Historical Fiction audiobooks

Ahab's Wife - Abridged

By: Sena Jeter Naslund

Narrated by: Maryann Plunkett

Length: 6 hours 15 minutes

Abridged: Yes

This is destined to be remembered as one of the most-recognized first sentences in literature -- along with "Call me Ishmael." And Una Spenser, the transcendent hero at the center of Ahab's Wife may well become every bit as memorable as Ahab.

Inspired by a brief passage, in Moby, Dick, Sena Jeter Naslund has created an entirely new universe -- an... Read more

Mother of Pearl

By: Melinda Haynes

Narrated by: Nana Visitor

Length: 16 hours 20 minutes

Abridged: No

Twenty-eight-year-old Even Grade is a Black man who was orphaned as a child. 15-year-old Valuable Korner is a white girl who might as well have been orphaned. Petal, Mississippi, circa 1956, seems an unlikely spot for these two to connect, but a friendship forged across race lines is just one of many miracles waiting to happen in this small... Read more

Alvin Journeyman - Abridged

By: Orson Card

Narrated by: Nana Visitor

Length: 5 hours 53 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Book 4 of The Tales of Alvin Maker.In an alternate frontier where America is ruled by folk magic and mysterious charms, hexes, and potions, a man like Alvin Miller is an extraordinary person. The seventh son of a seventh son, Miller is a "Maker," with the power to create a new future for America. But first, he must defeat his ancient enemy, the... Read more

Prentice Alvin - Abridged

By: Orson Card

Narrated by: Nana Visitor

Length: 5 hours 38 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Book 3 of The Tales of Alvin Maker.From the 18th century into the early years of the 19th, Americans— traveling to find new homes and new lands— crossed the Appalachian Mountains and moved across the Northwest Territory, spreading west to the banks of the great river. But in this alternate frontier America, the men and... Read more

The Scarlet Pimpernel

By: Baroness Emmuska Orczy

Narrated by: Roe Kendall

Length: TBA

Abridged: No

The first and most successful in the Baroness’s series of books that feature Percy Blakeney, who leads a double life as an English fop and a swashbuckling rescuer of aristocrats, The Scarlet Pimpernel was the blueprint for what became known as the masked-avenger genre. As Anne Perry writes in her Introduction, the novel “has almost reached its... Read more

We Could Do Worse

By: Martin Greenberg, Howard Waldrop, Gregory Benfo...

Narrated by: Richard McGonagle, Gordon Thompson, Stefan Rudn...

Length: 6 hours 15 minutes

Abridged: No

Fascinating “ What If?” stories from Hugo and Nebula award-winning masters of altnerate history!What would the world be like if Teddy Roosevelt had fought in World War I? If the space race started during World War II? If Joseph McCarthy had been elected President? These and other questions are answered in this collection... Read more

The Rose Rent

By: Ellis Peters

Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon

Length: 6 hours 41 minutes

Abridged: No

A late spring in 1142 has the monks of Shrewsbury Abbey dismayed, for there may be no roses by June 22. For three years, wealthy young widow Judith Perle has rented her house to the monks for the price of a single white rose each year, in honor of her late husband. When nature finally complies, a pious monk is sent to pay the rent—and found... Read more

Savage Wilderness

By: Harold Coyle

Narrated by: Geoffrey Howard

Length: 15 hours 36 minutes

Abridged: No

In this riveting novel of the French and Indian War, master storyteller Harold Coyle takes us back to a time when America’s vast riches were up for grabs. From 1754 through 1759, British and American colonial forces were locked in constant battle with the French and their Indian allies over the great territories of the Ohio Valley. For British... Read more

Seventh Son - Abridged

By: Orson Card

Narrated by: Nana Visitor

Length: 5 hours 30 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Book 1 of The Tales of Alvin Maker.Young Alvin was born the seventh son of a seventh son. By his birthright, he possesses magical powers and is destined to become something great, perhaps even a Maker. Indeed, Alvin is special. But the boy remains vulnerable to dark forces who reach out to destroy him and are willing to do anything to keep him... Read more

On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon - Abridged

By: Kaye Gibbons

Narrated by: Polly Holliday

Length: 5 hours 7 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Like America in the mid-nineteenth century, Emma Garnet Tate is a woman at war with herself. Born to privilege on a James River plantation, she grows up increasingly aware that her family's prosperity is inextricably linked to the institution of slavery.

As she tells her story in 1900, she is still prey to her childhood, to the memories of a life... Read more

The Wedding - Abridged

By: Dorothy West

Narrated by: Regina Taylor

Length: TBA

Abridged: Yes

From Dorothy West, the last surviving member of the Harlem Renaissance, The Wedding is an intimate glimpse into African American middle class. Set on bucolic Martha's Vineyard in the 1950s, this is the story of life in the Oval, a proud, insular community made up of the best and brightest of the East Coast's black bourgeoisie. Within this inner... Read more

The Bull from the Sea - Abridged

By: Mary Renault

Narrated by: Michael York

Length: 2 hours 56 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Set in classical Greece, this is the riveting sequel to Mary Renault' s The King Must Die.Slaying the minotaur was only the beginning. Theseus's legendary exploits continue in this magnificent tale of mythological adventure in classical Greece. Picking up where The King Must Die left off, this stirring sequel recounts Theseus's... Read more

Red Prophet - Abridged

By: Orson Card

Narrated by: Nana Visitor

Length: 6 hours 11 minutes

Abridged: Yes

The second installment of Orson Scott Card' s best-selling series The Tales of Alvin Maker.In the first tale of Alvin Maker— Seventh Son— listeners are introduced to a pioneer America where magic works and special talents are utilized in marvelous ways. In this second installment in the Tales of Alvin Maker,... Read more

Heartfire - Abridged

By: Orson Card

Narrated by: Nana Visitor

Length: 5 hours 56 minutes

Abridged: Yes

The fifth installment of Orson Scott Card' s best-selling series The Tales of Alvin MakerPeggy Guester is a Torch, whose power is so great that she can follow the paths of each person's future and know their most intimate secrets. From the moment of Alvin's birth, Peggy has protected him. Now they are married, but their destinies... Read more

C.S.A. - Abridged

By: Howard Means

Narrated by: Richard Gilliland

Length: 6 hours 16 minutes

Abridged: Yes

For President Spencer Jefferson Lee— the great-great-grandson of both Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee— it's politics as usual. On one side, the lily-white Senate wants quid pro quo; on the other, the all-Black House has an agenda of its own. The powers-that-be agree on one thing: Utter separation between the races is... Read more

Caesar - Abridged

By: Colleen McCullough

Narrated by: Michael York

Length: 6 hours 11 minutes

Abridged: Yes

It is 54 B.C. Gaius Julius Caesar is sweeping through Gaul. While his victories in the name of Rome are epic, the conservative leaders of the Republic are not pleased -- they are terrified. Where will the boundless ambition of Rome's most brilliant soldier stop? He must be destroyed before he can overthrow the government and install himself as... Read more

The Last Valentine - Abridged

By: James Pratt

Narrated by: Vyto Ruginis

Length: 3 hours 9 minutes

Abridged: Yes

On February 14, 1944, Caroline Thomas said goodbye to her beloved husband, a Navy pilot sent to the Pacific. For half a century, she waited for him to return— until a miracle happened and she received his "Last Valentine." Their son, Neil Thomas, Jr., wants to share the powerful message of his parents' tragic, yet triumphant, 50-year... Read more

The Angel of Darkness - Abridged

By: Caleb Carr

Narrated by: Boyd Gaines

Length: 4 hours 22 minutes

Abridged: Yes

In The Angel Of Darkness, Caleb Carr brings back the vivid world of his bestselling The Alienist but with a twist: this story is told by the former street urchin Stevie Taggert, whose rough life has given him wisdom beyond his years. Thus New York City, and the groundbreaking alienist Dr. Kreizler himself, are seen anew.
It is June 1897. A year... Read more

Aztec Autumn - Abridged

By: Gary Jennings

Narrated by: David Dukes

Length: 6 hours 1 minute

Abridged: Yes

This sequel to Aztec returns to the Mexico of the conquistador. The young Aztec leader, Tenamáxtli, courageously refuses to bow to his foreign rulers, vowing revenge on the Spaniards who have conquered and destroyed his society. Driven to rebuild the Aztec Empire, Tenamáxtli secretly recruits an army to fight the seemingly... Read more

Rose Cottage - Abridged

By: Mary Stewart

Narrated by: Samantha Eggar

Length: 3 hours 13 minutes

Abridged: Yes

In the summer of 1947, Kate Herrick, widowed by the war, returns to Rose Cottage, her childhood home. A tiny, thatched dwelling nestled in an idyllic country setting, Rose Cottage at first appears the picture of tranquility. But Kate soon discovers that someone has broken in, and valuable family papers have disappeared. The village seethes with... Read more

Zeke And Ned

By: Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana

Narrated by: Barrett Whitener

Length: TBA

Abridged: No

Full of adventure, grace, and tragedy, Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana tell the story of two powerful Cherokee warriors searching for the future of Indian Territory.

Zeke and Ned is the story of Ezekiel Proctor and Ned Christie, the last Cherokee warriors—two proud, passionate men whose remarkable quest to carve a future out of Indian Territory... Read more

Manchu Palaces - Abridged

By: Jeanne Larson

Narrated by: Susan Clark

Length: 4 hours 28 minutes

Abridged: Yes

This rich and nuanced portrait of eighteenth-century China follows a Chinese girl' s path to enlightenment. At the midpoint of the Manchus' long sway over the largest empire in China's history, a young girl stands reluctantly on the brink of womanhood. Lotus, the Empress Dowager's servant, decides to follow a spiritual path through... Read more

Brother Cadfael's Penance - Abridged

By: Ellis Peters

Narrated by: Sir Derek Jacobi

Length: 3 hours 6 minutes

Abridged: Yes

While Brother Cadfael has bent Abbey rules, he has never broken his monastic vows—until now. Word has come to Shrewsbury of a treacherous act that has left 30 of Empress Maud's knights imprisoned during England's dynastic war between two grandchildren of William the Conqueror. All have been ransomed except Cadfael's secret son, Olivier.... Read more

The Potter's Field - Abridged

By: Ellis Peters

Narrated by: Sir Derek Jacobi

Length: TBA

Abridged: Yes

During the ploughing of the Potter's Field, the Brothers unearth the grisly remains of a woman's body. Rumors had it that the wild, beautiful Welsh woman had gone away with a lover, returning to her homeland, but now it seems as if she had been murdered. With the arrival of a young monk fleeing from the devastating civil war in East Anglia, the... Read more