, then worse ones.

Where Are The Songs?

This is a pleasant listen. You really don't have to pay much attention because there is no established story line. Characters aren't developed and neither is anything else.

I could not feel any of the emotions depicted. With other books I either laugh out loud or cry uncontrollably.

Another and final thing if you lose your place don't fret; you'll never know if you picked the wrong place.

Bad voices and terrible direction

I can't get far enough in to the story to know if it's good because the narrator has been directed to use these horrible, shrill, nasal voices for too many of the characters. I've heard some bad narration, but this is the most unappealing I've ever come across. I'm not sure I can make it through to the end. What was the director thinking????

Irritating waste of time

The voices were horrid. There was no real plot. It was not even ordinary. Just awful.

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Title: Wall of Fire

Subtitle: Appomattox Saga #7

Author: Gilbert Morris

Narrator: Maynard Villers

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-16-08

Publisher: Books in Motion

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 9 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Upon the death of her mother, Mark Rocklin learns of Allyn, the daughter he didn't know existed. He asks a friend to bring her to Gracefield. Upon her arrival, she is treated well, but cannot seem to make a place for herself with the Rocklins or her father. Hoping to help his daughter, Mark buys a plantation for her, with the requirement that she marry for the property to be put in her name. Desperate to have a place of her own and to live life her own way, Allyn arranges a marriage to Jason Larrimore, the blockade-runner who brought her to Gracefield. Their arrangement soon becomes more troublesome, and more rewarding, than either could have ever guessed.

©1995 Gilbert Morris; (P)2006 Books in Motion

Members Reviews:

great series

Loved the series. can't wait to listen to the next sequel. They keep getting better. Love that there was not Amy cursing or sex.

disappointed

I would never have guessed this was written by Gilbert Morris. Perhaps it was the reader who ruined the book. His voice would have been great for a murder mystery, but NOT for this....I couldn't even finish the book..

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Title: Sand Daughter

Author: Sarah Bryant

Narrator: Nicolette McKenzie

Format: Unabridged

Length: 17 hrs and 55 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-07-07

Publisher: ISIS Audio Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 35 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

It is the time of the Crusades: the Islamic world is divided and the Franks have captured the Holy Land. As the mighty Saladin struggles to unite the warring clans of Arabia against the invaders, Khalidah, a young Bedouin woman, finds herself a pawn in a deadly plot involving her own tribe and the powerful Templar Knights. Faced with certain death, she runs away with a man she barely knows, towards adventure and the echoes of a past that somehow connect her to the Jinn: the mysterious Afghan warriors who may hold the key to the coming battle for the Holy Land.

©2006 Sarah Bryant; (P)2007 Isis Publishing Ltd

Members Reviews:

A little History with your Mystery!

Very interesting plot involves some ancient sites and societies, plus a bit of romance. As a student of the time period, the Templars and the Crusades - this one seems fairly accurate and adds a bit of invention to keep the plot moving along nicely. I enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading about this time and place.

Rather boring telling of an uninteresting story

Had all the elements of what should have been an irrestible book; exotic people in fascinating circumstances, danger, intrigue, and so on. Instead it was slow and ultimately uninteresting.

Didn't hold my interest at all.

I normally love historical fiction set in the Middle East, but I couldn't even get to Part Two of Sand Daughter. It was slow-moving, and the writing wasn't unique enough to hold my interest despite the lagging pace. It opens with a character who is gone by the second chapter, and doesn't appear to have any bearing whatsoever on the story -- at least up until the point I stopped listening, which was near the halfway mark. I didn't like it, I'm sorry to say.

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Title: World Without End

Author: Ken Follett

Narrator: Richard E. Grant

Format: Abridged

Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-10-07

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 47 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

As adults, their lives will be braided together by ambition, love, greed, and revenge. They will see prosperity and famine, plague and war. One boy will travel the world but come home in the end; the other will be a powerful, corrupt nobleman. One girl will defy the might of the medieval church; the other will pursue an impossible love. And always they will live under the long shadow of the unexplained killing they witnessed on that fateful childhood day.

Ken Follett's masterful epic The Pillars of the Earth enchanted millions of readers with its compelling drama of war, passion, and family conflict set around the building of a cathedral. Now World Without End takes listeners back to medieval Kingsbridge two centuries later, as the men, women, and children of the city once again grapple with the devastating sweep of historical change.

Critic Reviews:

"Fans of Follett's previous medieval epic will be well rewarded." (Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

A brilliant work

Ken Folletts earlier book The Pillars of the Earth has long been my favourite book of all time. This book takes us back to Kingsbridge 200 years after the first book. I was a bit apprehensive that it would pale in comparison; however I was delighted to find that this book is a masterpiece in its own right.

Ken Follett creates characters that you can deeply identify with and find yourself caring for as the incredible story unfolds. The book gives a rich historical feel of what it would be like to be living in those times, while keeping the storyline lively and engrossing.

World Without End is one of the most brilliant books I have ever read. The Audio book is superbly read by Richard E. Grant who brings the book to life. It is unfortunate that it is the Abridged version but never the less it is still a gem.

oops

I Accidentally downloaded the abridged version of this book. As I was listening it skipped ahead and was not comprehensible. Get the unabridged version

Clumsy Abridgement

Normally I only download unabridged recordings. I Really wanted to hear this one so I broke my habit.... derrrrrr.... unsmart move. At random and unexpected moments the abridgement lurched into the future, leaving story threads dangling unsatisfatisfyingly and then slamming up against new situations and characters quite out of the blue. It was possible to work out what was going on, but rather irritating to be dragged out of the fluid magic of a storyteller to sort out a tangle not created by the author.

Don't recommend the abridgement but gave 4 stars for Mr Follett's storytelling.

Faith versus Reason

This is the second Follet book about Kingsbridge. Set in the mid 14th century it shows life of the town and church during this period. Life for the ordinary people was dominated by the church and the aristocracy who controlled their lives through religion, fuedalism and the law.

This is the time of change when more ideas were being circulated and exsisting premises were being questioned or challenged; exciting times with the growth of trade, especially the English wool market, but the spread of the plague from the East westwards around 1348 or a little earlier saw a decimation of the population and a reduced population struggle to feed itself afterwards.

Ken Follet explains various aspects of the period and takes the listener into the lives of the characters.

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Title: The Ruby in Her Navel

Author: Barry Unsworth

Narrator: Andrew Sachs

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-12-07

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 17 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Thurstan, a young Norman and would-be Knight at the Court of King Roger in Palermo, has been in love since boyhood with Lady Alicia, now returned a widow from the Holy Land. Thurstan soon finds himself caught in a tangle of plots.

©2006 Barry Unsworth; (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Critic Reviews:

"A richly imagined novel of the Middle Ages, filled with questions of race, God and fidelity, from the Booker Prize-winning Unsworth." (Kirkus Reviews)

Members Reviews:

A Well-Earned Five Stars for this Gem

This book by the fine historical novelist Barry Unsworth is set in 1149 Palermo, Sicily, where power struggles between East and West have left King Roger hard pressed to maintain his throne. Both the Pope and the Bishop of Rome refuse to recognize his rule, and Conrad Hohenstaufen (ruler of the west) and Manuel Comnenus (ruler of the east) are threatening to invade Sicily to secure their powers. Palermo has always been tolerant to various ethnic communities, but a Christian group is making false accusations against Muslims, Jews, and other "outsiders" to take over power.

Thurstan Beauchamp narrates this story. He is a young man still, the son of a Norman knight and a Saxon mother. He works in the Diwan of Control, the central financial office at the palace, where his employer is Yusuf Ibn Mansur, a Muslim man with political savvy and of unimpeachable honesty who is willing to help Thurstan become influential if he can avoid falling into one of the dangerous political games the various factions are playing against each other. Traveling throughout Europe as "Purveyor of Pleasures and Shows," Thurstan finds a group of five Yazidis, including Nesrin, a belly dancer with uncommon talent, and immediately hires them to come to Palermo to perform for the king. He is drawn to Nesrin's great beauty and allure, but things take yet another turn when he meets again with the Lady Alicia on the same trip, once his great love when he was still a boy and she then just a girl also. Now she has returned from the land of Jerusalem as a widow of considerable wealth, and seems just as taken with Thurstan, who finds his love for her has not abated over the years.

Further complicating matters, we learn early on that Thurstan's most cherished dream has been to become a knight and fight in the crusades, as his father has done before him, though this opportunity was taken away from him just when it seemed about to be realised. Now with Lady Alicia's return on the scene, many opportunities beckon. The novel builds up at a moderate pace, all the while filled with period details which inform us about aspects of daily life in 12th century Palermo. Thurstan, narrating in the first person from the vantage point of a period after the events have taken place, is a personable main character, whom we cannot help but empathise with though he makes many grave gaffes and mistakes, and much as his naivety and youth show he has yet much to learn, we see the events though his eyes before he had gained the advantage of hindsight, so that the reader is offered only glimpses of the whole, until a complex mystery is revealed.

A jewel of a book which I can't wait to listen to again to pick up on all the fine intricate details I may have missed the first time. I also loved Andrew Sachs' narration in this audio version.

A new favourite!

An excellent pairing of intriguing story and expert narration.

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Title: Barra Creek

Author: Di Morrissey

Narrator: Kate Hood

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-08-07

Publisher: Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 78 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

It's 1963 and Sally Mitchell, the well-bred daughter of a wealthy New Zealand sheep farmer, is on her way to England with her friend Pru. When the young women stop over in Sydney, their plans go awry. Sally impulsively takes a job as a governess at Barra Creek, and when the mail plane that flew her there takes off, she finds herself left in a different world: one dominated by the overpowering John Monroe and his strict and proper wife, Lorna. Here, Sally's life changes forever. The challenges of coping with her three young charges, wild stockmen, the heat and the wet, brumby musters, and cattle rushes all pale beside a great passion, a great loss, and a gruesome death. Only Lorna knows the truth of the death and of a terrible injustice. Now, in 2003, she searches for the former governess to finally set things right and share her horrific secret.

©2003 Lady Byron Pty Ptd; (P)2005 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Critic Reviews:

"Kate Hood's delivery is energetic and fast paced. Her characterizations bring an edgy realism to Morrissey's rugged cast. When Sally finds her perfect man, Hood is all fuzzy coquettishness, and when he turns out to be not so perfect, her voice drips with disillusionment. Hood's expressive interpretation adds substance to Morrissey's romantic adventure." (AudioFile)

Members Reviews:

Realistic and inviting

This is my first book by this author. I found it to be vividly written and the content very engrossing. The writer makes the reader feel as though they are actually in the outback country. Great story. The orater has the perfect voice and is able to keep the listener in touch with each character.

The Best of Morrissey

I have become a fan of Di Morrissey's books and to date Barra Creek has to be my absolute favourite.

I'm not convinced she does romance well but having suspicions regarding the male romantic leads in hind sight probably created more believability and impact to the story.

Half way through I thought to myself what can Di Morrissey do to create a memorable story rather than one that was just easy to listen to and I must say she delivered.

Well worth listening to.

Excellent Di Morrissey

This was a great book. The narrator read it well and you really felt like you knew the characters by sight. The Bay was one of my favourites but this one is up there with it.

Great read, so easy to listen to

This is the first Di Morrisey book that I have listened to and it certainly wont be the last. The storey had me hooked from the beginning, I couldn't predict what was going to happen and I found it thoroughly enjoyable to listen too. No in depth thinking or anything for me, but just a nice book with a great storyline. The narration was good, I liked the different voices etc, but sometimes the 'put on' aboriginal accents and the high pitched New Zealand accent got a little irritating. This did not detract from the book though, and I would still listen to a book by this narrator again.

Realy good book

This was a great book. The narrator read it well and you really felt like you knew the characters by sight. This is my first Di Morrissey book I look forward to others written by her.

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Title: Half of a Yellow Sun

Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Narrator: Adjoa Adoh

Format: Abridged

Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-21-07

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 22 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

As these people's lives intersect, they have to question their own responses to the unfolding political events. This extraordinary novel is about Africa in a wider sense, about moral responsibility, about the end of colonialism, about ethnic allegiances, about class and race - and about the ways in which love can complicate all of these things.

Members Reviews:

Great story

Great story. I didn't even know anything about Biafra ever existing. I love all of chimamanda ngozis Adichies books and the narrator was good too. Definitely recommend

The reader brings this story to life

We all know of 'Biafra' but this story makes one live the sad drama that made rich men poor and poor men dead. The reader brings to life the language of the people, one of my most memorable 'audible books' of the last 6 years.

Vibrant, deeply touching and compassionate

Its a story of a beautiful troubled land populated with fully fledged and fascinating characters. The people you will meet in this story are alive and you will follow their lives with intense interest. But the situation and the world they are immersed in are real. Real tragedies, real heroism, real struggle for freedom and peace, real faith and disillusion, real love and compassion, real sacrifice, real brutality and real raw war. Your guide in this world will be intimate and sensual details: colours, food, body language, clothes, family dynamics, glimpses of landscape, fragments of poems, personal experience, individual tragedies. It is the best book I have heard this year so far and one of the best ever.

It is brilliantly read by Adjoa Adoh who acted out the multidude of characters, accents and moods with her beautifull voice.

Lovely. Shame it's abridged.

An intriguing story, beautifully written and narrated. I bought and downloaded it before realising it was an abridged version (relatively new to Audible) and would have returned it if possible, but in hindsight I'm glad things worked out this way.

Recommend this as a thought-provoking and absorbing listen. I expect that, given some time, I'll also read the book so that I can experience the story in its entirety and take the time to savour the language.

Fantastic book, fantastic narrator

I bought this book on Audible as it was the January choice of a book club I attend. This isn't the sort of book I'd choose and the historical theme would have put me off if I'd seen it in a bookshop. However, I can't recommend it enough - the narrator is fantastic, and really brings a warmth and charm to the story, which is very much a 'human' story in amongst a tale of Nigeria & Biafra's war in the 1960's. Not too long, always compelling - really really good! Download NOW!

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Title: Cleopatra

Subtitle: An Account of the Fall and Vengeance of Harmachis, the Royal Egyptian

Author: H. Rider Haggard

Narrator: William Sutherland

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-06-06

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 11 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

The sight of Cleopatra's beauty strikes the young Egyptian with all the power of a mortal blow. And for a moment, Harmachis aches with grief because he has to kill a thing so lovely!

This novel, first published in 1889, is an adventure story set in the Ptolemaic era of ancient Egypt. The Egyptian priesthood attempts to overthrow Queen Cleopatra in order to drive out the Romans and restore Egypt to a golden age.

Members Reviews:

A Neglected Classic

I?d never heard of this title before, but having very much enjoyed RHs famous novels I thought this would be a previously undiscovered treat. Sure enough, the story begins in typical RH style and the narrative quickly takes the listener into a mysterious and somewhat macabre adventure. However this serves as an introduction to the story proper; which is a ?translation? of a history from papyrus scrolls found in a tomb. The ?history? is told in the style of a King James translation of the Old Testament and initially seems stilted and laboured. I nearly gave up on it at this point but I?d encourage listeners to stick with the tail. As the story progresses it becomes compelling, the characters are well drawn and complex, and the pace really picks up through parts two and three. At the end, I felt that the story was every bit as good as any of RH?s more popular novels, but has probably become obscure because of RH?s attempt to replicate the style and explain the ritual of the historical Egyptian period. Finally, I?d suggest that having come to the end of the narrative it?s worth hearing the opening ?contemporary? story again.

I found William Sutherland?s reading style engaging and appropriate for the story. This is also probably one of those books that is easier to listen to, than to read.