Listen to the Best Full Audiobooks in Fiction, LGBTQ+

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/657963 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: A Traitor in Whitehall: A Mystery

Series: #1 of Evelyne Redfern

Author: Julia Kelly

Narrator: Marisa Calin

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 9 hours 40 minutes

Release date: October 3, 2023

Ratings: Ratings of Book: 3 of Total 1

Genres: LGBTQ+

Publisher's Summary:

'Calin's versatile characterizations, subtle accents, and comfortable pacing capture this privileged world wherein modern ideas clash with traditional values' —AudioFile on The Last Dance of the Debutante From Julia Kelly, internationally bestselling author of The Last Dance of the Debutante, comes the first in the mysterious and immersive Evelyne Redfern series, A Traitor in Whitehall. 'Kelly spins an Agatha Christie-esque mystery . . . thoroughly delightful and well-researched.'—Susan Elia MacNeal 1940, England: Evelyne Redfern, known as “The Parisian Orphan” as a child, is working on the line at a munitions factory in wartime London. When Mr. Fletcher, one of her father’s old friends, spots Evelyne on a night out, Evelyne finds herself plunged into the world of Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s cabinet war rooms. However, shortly after she settles into her new role as a secretary, one of the girls at work is murdered, and Evelyne must use all of her amateur sleuthing expertise to find the killer. But doing so puts her right in the path of David Poole, a cagey minister’s aide who seems determined to thwart her investigations. That is, until Evelyne finds out David’s real mission is to root out a mole selling government secrets to Britain’s enemies, and the pair begrudgingly team up. With her quick wit, sharp eyes, and determination, will Evelyne be able to find out who’s been selling England’s secrets and catch a killer, all while battling her growing attraction to David? A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/666376 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: The Unsettled: A novel

Author: Ayana Mathis

Narrator: Bahni Turpin

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 11 hours 26 minutes

Release date: September 26, 2023

Genres: LGBTQ+

Publisher's Summary:

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR •  WINNER OF THE GABE HUDSON PRIZE • From the best-selling author of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, a searing multi-generational novel—set in the 1980s in racially and politically turbulent Philadelphia and in the tiny town of Bonaparte, Alabama—about a mother fighting for her sanity and survival   'Emotionally propulsive ... Through a chorus of distinctive and virtuosic voices, we gather the story of a mother, a daughter, and the land that both unites and divides them.”– Oprah Daily • 'Showcases Ayana Mathis's grace on the page, as writer, as storyteller. A book to be read and re-read.' – Jesmyn Ward, author of Let Us Descend   Two bold, utopic communities are at the heart of Ayana Mathis’s searing follow-up to her bestselling debut, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie. Bonaparte, Alabama – once 10,000 glorious Black-owned acres – is now a ghost town vanishing to depopulation, crooked developers, and an eerie mist closing in on its shoreline. Dutchess Carson, Bonaparte's fiery, tough-talking protector, fights to keep its remaining one thousand acres in the hands of the last five residents. Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, her estranged daughter Ava is drawn into Ark – a seductive, radical group with a commitment to Black self-determination in the spirit of the Black Panthers and MOVE, with a dash of the Weather Underground’s violent zeal. Ava’s eleven-year-old son Toussaint wants out – his future awaits him on his grandmother’s land, where the sounds of cicada and frog song might save him if only he can make it there.    In Mathis’s electrifying novel, Bonaparte is both mythic landscape and spiritual inheritance, and 1980s Philadelphia is its raw, darkly glittering counterpoint. The Unsettled is a spellbinding portrait of two fierce women reckoning with the steep cost of resistance: What legacy will we leave our children? Where can we be free?

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/660109 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: The Museum of Failures

Author: Thrity Umrigar

Narrator: Vikas Adam

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 12 hours 22 minutes

Release date: September 26, 2023

Ratings: Ratings of Book: 3.5 of Total 2

Ratings of Narrator: 3 of Total 1

Genres: LGBTQ+

Publisher's Summary:

The bestselling author of The Space Between Us and Reese's Book Club pick Honor delivers a powerful story about family secrets, a mother's power, and the importance of forgiveness. Remy Wadia left India for the United States long ago, carrying his resentment of his mother with him. He has now returned to Bombay to adopt a baby from a young pregnant girl—and to see his elderly mother for the first time in several years. Discovering that his mother is in the hospital, has stopped talking, and seems to have given up on life, he is struck with guilt for not realizing just how sick she has become. His unexpected appearance and assiduous attention revives her and enables her to return to her home. But when Remy stumbles on an old photograph, shocking long-held family secrets surface. As the secrets unravel and Remy’s mother begins communicating again, he finds himself reevaluating his entire childhood, his relationship to his parents, and his harsh judgment of the decisions and events long hidden from him, just as he is on the cusp of becoming a parent himself. But most of all, he must learn to forgive others for their failures and human frailties. Readers of Sankofa by Chibundu Onuzo, Fault Lines by Emily Itami, and Dava Shastri’s Last Day by Kirthana Ramisetti will devour this story of secrets and family, a reminder that forgiveness comes from realizing that the people we love are usually trying to do their best in the most difficult situations.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/657070 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: The Armor of Light: A Novel

Series: #5 of Kingsbridge

Author: Ken Follett

Narrator: John Lee

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 21 hours 39 minutes

Release date: September 26, 2023

Ratings: Ratings of Book: 4.65 of Total 23

Ratings of Narrator: 4.89 of Total 9

Genres: LGBTQ+

Publisher's Summary:

The long-awaited sequel to A Column of Fire, The Armor of Light, heralds a new dawn for Kingsbridge, England, where progress clashes with tradition, class struggles push into every part of society, and war in Europe engulfs the entire continent and beyond. The Spinning Jenny was invented in 1770, and with that, a new era of manufacturing and industry changed lives everywhere within a generation. A world filled with unrest wrestles for control over this new world order: A mother’s husband is killed in a work accident due to negligence; a young woman fights to fund her school for impoverished children; a well-intentioned young man unexpectedly inherits a failing business; one man ruthlessly protects his wealth no matter the cost, all the while war cries are heard from France, as Napoleon sets forth a violent master plan to become emperor of the world. As institutions are challenged and toppled in unprecedented fashion, ripples of change ricochet through our characters’ lives as they are left to reckon with the future and a world they must rebuild from the ashes of war. Over thirty years ago, Ken Follett published his most popular novel, The Pillars of the Earth. Now, with this electrifying addition to the Kingsbridge series we are plunged into the battlefield between compassion and greed, love and hate, progress and tradition. It is through each character that we are given a new perspective to the seismic shifts that shook the world in nineteenth-century Europe.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/659850 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: Once a Monster: A reimagining of the legend of the Minotaur

Author: Robert Dinsdale

Narrator: Justin Avoth

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 15 hours 36 minutes

Release date: September 21, 2023

Genres: LGBTQ+

Publisher's Summary:

Hauntingly read by Justin Avoth. 'Robert Dinsdale mixes history and mythology with great panache . . . Richly textured and with an appropriately labyrinthine plot, this is a book that explores the monster inside man — and vice versa. Book of the Month' Sunday Times Man or monster? Hero or villain? London, 1861: Ten-year-old Nell belongs to a crew of mudlarks who work a stretch of the Thames along the Ratcliffe Highway. An orphan since her mother died four years past, leaving Nell with only broken dreams and a pair of satin slippers in her possession, she spends her days dredging up coals, copper and pieces of iron spilled by the river barges – searching for treasure in the mud in order to appease her master, Benjamin Murdstone. But one day, Nell discovers a body on the shore. It’s not the first corpse she’s encountered, but by far the strangest. Nearly seven feet tall, the creature has matted hair covering his legs, and on his head are the suggestion of horns. Nell’s fellow mudlarks urge her to steal his boots and rifle his pockets, but as she ventures closer the figure draws breath – and Nell is forced to make a decision which will change her life forever . . . From the critically acclaimed author of The Toymakers comes an imaginative retelling of the legend of the Minotaur, full of myth and magic and steeped in the grime of Victorian London; perfect for lovers of historical fiction with a mythical twist such as Stone Blind and Circe. Praise for Once A Monster: 'Imaginative mash-up of the mythical with Victorian gothic.' - The Times 'A wonderful magic trick of a story, full of very human monsters and monstrous humans. Dinsdale is a beautiful, evocative story teller. - Stuart Turton, bestselling author of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/661761 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: Chenneville: A Novel of Murder, Loss, and Vengeance

Author: Paulette Jiles

Narrator: Grover Gardner

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 11 hours 49 minutes

Release date: September 12, 2023

Ratings: Ratings of Book: 5 of Total 1

Genres: LGBTQ+

Publisher's Summary:

Consumed with grief, driven by vengeance, a man undertakes an unrelenting odyssey across the lawless post–Civil War frontier seeking redemption in this fearless novel from the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of News of the World.  Union soldier John Chenneville suffered a traumatic head wound in battle. His recovery took the better part of a year as he struggled to regain his senses and mobility. By the time he returned home, the Civil War was over, but tragedy awaited. John’s beloved sister and her family had been brutally murdered. Their killer goes by many names. He fought for the North in the late unpleasantness, and wore a badge in the name of the law. But the man John knows as A. J. Dodd is little more than a rabid animal, slaughtering without reason or remorse, needing to be put down. Traveling through the unforgiving landscape of a shattered nation in the midst of Reconstruction, John braves winter storms and confronts desperate people in pursuit of his quarry. Untethered, single-minded in purpose, he will not be deterred. Not by the U.S. Marshal who threatens to arrest him for murder should he succeed. And not by Victoria Reavis, the telegraphist aiding him in his death-driven quest, yet hoping he’ll choose to embrace a life with her instead. And as he trails Dodd deep into Texas, John accepts that this final reckoning between them may cost him more than all he’s already lost…

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/663080 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: The River We Remember: A Novel

Author: William Kent Krueger

Narrator: Cj Wilson

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 13 hours 33 minutes

Release date: September 5, 2023

Ratings: Ratings of Book: 4.51 of Total 82

Ratings of Narrator: 4.75 of Total 24

Genres: LGBTQ+

Publisher's Summary:

AN EDGAR AWARD NOMINEE In 1958, a small Minnesota town is rocked by a shocking murder, pouring fresh fuel on old grievances in this dazzling novel, an instant New York Times bestseller and “a work of art” (The Denver Post). On Memorial Day in Jewel, Minnesota, the body of wealthy landowner Jimmy Quinn is found floating in the Alabaster River, dead from a shotgun blast. The investigation falls to Sheriff Brody Dern, a highly decorated war hero who still carries the physical and emotional scars from his military service. Even before Dern has the results of the autopsy, vicious rumors begin to circulate that the killer must be Noah Bluestone, a Native American WWII veteran who has recently returned to Jewel with a Japanese wife. As suspicions and accusations mount and the town teeters on the edge of more violence, Dern struggles not only to find the truth of Quinn’s murder but also put to rest the demons from his own past. Caught up in the torrent of anger that sweeps through Jewel are a war widow and her adolescent son, the intrepid publisher of the local newspaper, an aging deputy, and a crusading female lawyer, all of whom struggle with their own tragic histories and harbor secrets that Quinn’s death threatens to expose. Both a complex, spellbinding mystery and a masterful portrait of mid-century American life that is “a novel to cherish” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis), The River We Remember offers an unflinching look at the wounds left by the wars we fight abroad and at home, a moving exploration of the ways in which we seek to heal, and a testament to the enduring power of the stories we tell about the places we call home.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/663081 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: The Witching Tide

Author: Margaret Meyer

Narrator: Miranda Raison

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 9 hours 36 minutes

Release date: September 5, 2023

Genres: LGBTQ+

Publisher's Summary:

Named a best historical novel of the year by The New York Times Book Review and “reminiscent of both The Scarlet Letter and Hamnet” (Jezebel), The Witching Tide is a powerful debut inspired by the true events behind a deadly witch hunt in 17th-century England. East Anglia, 1645. Martha Hallybread, a midwife, healer, and servant, has lived peacefully for more than four decades in her beloved seaside village of Cleftwater. Having lost her voice as a child, Martha has not spoken a word in years. One autumn morning, a sinister newcomer appears in town. A “witchfinder,” Silas Makepeace has been blazing a trail of destruction along the coast, and his arrival in Cleftwater strikes fear into the heart of the community. Within a day, local women are being detained. Martha is enlisted to search the accused women for “devil’s marks,” and finds herself a silent witness to the hunt. Martha is caught between suspicion and betrayal; between shielding herself or condemning the women of the village. In desperation, she revives a wax witching doll that belonged to her mother, in the hope that it will bring protection. But the doll’s true powers are unknowable, Martha harbors a terrible secret, and the gallows are looming… Set over the course of a few weeks that forever changed history, and for readers of Hilary Mantel and Margaret Atwood, The Witching Tide “illuminates a dark historical period and cautions against its recreation” (Kirkus Reviews).

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/658994 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: A Beautiful Rival: A Novel of Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden

Author: Gill Paul

Narrator: Lisa Flanagan

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 11 hours 40 minutes

Release date: September 5, 2023

Ratings: Ratings of Book: 4 of Total 1

Genres: LGBTQ+

Publisher's Summary:

In this stunning new novel, bestselling author Gill Paul reveals the unknown history of cosmetic titans Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein and their infamous rivalry that spanned not only decades, but also broken marriages, personal tragedies, and a world that was changing dramatically for women—perfect for fans of Fiona Davis, Marie Benedict, and Beatriz Williams. Who would have guessed that the business of making women beautiful was so cutthroat? They could have been allies: two self-made millionaires who invented a global industry, in an era when wife and mother were supposed to be the highest goals for their sex. Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein each founded empires built on grit and determination…and yet they became locked in a feud spanning three continents, two world wars, and the Great Depression. Brought up in poverty, Canadian-born Elizabeth Arden changed popular opinion, persuading women from all walks of life ­to buy skincare products that promised them youth and beauty. Helena Rubinstein left her native Poland, and launched her company with scientific claims about her miracle creams made with anti-ageing herbs. And when it came to business, nothing was off-limits: poaching each other’s employees, copying each other’s products, planting spies, hiring ex-husbands, and one-upping each other every chance they had. This was a rivalry from which there was no surrender! And through it all were two women, bold, brazen, and determined to succeed—no matter the personal cost. In this sweeping novel from the bestselling author of Jackie and Maria and The Manhattan Girls, two larger-than life fashion icons come alive with all their passion, bitterness, and ambition as they each try to live the American dream.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/660834 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: Through the Snow Globe

Author: Annie Rains

Narrator: Thérèse Plummer

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 9 hours 50 minutes

Release date: August 22, 2023

Ratings: Ratings of Book: 4.5 of Total 2

Ratings of Narrator: 4 of Total 1

Genres: LGBTQ+

Publisher's Summary:

It’s a Wonderful Life meets Groundhog Day in USA Today bestselling author Annie Rains’s new novel, as a woman dangerously close to losing it all receives an unexpected Christmas gift that prompts a surprising journey of self-discovery … and another chance at happiness. Diana Merriman, a physical therapist, is probably the only person in the small town of Snow Haven, North Carolina, who isn’t looking forward to Christmas. It’s been three weeks since her fiancé Linus was critically injured when a car hit him as he biked home from the toy store he owns and manages. Watching him open his eyes is the only gift she wants, but she can’t help losing a little more hope every day. But an unexpected visit from a friendly neighbor and finding a snow globe of Snow Haven—a gift Linus had hidden in the closet—the night before Christmas Eve changes things in ways Diana never would have imagined. Because on Christmas Eve Diana wakes up to find that it’s not—Christmas Eve, that is. Instead, it’s somehow December 4 all over again, the day Linus got hurt, and as mystified as Diana is, she immediately starts a plan to save her partner from his fate. Nothing is that simple, of course. Instead of a single repeat of that day, Diana finds herself in an endless loop of December 4, experiencing every possible variation of events. Along the way, she uncovers startling truths about herself, her relationship, and even her career that illustrate the ways she’s retreated from her life—and in the face of life’s slights and outright blows, from her deepest feelings. Suddenly hope is second only to joy as Diana opens her heart to the people she loves in every way she can.