New Reviews: Historical Fiction

Narrator Euan Morton's soft Irish brogue transports listeners to New York City in 1799. Justice Flanagan, newly returned from law training in Dublin and his part in the Irish Rebellion, investigates his father's suicide and digs into an investment scandal. It doesn't help that his uncle, Ignatius Flanagan, known as "The Bull," is an enforcer and his father's business partners... Read More

Many shocking acts of unbridled racism have taken place in America's history, among them the twentieth-century internment of Japanese-American citizens during WWII. Elizabeth Romanski doesn't disappoint in narrating this multigenerational mystery set in Depression-era California. Louis Thorn and Haruto Yamada are friendly rivals--in piloting and in romance. Both are ace flyers... Read More

Fans of THE PARIS WIFE will embrace McLain's imagining of Ernest Hemingway's romantic life, based on extensive primary sources. Narrator January LaVoy does a fine job of creating the fictional voice of Martha Gellhorn, a journalist and novelist in her own right who became Hemingway's third wife. LaVoy's performance can be richly enthusiastic as she captures the settings of... Read More

A sensational narration by Imogen Church keeps this historical fiction engaging and exciting. Set in Amsterdam during Holland's Golden Age, this riveting story offers fascinating descriptions of social norms, extraordinary people, and ordinary routines. Catrin, a widow, leaves her village and moves to Amsterdam to work as a housekeeper, leaving behind questions surrounding her... Read More

Katharine McEwan gives a first-rate performance as Maria "Minnie" Feodorovna, the Danish princess who became czarina of Russia, and mother of Nicholas, the last Romanov czar. McEwan is utterly believable as the young woman leaving home, expecting to marry the czarevich, heir to the Russian throne. McEwan fully becomes Minnie as she shares her dreams and disappointments, her... Read More

Hana and Kei are mixed-race twins who were raised in Hawaii. Driven apart by tragedy, Hana settles in New York, as far as she can get from her sister and their memories. Narrator Christine Lakin draws listeners into this family drama involving a backdrop of historical horrors, including the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII. Her narration is full of feelings that... Read More

This extraordinary collaboration between the Booker Prize-winning novelist Pat Barker and superb narrators Kristin Atherton and Michael Fox reimagines the passionate, bloody, mythic Trojan War of Homer's ILIAD. Once begun, you will want to abandon everything to spend time with Fox's "Great" Achilles (aka The Butcher) and Atherton's Briseis, a Trojan queen become his bed-slave.... Read More

This engaging audiobook demonstrates that, despite the passage of nearly two generations, new Holocaust stories continue to emerge. Richard Armitage is a superb narrator whose performance here is among his best. Heather Morris bases her book on the story of Holocaust survivor Ludwig Sokolov, who was taken to Auschwitz and given the job of tattooing numbers on every prisoner.... Read More