New Reviews: Historical Fiction

Tanya Reynolds gives this stunning novel a luminous performance. Budding journalist Joseph Adelaide is invited to interview the world-famous, notoriously reclusive painter Edouard Tartuffe. "Tata" lives in isolation in Provence with his niece, Ettie. Ettie caters to him, doing everything from answering his mail to cutting his hair while silently enduring his rages, cruelty, and... Read More

Dina Pearlman narrates this fictional reimagining of real-life German Jewish painter Charlotte Salomon with conviction and urgency. In 1939, 21-year-old Charlotte is expelled from the Berlin Art Academy because of her religion. She's sent to her grandparents, who are refugees in Nice, and is eventually deported to the notorious Auschwitz death camp, where she dies. Throughout... Read More

What a treat it is to listen to Alix Dunmore's splendid narration of this novel about the first class of women to matriculate at Oxford University in 1920. The story revolves around four young women who all reside on Corridor 8. Dunmore portrays aristocratic Ottoline, the ringleader of the group, with a posh London accent and an imposing intonation. Beatrice, the daughter of a... Read More

Allison Epstein's novel has all the darkness and gravitas of a Dickens work, and narrator Will Watt provides a voice that is appropriately grim. He delivers Epstein's clever imagining of the life of Fagin, from Dickens's OLIVER TWIST, ranging from his early life, including his first name (Jacob), to his ultimate end. Fagin grows up in London's Jewish quarter, poor, despised by... Read More

Thanks to Amy Scanlon's virtuosic narration, paleoanthropologist Mary Leakey's personal and professional lives become historical fiction at its finest. Her story ranges from the 1930s, when she was in her 20s, to the 1970s, when she was a cigar-smoking scientist in her 70s. Listeners hear Mary fall in love with Louis as she illustrates his books on human evolution. The story... Read More

Caroline Hewitt's superb narration takes listeners on a powerfully emotional journey in this dual-timeline audiobook. In 1942, as German officers arrive at their French countryside home, 7-year-old Martine is hidden in a cabinet by her Jewish father with a valuable bottle of wine. Alone on the streets, Martine is brought to an abbey by Sister Ada, who is hiding her own secret.... Read More

Lisa Flanagan narrates this historical novel with compassion. In 1942, almost 300 works of art from the Uffizi Galleries in Florence were hidden in a Tuscan villa to protect them from Nazi looting. Stella is sent to stay with her uncle in that villa, which he is overseeing for its absentee owners. There, Stella tries to find her place with relatives she's never known and to... Read More

This long, drawn-out audiobook is a fictional account of the ultra-glamorous lives of two of the richest women of all time, Barbara Hutton and Doris Duke. The smooth, nonjudgmental voice of narrator Whitney Dykhouse describes their lifestyles. Listeners hear about designer clothes, priceless jewels, and sumptuous meals; valuable antique furnishings, enchanting villas, and... Read More

In this riveting work of historical fiction, listeners learn about the remarkable exploits of French Resistance leader Marie-Madeleine Fourcade and her intrepid agents who supplied vital information to the Allies during the dark days of WWII. Award-winning narrator Saskia Maarleveld tells this story in a hushed voice and conspiratorial tone. The plot moves swiftly, and... Read More

Faladé re-creates a post-WWII Paris filled with verve, trepidation, and heartbreak. As the City of Lights mends physically and emotionally from the war, it's overflowing with international students--Africans, Indo-Chinese, Arabs, and Americans. Narrator Jasmin Walker shines as she portrays Minette Traoré, a spirited French-born girl of Senegalese descent, and Cecile Rosenbaum,... Read More

The War of the Roses comes to life in this fascinating novel about the political struggles and bloody battles between rival houses of the Plantagenet family. John Hollingworth portrays the innocent 10-year-old boy who is plucked from farm life and told that he's secretly the 17th Earl of Warwick, heir to the throne of England. As the boy is educated, Hollingworth's voice... Read More

Keeping track of the wide range of accents of a cast of characters from multiple countries--New Zealand, London, France, and Hungary, to name a few--is a daunting task. English actor Bessie Carter does just that in this delightful crumpet of historical fiction. Carter employs her best BBC English for famed mystery author Dorothy L. Sayers, who spearheads the effort to form a... Read More

A group of acclaimed narrators delivers an absorbing performance of David Baldacci's new novel. In 1944 London, well-born 15-year-old Molly, 14-year-old Charlie from London's East Side, and Ignatius Oliver, a bereaved bookshop owner, are flung together to forge a found family in the midst of war. While the writing suggests a young adult novel, the complex story will certainly... Read More

Mia Hutchinson-Shaw gives a vibrant performance in this variation on TRUE GRIT, which captures the historic quality of the Old West in the mid-1800s and a woman who poses as a man to survive a journey. Haidie Richards's father left home years ago to seek his fortune mining gold in Colorado and disappeared. Convinced he's still alive, she begins a dangerous trek with her sister,... Read More