The Historical Fiction category has 5,886 audiobooks on Listento.it, with an average listener rating of 4.5★ across 31,971 ratings. The most-rated is The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
The Baltic Gambit
Summary
January 1801, and Captain Alan Lewrie, RN, known as "St. Alan the Liberator" for freeing (stealing!) a dozen black slaves on Jamaica to man his frigate years before, is at last being brought to trial for it, with his life on the line. At the same time, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, and Prussia are forming a League of Armed Neutrality, to Napoleon Bonaparte's delight, to deny Great Britain their vital exports, even if it means war. England will need all her experienced sea dogs, but...even Alan Lewrie? Ultimately, Lewis is acquitted, but he's also ignored by the Navy, so it's half-pay on "civvy street" for him, and with idle time on his mischievous hands, Lewrie is sure to get himself in trouble - again! - especially if there are young women and his wastrel public school friends involved...and they are! A brawl in a Panton Saint brothel, a drunk, infatuated young Russian count, precede Lewrie's summons to Admiralty and the command of the Thermopylae frigate to replace an ill captain as the fleet gathers to face down the League of the North, and its instigator, the mad Tsar Paul. All that and the Battle of Copenhagen, too, and it's broadsides at close quarters, and treachery for Lewrie, forcing him to use all his wiles to survive!
©2009 Dewey Lambdin (P)2019 Tantor
Sons of Thunder
Summary
Random House presents the audiobook edition of Raven 2: Sons of Thunder by Giles Kristian, read by Philip Stevens. If you betray a Fellowship, you are a dead man.... Raven and the Wolfpack plough the sea-road in pursuit of the Saxon traitor Ealdred, who has left the Fellowship for dead and fled to the Frankish Emperor Charlemagne and the promise of untold riches. Sailing in search of revenge, the pagan Norsemen venture into the heart of a Christian empire that would wipe their kind from the face of the earth, a place where danger lies in wait around every bend of the great river up which they travel. A young man with no memory and a blood-tainted eye, Raven has found friendship and purpose amongst this fierce band of warriors. Having proved himself in battle, he is now certain that Viking blood flows in his veins, but to survive this adventure, his cunning must be as sharp as his blade....
©2017 Giles Kristian (P)2017 Random House AudioBooks
Whitethorn
Summary
From the author of The Power of One comes a new novel about Africa. The time is 1939. White South Africa is a deeply divided nation with many of the Afrikaner people fanatically opposed to the English. The world is also on the brink of war, and South Africa elects to fight for the Allied cause against Germany. Six-year-old Tom Fitzsaxby finds himself in The Boys Farm, an orphanage in a remote town in the high mountains, where the Afrikaners side fiercely with Hitler's Germany. Tom's English name proves sufficient for him to be ostracised, marking him as an outsider. And so begin some of life's tougher lessons for the small, lonely boy. Like the whitethorn, one of Africa's most enduring plants, Tom learns how to survive in the harsh climate of racial hatred. Then a terrible event sends him on a journey to ensure that justice is done. On the way, his most unexpected discovery is love.
©2013 Christine Courtenay (P)2014 Bolinda Publishing Pty. Ltd
The Sewing Machine
Summary
It is 1911, and Jean is about to join the mass strike at the Singer factory. For her, nothing will be the same again. Decades later, Connie sews coded moments of her life into a notebook, as her mother did before her. More than 100 years after his grandmother's sewing machine was made, Fred unpicks the secrets of four generations, one stitch at a time.
©2017 Natalie Fergie (P)2017 W. F. Howes Ltd
Green Darkness
Summary
Green Darkness is the story of a great love, a love in which mysticism, suspense, and mystery form a web of good and evil forces that stretches from Tudor England to the England of the 20th century. The marriage of the Englishman Richard Marsdon and his young American wife, Celia, slowly turns tragic as Richard withdraws into himself and Celia suffers a debilitating emotional breakdown. A wise mystic realizes that Celia can escape her past only by reliving it. She journeys back 400 years to her former life as the servant girl Celia de Bohun during the reign of Edward VI - and to her doomed love affair with the chaplain Stephen Marsdon. Although Celia and Stephen can't escape the horrifying consequences of their love, fate (and time) offer them another chance for redemption.
©1972 Anya Seton Chase (P)2014 Tantor
World Without End
Summary
On the day after Halloween, in the year 1327, four children slip away from the cathedral city of Kingsbridge. They are a thief, a bully, a boy genius, and a girl who wants to be a doctor. In the forest they see two men killed. 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.
© Ken Follett; (P) Macmillan Publishers Ltd
Hunting the Eagles
Summary
Five long years have passed since the annihilation of three Roman legions in the wilds of Germania. Varus, the general who led the ill-fated army, is long dead, and the bones of his 15,000 legionaries moulder in the forests. But not all the Romans were slain in the ambush. Centurion Tullus, a seasoned veteran, survived, and now he lives for revenge upon the tribal chieftain Arminius, who masterminded the ambush. Tullus will stop at nothing to kill his bitterest enemy or to recover his legion's lost Eagle. At first, fortune seems to be with the Romans. Germanicus, the general appointed to lead punitive campaigns against the tribes, is resourceful and courageous. His armies are vast, dwarfing those of the enemy, and the initial clashes are won by the legions. Yet Arminius is far from defeated. Charismatic and determined, he gathers together thousands of warriors for a second time. Their purpose is to visit death and destruction upon Rome's legions, to repeat what was done five years before. Stalking Germanicus' forces day and night, they watch and wait for the perfect moment to strike. Can Tullus prevent another disaster? And will he ever recover his legion's Eagle?
©2016 Random House Audiobooks (P)2016 Random House Audiobooks
The Diplomat's Wife
Summary
From the New York Times best-selling author of The Orphan's Tale. How have I been lucky enough to come here, to be alive, when so many others are not? I should have died. But I am here. It's 1945. Surviving the brutality of a Nazi prison camp, Marta Nederman is lucky to have escaped with her life. Recovering from the horror, she meets Paul, an American soldier who gives her hope of a happier future. But their plans to meet in London are dashed when Paul's plane crashes. Devastated and pregnant, Marta marries Simon, a caring British diplomat, and glimpses the joy that home and family can bring. But her happiness is threatened when she learns of a Communist spy in British intelligence and that the one person who can expose the traitor is connected to her past.
©2012 Pam Jenoff (P)2019 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited
Caribbean
Summary
In this acclaimed classic novel, James A. Michener sweeps listeners off to the Caribbean, bringing to life the eternal allure and tumultuous history of this glittering string of islands. From the 1310 conquest of the Arawaks by cannibals to the decline of the Mayan empire, from Columbus's arrival to buccaneer Henry Morgan's notorious reign, from the bloody slave revolt on Haiti to the rise of Cuba's Fidel Castro, Caribbean packs 700 dramatic years into a tale teeming with revolution and romance, authentic characters and thunderous destinies. Through absorbing, magnificent prose, Michener captures the essence of the islands in all of their awe-inspiring scope and wonder.
©2015 James A. Michener (P)2015 Random House Audio
The Dog of the South
Summary
Charles Portis has drawn widespread critical acclaim for his inventive prose. In The Dog of the South, Ray Midge is on the trail of his wife, Norma, who’s headed for Mexico with her ex-husband. On the way Ray meets the eccentric Dr. Reo Symes, a man with more get-rich-quick schemes than common sense. Together, they’ll have to overcome tropical storms, grifters, and plenty of car trouble en route to their destination—wherever that may be.
©1979 Charles Portis (P)2012 Recorded Books, LLC
Auschwitz Lullaby
Summary
Based on the true story of a brave German nurse tasked with caring for Auschwitz's youngest prisoners, Auschwitz Lullaby brings to life the story of Helene Hannemann - a woman who sacrificed everything for family and fought furiously for the children she hoped to save. On an otherwise ordinary morning in 1943, Helene Hannemann is preparing her five children for the day when the German police arrive at her home. Helene's worst fears come true when the police, under strict orders from the SS, demand that her children and husband, all of Romani heritage, be taken into custody. Though Helene is German and safe from the forces invading her home, she refuses to leave her family - sealing her fate in a way she never could have imagined. After a terrifying trek across the continent, Helene and her family arrive at Auschwitz and are thrown into the chaos of the camp. Her husband, Johann, is separated from them, but Helene remains fiercely protective of her children and those around her. When the powers-that-be discover that Helene is not only a German but also a trained nurse, she is forced into service at the camp hospital, which is overseen by the notorious Dr. Mengele himself. Helene is under no illusions in terms of Dr. Mengele's intentions, but she agrees to cooperate when he asks her to organize a day care and school for the Romani children in the camp. Though physically and emotionally brutalized by the conditions at Auschwitz, Helene musters the strength to protect the children in her care at any cost. Through sheer force of will, Helene provides a haven for the children of Auschwitz - an act of kindness and selflessness so great that it illuminates the darkest night of human history. Based on a true story, Mario Escobar's Auschwitz Lullaby demonstrates the power of sacrifice and the strength of human dignity - even when all hope seems lost. "Auschwitz Lullaby grabbed my heart and drew me in. A great choice for readers of historical fiction." (Irma Joubert, author of The Girl from the Train) An international best seller Full-length World War II historical novel A finalist for 2019's Empik Award for Literature Includes discussion questions for book clubs, research notes from the author, and a historical timeline
©2018 Mario Escobar (P)2018 Thomas Nelson
The Miller's Dance: A Novel of Cornwall 1812-1813
Summary
The Miller's Dance is the ninth in Winston Graham's sweeping series of Cornwall, Poldark. Cornwall, 1812. At Nampara, the Poldark family finds the New Year brings involvement in more than one unexpected venture. For Ross and Demelza, there is some surprising - and worrying - news. And Clowance, newly returned from her London triumphs, finds that her entanglement with Stephen Carrington brings not only happiness but heartache. As the armies battle in Spain and the political situation at home becomes daily more obscure, the Poldark and Warleggan families find themselves thrust into a turbulent new era as complex and changing as the patterns of The Miller's Dance....
©2017 Winston Graham (P)2017 Macmillan Digital Audio
Rebel
Summary
A powerful and evocative story of the Civil War's first battle and the men who fought it. When Richmond landowner Washington Faulconer snatches young Nate Starbuck from the grip of a Yankee-hating mob, Nate is both grateful and awed by his idealistic rescuer. Turning his back forever on the life he left in Boston, Nate agrees to join the newly formed Faulconer's Legion, even though it means fighting against his native North. But Nate's dilemma is only one of many within the Legion. Faulconer's own son cannot bring himself to fight, while his daughter's cheating fiance plots for control of the family fortune. As they come together to march into battle, the men are prepared to start a war...but they aren't ready for how they, and the nation, will be forever changed by the oaths they have sworn for their beloved South.
(P)2001 Blackstone Audiobooks
Like Water for Chocolate
Summary
The #1 best seller in Mexico in 1990, Like Water for Chocolate is a romantic, poignant tale of family life in turn-of-the-century Mexico. Tita is the youngest daughter of Mama Elena, the tyrannical owner of the De la Garza ranch. As the youngest, she is expected to remain single and stay at home to care for her mother. So when Tita falls in love, Mama Elena arranges for Tita's older sister to marry Tita's young man. As punishment, Tita is forced to bake the wedding cake. The bitter tears Tita weeps while stirring the batter provoke a remarkable reaction among the guests who eat the cake. It's apparent then that Tita's culinary talents are unique.
©1989 Laura Esquivel (P)1994 Books on Tape, Inc.
Reilly's Luck
Summary
Val Darrant was just four years old the snowy night his mother abandoned him. But instead of meeting a lonely death, he met Will Reilly - a gentleman, a gambler, and a worldly, self-taught scholar. For 10 years they each were all the family the other had, traveling from dusty American boomtowns to the glittering cities of Belle Époque Europe - until the day Reilly’s luck ran out in a roar of gunfire. But it wasn’t a gambling brawl or a pack of thieves that sealed Will’s fate. It was a far more complex story that Val would soon uncover - one that would bring him face-to-face with the one person he least wants to see: his mother. With the help of a beautiful, street-smart rancher and the woman who was Will Reilly’s lost love, Val must close this last cruel chapter of his past before he can turn the page on an uncertain future.
©1965 Louis L'amour (P)2011 Random House Audio
A Proper Pursuit
Summary
Set in 1893 and seasoned with wholesome humor, A Proper Pursuit tells the uplifting story of 20-year old Violet Hayes and her search for her elusive mother and for true love. Fresh from finishing school, Violet receives a double shock. Her dad announces his upcoming wedding and then confesses an old lie - her mom didn't really leave for a sanitarium 11 years ago. But why then did she leave? Under cover of visiting the World's Fair, Violet travels to the stately Chicago home of her saintly grandmother and three eccentric great aunts. In her quest for her mother, Violet soon discovers much about faith, life, and love as she marches for women's rights, feeds slum dwellers, hob-knobs with the highfalutin, plays piano for evangelistic meetings, and ponders various marriage proposals. Lynn Austin, multiple Christy Award-winning author of A Woman's Place, creates vivid historical settings with vibrant characters.
©2007 Lynn Austin (P)2008 Recorded Books
Like Flames in the NIght
Summary
Strong-willed Tirzah wants to join her people in driving the enemy from the land of Israel and undergoes training for a secret mission inside the stronghold of Shechem. But soon after she has infiltrated the ruthless Aramean commander's kitchen, she makes a reckless decision that puts her and her allies in grave danger. Fresh off the battlefield, Liyam returns home to discover his beloved daughter is dead. After his vow to hunt down her killer leads to months of fruitless pursuit, his last hope is in a family connection that comes with strings attached. Strings that force him to pose as a mercenary and rescue an infuriating woman who refuses to leave her mission uncompleted. When an opportunity to pave a path to a Hebrew victory arises, can Tirzah convince Liyam to fight alongside her in the refuge city of her birth? Or will Liyam's thirst for vengeance outweigh his duty to his people, his God, and the woman he's come to love?
©2020 Connilyn Cossette (P)2020 Recorded Books
Time Pebbles
Summary
Tekla, son of an ancient shaman, loses Ka Li when she is torn from his life by a brutal tribe of Denisovans in a Late Pleistocene kidnapping. Ka Li escapes but is unarmed and forced to flee across the Bering land bridge where she becomes hopelessly lost in the endless tracts of North America. Only Tekla cares enough to search for her over the years. As Ka Li survives fierce predators and scarce resources, she leaves behind a series of signal cairns to help Tekla find her. Skipping forward 60,000 years, Helen Ryland, a mid-20th century archaeologist, unearths one of Ka Li’s surviving signal cairns and realizes she has found trace of people who populated the Americas even before the Clovis culture. Helen’s detective work tracking Ka Li’s timeless signals across the Alaskan wilderness now intertwines with Ka Li’s story. As Helen solves the puzzle of the signal cairns she finds universal fame and suffers devastating misfortune. In the end, Helen discovers that science in isolation cannot answer all of her questions for Tekla’s devotion to Ka Li had not died even though 600 centuries had passed.
©2014 Jerry Merritt (P)2018 Podium Publishing
Centennial
Summary
Written to commemorate the Bicentennial in 1976, James A. Michener's magnificent saga of the West is an enthralling celebration of the frontier. Brimming with the glory of America's past, the story of Colorado - the Centennial State - is manifested through its people: Lame Beaver, the Arapaho chieftain and warrior, and his Comanche and Pawnee enemies; Levi Zendt, fleeing with his child bride from the Amish country; and the cowboy, Jim Lloyd, who falls in love with a wealthy and cultured Englishwoman, Charlotte Seccombe. In Centennial, trappers, traders, homesteaders, gold seekers, ranchers, and hunters are brought together in the dramatic conflicts that shape the destiny of the legendary West - and the entire country.
©2014 James A. Michener (P)2015 Random House Audio
Mexico
Summary
Pulitzer Prize-winning author James A. Michener, whose novels hurtle from the far reaches of history to the dark corners of the world, paints an intoxicating portrait of a land whose past and present are as turbulent, fascinating, and colorful as any other on Earth. When an American journalist travels to report on the upcoming duel between two great matadors, he is ultimately swept up in the dramatic story of his own Mexican ancestry - from the brilliance and brutality of the ancients to the iron fist of the invading Spaniards to modern Mexico, fighting through dust and bloodshed to build a nation upon the ashes of revolution. Architectural splendors, frenzied bullfights, horrific human sacrifice: Michener weaves them all into an epic human story that ranks with the best of his beloved best-selling novels.
©2014 James A. Michener (P)2015 Random House Audio