Historical Fiction Favorites

Good Night, Irene

A Novel

By: Luis Alberto Urrea
Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik & Luis Alberto Urrea
Length: 13 hours 25 minutes

“In this WWII epic, Luis Alberto Urrea captures the catastrophic scale of war through the eyes of Irene and Dorothy, two Red Cross enlistees. Their spry banter, secrets, and tender care make a story and a friendship you won’t forget. Read more

The Postcard

By: Anne Berest
Narrated by: Barrie Kealoha
Length: 13 hours 5 minutes

“This is a heartbreaking and thrilling mystery story of the Holocaust -- the author's own family stars in her true crime investigation. This book is both completely compelling and hard to get through, and the narrator's performance is unforgettable! Read more

The Woman with the Cure

By: Lynn Cullen
Narrated by: Hillary Huber
Length: 12 hours 1 minute

"Huge applause... women have always been in science—despite those who would pretend otherwise.” --Bonnie Garmus, New York Times bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry

She gave up everything — and changed the world.

A riveting novel based on the true story of the woman who stopped a pandemic, from the bestselling author of Mrs. Poe.
 
In 1940s... Read more

Lapvona

A Novel

By: Ottessa Moshfegh
Narrated by: Ottessa Moshfegh
Length: 8 hours 43 minutes

“A gritty, grotesque, and desolate narrative centered around a sun-parched medieval fiefdom. Moshfegh, true to her style, shocks the reader with the primal machinations of an abusively pious sheep farmer and his differently-abled son, a repulsive and exploitive lord, and a hermetic forest witch. Not for the faint of heart! Read more

Shrines of Gaiety

A Novel

By: Kate Atkinson
Narrated by: Jason Watkins
Length: 15 hours 58 minutes

“Atkinson's Shrines of Gaiety book is a Dickensian exploration of post-war London. The Thames spits out bloated and puncture-filled bodies daily, while a few blocks away the wealthy party in Nellie Coker's ostentatious clubs without a care in the world. Coker and her family are the wheels upon which the story revolves. She and her children offer... Read more

Halcyon

A novel

By: Elliot Ackerman
Narrated by: Steven Jay Cohen
Length: 8 hours 46 minutes

A daring new novel, at once timely and timeless, set around an American family and the ever-shifting sands of history and memory and legacy that define them (“An expert juggling act.” —Stephen Markley, New York Times Book Review)

Martin Neumann, recently divorced, is living at Halcyon, the Virginia estate of renowned lawyer, family patriarch, and... Read more

Beyond That, the Sea

A Novel

By: Laura Spence-Ash
Narrated by: Ell Potter
Length: 12 hours 17 minutes

"Ell Potter's narration spans countries and decades as the story follows Bea and her connection to two families and two very different lives. Potter creates believable distinctions between well-developed characters of different ages from different locales. Listeners will be captivated by this compelling story."- AudioFile Magazine


A sweeping,... Read more

Watch Us Dance

A Novel

By: Leila Slimani
Narrated by: Lara Sawalha
Length: 9 hours 11 minutes

“A rich family saga . . . [written with] voluptuous lyricism and emotional precision.” —The Washington Post

The rebellions within an interracial family play out against the countercultural rebellions of the 1960s in this sexy, stylish, sophisticated new novel by the award-winning, internationally bestselling author of The Perfect Nanny and In the... Read more

Crook Manifesto

A Novel

By: Colson Whitehead
Narrated by: Dion Graham
Length: 10 hours 47 minutes

“Colson Whithead is a brilliant novelist, writing with verve, and a sense of fun. Read more

Yonder

A Novel

By: Jabari Asim
Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Lamarr Gulley, JD Jackson, Adam Lazarre-White, Imani Jade Powers & Janina Edwards
Length: 8 hours 16 minutes

The Water Dancer meets The Prophets in this spare, gripping, and beautifully rendered novel exploring love and friendship among a group of enslaved Black strivers in the mid-19th century.

They call themselves the Stolen. Their owners call them captives. They are taught their captors’ tongues and their beliefs but they have a language and rituals... Read more

Demon Copperhead

A Novel

By: Barbara Kingsolver
Narrated by: Charlie Thurston
Length: 21 hours 2 minutes

“Barbara Kingsolver intentionally wrote this novel as a 'modern day David Copperfield' story. Fans of Kingsolver will be pleased to find her usual wonderful word-smithing and soulful storytelling. Read more

Mercury Pictures Presents

A Novel

By: Anthony Marra
Narrated by: Carlotta Brentan
Length: 14 hours 2 minutes

“Mercury Pictures Presents is an utterly satisfying novel, full of rich characters and a beautifully choreographed plot told with wry humor, great love, and writing so smart you’ll want to underline every paragraph. Read it! Read more

The Paris Bookseller

By: Kerri Maher
Narrated by: Lauryn Allman
Length: 10 hours 37 minutes

“The Paris Bookseller is historical fiction that tells the story of the real Sylvia Beach, an American in Paris post World War I, who opens Shakespeare and Co. The bookstore becomes the center of the literary scene of the Lost Generation of writers—Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, and others walking... Read more

Libertie

By: Kaitlyn Greenidge
Narrated by: Channie Waites
Length: 12 hours 12 minutes

“This fascinating story of Libertie is set in and around the Civil War in Brooklyn, NY. Libertie, the daughter of a free black doctor, feels obligated to live up to her mothers’ expectations for her, all the while attempting to forge for herself her own path through the world. Themes of racism, colorism, and gender are all grappled with. Though... Read more

The Wind Knows My Name

A Novel

By: Isabel Allende
Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini & Maria Liatis
Length: 7 hours 59 minutes

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “The lives of a Jewish boy escaping Nazi-occupied Europe and a mother and daughter fleeing twenty-first-century El Salvador intersect in this ambitious, intricate novel about war and immigration” (People), from the author of A Long Petal of the Sea and Violeta

“Timely, provocative . . . emotionally satisfying . . . [a... Read more

The Friday Night Club

A Novel of Artist Hilma af Klint and Her Creative Circle

By: Sofia Lundberg, Alyson Richman & M.J. Rose
Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert, Pete Cross & Alyson Richman
Length: 8 hours 16 minutes

An International Bestseller

While men have long been credited with producing the first abstract paintings, the true creator was actually a woman – Swedish artist Hilma af Klint, who was inspired by her mystic visions. Acclaimed authors Sofia Lundberg, Alyson Richman, and M.J. Rose bring her story to life in this groundbreaking novel.
 
Early... Read more

The Red Balcony

A Novel

By: Jonathan Wilson
Narrated by: Peter Noble
Length: 8 hours 40 minutes

Based on actual events, a gripping novel of sex, love, history and justice in the tinderbox of British Mandatory Palestine, by the acclaimed author of A Palestine Affair

"The story of what is arguably Israel’s foundational murder trial—a tale of multiple identities and loyalties." —Joshua Cohen, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of The... Read more

The Covenant of Water

By: Abraham Verghese
Narrated by: Abraham Verghese
Length: 31 hours 16 minutes

“The book is beautiful, but the way Abraham Verghese narrates it, is superb. 31 hours and 16 minutes of pure bliss (and sadness and happiness and beauty). Read more

Afterlives

A Novel

By: Abdulrazak Gurnah
Narrated by: Damian Lynch
Length: 10 hours 13 minutes

ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2022

A NEW YORKER “ESSENTIAL READ”

A NATIONAL BESTSELLER

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WASHINGTON POST, TIME, THE NEW YORKER, BOOKPAGE, AND KIRKUS REVIEWS

“Superb. . . . A celebration of a place and time when people held onto their own ways, and basked in ordinary joys even as... Read more

Horse

A Novel

By: Geraldine Brooks
Narrated by: James Fouhey, Lisa Flanagan, Graham Halstead, Katherine Littrell & Michael Obiora
Length: 14 hours 5 minutes

“Another well researched historical fiction by Brooks. This time she writes about race and horse racing, transporting the reader to the Antebellum South. The book is written from the point of view of several people in the life of the famous race horse and sire named Lexington. We follow his life primarily through the eyes of his enslaved groom... Read more