Historical Fiction audiobooks

The Merchant Of Venice

By: William Shakespeare

Narrated by: David Morrissey, Full Cast, Juliet Aubrey, Mart...

Length: 2 hours 1 minute

Abridged: No

In this BBC full-cast production of The Merchant of Venice, love, bigotry, greed, and justice are entwined.

Shakespeare's classic play explores the eternal themes of love and hate, mercy and justice, with parallel stories centred on the moneylender, Shylock, and the lovers, Portia and Bassanio. Shylock's angry insistence on the repayment of his... Read more

Coriolanus

By: William Shakespeare

Narrated by: Adrian Dunbar, Full Cast, Kenneth Cranham, Samu...

Length: 2 hours 43 minutes

Abridged: No

In this BBC full-cast production of Coriolanus, allies and enemies become blurred just as Rome is in sight...

Coriolanus tells of a proud Roman general who captures the town Corioli but subsequently falls from favour with the Roman people. He allies himself with the Volscians and leads an attack on Rome, but allegiances are won and lost before... Read more

Romeo And Juliet

By: William Shakespeare

Narrated by: Andrew Scott, Douglas Henshall, Full Cast, Iwan...

Length: 2 hours 56 minutes

Abridged: No

In this BBC full-cast production of Romeo And Juliet, the two star-crossed lovers fight for each other until their dying breath. Can their two feuding families reconcile?

With the intimacy of radio, the full beauty and meaning of some of the most lyrical lines ever written can be truly heard: tenderness and passion, betrayal and bigotry are... Read more

Henry IV Part Two

By: William Shakespeare

Narrated by: Full Cast, Timothy West, Jamie Glover, Julian G...

Length: 2 hours 17 minutes

Abridged: No

In this BBC full-cast production of Henry IV Part 2, civil war is ravaging England. Rebels are rallying together, unified against Henry. Will Henry and his son, Hal, emerge victorious - or alive?

Father and son Julian Glover and Jamie Glover star as King Henry and his son Hal in the powerful production which also stars Timothy West and Prunella... Read more

Othello

By: William Shakespeare

Narrated by: Ray Fearon, Anastasia Hille, Cal MacAninch & Ja...

Length: 3 hours 5 minutes

Abridged: No

In this BBC full-cast production, Othello is drawn further and further into jealous rage by the manipulative Iago.

In this story of evil cunning perverting a once noble mind, radio captures Iago's sly hints and boasts to the audience with shocking clarity. The listener is led along an emotional path that grips with fascinating horror until the... Read more

Julius Caesar

By: William Shakespeare

Narrated by: Stella Gonet, Nicholas Farrell, Full Cast, Gera...

Length: 2 hours 20 minutes

Abridged: No

In this BBC full-cast production, Julius Caesar is triumphant after his victory over the sons of Pompey. But as bad omens and weather plague Rome, even his most loyal friends are starting to see the signs...

Political intrigue and fierce battle rage in this tense and dynamic production in which a country is torn apart under the legacy of Julius... Read more

The Teacher's Funeral

By: Richard Peck

Narrated by: Dylan Baker

Length: 4 hours 41 minutes

Abridged: No

The year is 1904, and Russell is 15. Though he dreams of leaving small-town Indiana to become part of a large farm crew in the Dakotas, he's forced to stay in school, where his sister Tansy has just become the new teacher. Through the autumn, Russell observes the strange goings-on in the classroom, including a fight for Tansy's affection... Read more

The Virgin's Lover - Abridged

By: Philippa Gregory

Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm

Length: 5 hours 6 minutes

Abridged: Yes

From #1 New York Times bestselling author and “queen of royal fiction” (USA TODAY) comes a riveting and scandalous love triangle between a young woman on the brink of greatness, a young man whose ambition far exceeds his means, and the wife who cannot forgive them.

In the autumn of 1558, church bells across England ring out the joyous news that... Read more

Quicksilver - Abridged

By: Neal Stephenson

Narrated by: Simon Preble & Stina Nielsen

Length: 22 hours

Abridged: Yes

Quicksilver is the story of Daniel Waterhouse, fearless thinker and conflicted Puritan, pursuing knowledge in the company of the greatest minds of Baroque-era Europe, in a chaotic world where reason wars with the bloody ambitions of the mighty, and where catastrophe, natural or otherwise, can alter the political landscape overnight.It is a... Read more

A Very Long Engagement

By: Sébastien Japrisot

Narrated by: Isabel Keating

Length: 5 hours 8 minutes

Abridged: No

Now a major motion picture from Amelie's director Jean-Pierre Jeunet and featuring Audrey Tautou and Jodie Foster comes a very different love story: A Very Long Engagement based on the acclaimed novel by Sébastien Japrisot

A runaway bestseller in France and winner of the 1991 Prix Interallié, Sébastien Japrisot's novel about World War I was... Read more

A Very Long Engagement - Abridged

By: Sébastien Japrisot

Narrated by: Maggi-Meg Reed

Length: 8 hours 27 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Now a major motion picture from Amelie's director Jean-Pierre Jeunet and featuring Audrey Tautou and Jodie Foster comes a very different love story: A Very Long Engagement based on the acclaimed novel by Sébastien Japrisot

A runaway bestseller in France and winner of the 1991 Prix Interallié, Sébastien Japrisot's novel about World War I was... Read more

The Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour: Unabridged Selections from The Frontier Stories: Volume 2

By: Louis L'Amour

Narrated by: Jason Culp

Length: 3 hours 9 minutes

Abridged: No

With more than 120 titles still in print, Louis L'Amour is recognized the world over as one of the most prolific and popular American authors in history. Though he met with phenomenal success in every genre he tried, the form that put him on the map was the short story. Now this great writer—who The Wall Street Journal recently compared with... Read more

To the Last Man - Abridged

By: Jeff Shaara

Narrated by: Philip Bosco

Length: 6 hours 3 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Jeff Shaara has enthralled readers with his New York Times bestselling novels set during the Civil War and the American Revolution. Now the acclaimed author turns to World War I, bringing to life the sweeping, emotional story of the war that devastated a generation and established America as a world power.

Spring 1916: the horror of a stalemate... Read more

The Virtues of War - Abridged

By: Steven Pressfield

Narrated by: James Langton

Length: 5 hours 50 minutes

Abridged: Yes

I have always been a soldier. I have known no other life. So begins Alexander’s extraordinary confession on the eve of his greatest crisis of leadership. By turns heroic and calculating, compassionate and utterly merciless, Alexander recounts with a warrior’s unflinching eye for detail the blood, the terror, and the tactics of his greatest... Read more

Trilby - Abridged

By: Gerald du Maurier

Narrated by: Peter Joyce

Length: 10 hours 39 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Full of the author's joie de vivre, this tale revels in the artistic life of 19th Century Paris. Three friends, perfect companions for each other, try to make their way as painters in the Bohemian climate of the left bank of the Seine, but then Little Billee falls in love. The object of his affections is Trilby, a gamine figure of the streets... Read more

The Family - Abridged

By: Mario Puzo

Narrated by: Philip Bosco

Length: TBA

Abridged: Yes

“Dazzling, passionate, a masterwork that ranks with Puzo’s best.”
—Nicholas Pileggi, author of Wiseguys“One of his most satisfying works….A thoroughly entertaining posthumous present from one of the masters of popular fiction.”
—BooklistMario Puzo’s final masterwork. A sweeping epic saga of corruption, greed, treachery, and sin, The Family is... Read more

The Temple of Music

By: Jonathan Lowy

Narrated by: Stephen Hoye

Length: 13 hours 38 minutes

Abridged: No

America is starkly divided between the haves and the have-nots. A Republican president seeks reelection in the afterglow of a war many view as unnecessary and imperialisttic. He is bankrolled by millionaires, with every step of his career orchestrated by a political mastermind. Religious extremists crusade against the nation’s moral... Read more

March

By: Geraldine Brooks

Narrated by: Richard Easton

Length: 10 hours 18 minutes

Abridged: No

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize--a powerful love story set against the backdrop of the Civil War, from the author of The Secret Chord.

From Louisa May Alcott's beloved classic Little Women, Geraldine Brooks has animated the character of the absent father, March, and crafted a story "filled with the ache of love and marriage and with the power of war... Read more

The Portrait

By: Iain Pears

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 5 hours 19 minutes

Abridged: No

A national bestseller from acclaimed author Iain Pears, The Portrait is a novel of suspense and a tour de force.

An art critic journeys to a remote island off Brittany to sit for a portrait painted by an old friend, a gifted but tormented artist living in self-imposed exile. The painter recalls their years of friendship, the gift of the critic's... Read more

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation

By: Lauren Willig

Narrated by: Kate Reading

Length: 13 hours 32 minutes

Abridged: No

Nothing goes right for Eloise. The one day she wears her new suede boots, it rains cats and dogs. When the subway stops short, she’s always the one thrown into some stranger’s lap. Plus, she’s had more than her share of misfortune in the way of love. In fact, ever since she realized romantic heroes are a thing of the past, she’s decided it’s... Read more

The Last Disciple

By: Hank Hanegraaff & Sigmund Brouwer

Narrated by: Doug Lamoreux

Length: 11 hours 5 minutes

Abridged: No

First-century Rome is a perilous city as Nero stalks the political circles and huddled groups of believers. To be safe, Christians must remain invisible.

Gallus Sergius Vitas is the only man within Nero’s trusted circle willing to do what it takes to keep the empire together. He struggles to lessen Nero’s monstrosities against the people of... Read more

Savannah {or} a Gift for Mr. Lincoln - Abridged

By: John Jakes

Narrated by: Dylan Baker

Length: 6 hours 16 minutes

Abridged: Yes

The author of sixteen consecutive New York Times bestsellers sets his sights on the jewel of the South-Savannah-and brings it to life in his inimitable style.
Georgia, 1864: Sherman's army marches from Atlanta to the sea. In its path, the charming old city of Savannah where the Lester ladies -- attractive widowed Sara and her feisty... Read more

Blonde - Abridged

By: Joyce Carol Oates

Narrated by: Jayne Atkinson

Length: 8 hours 23 minutes

Abridged: Yes

The National Book Award finalist and national bestseller exploring the life and legend of Marilyn MonroeSoon to be a Netflix Film starring Ana de Armas, Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale and Julianne NicholsonIn one of her most ambitious works, Joyce Carol Oates boldly reimagines the inner, poetic, and spiritual life of Norma Jeane Baker—the child,... Read more

King of the Middle March

By: Kevin Crossley-Holland

Narrated by: Michael Maloney

Length: 9 hours 12 minutes

Abridged: No

Thousands of knights and foot soldiers are mustering in Venice for the launch of the fourth Crusade. Among them in young Arthur de Caldicot, soon to dubbed a knight. He is thrilled to be part of this huge gathering; but all too soon the crusade falls into disarray.

War, romance, murder, family quarrels, power politics, the conflict between... Read more