Historical Audiobooks | Fiction

"Brought to you by Penguin. If old age was thought of as an evening, ending in midnight oblivion, they were well into the eleventh hour. Two quarrelsome old men in Chennai, India, experience private tragedy against the backdrop of national calamity. Revisiting the Bombay neighbourhood of Midnight's Children, a magical musician is unhappily married to a multibillionaire. In an English college, an undead academic can't rest until he avenges his former tormentor. Following Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, Salman Rushdie's new fiction moves between the places he has grown up in, inhabited, explored, and left. In doing so, he asks fundamental questions we all one day face. How does one deal with, accommodate, or rail against entering the eleventh hour, the final stage of your life? How can you bid farewell to the places you have made home? The Eleventh Hour is the magisterial new work from one of our greatest living writers. It speaks deeply to what Salman Rushdie has come from and through, and strikes into the heart of our fractious times. © Salman Rushdie 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025"

Salman Rushdie (Author), TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Dublin Trilogy & more: Six BBC Radio Full-Cast Productions including Shadow of a Gunman & Juno a

"An unparalleled collection of Full-Cast BBC Drama adaptations of Sean O’Casey’s powerful, poignant works One of Ireland’s foremost playwrights, Sean O’Casey is renowned for his groundbreaking plays depicting the lives of poor, working-class Dubliners struggling with social and political upheaval and revolutionary change. This is the first comprehensive audio collection of O'Casey's works, and includes the three masterpieces collectively known as the ‘Dublin Trilogy’, as well as the dark comic satire Cock-a-Doodle Dandy, the one-act Bedtime Story and the anti-war drama The Silver Tassie. The Shadow of a Gunman – Dublin, 1920. With the Irish War of Independence raging, poet Donal Davoren finds himself caught up in danger and violence when he is mistaken for an IRA gunman on the run. Bryan Murray, Alan Devlin and Marcella O’Riordan star in this Radio 4 production of Sean O’Casey’s breakthrough play. Juno and the Paycock – The slum-dwelling Boyle family are blighted by poverty, war and the alcoholism of its feckless patriarch 'Captain' Jack Boyle. Will a surprise legacy transform their lives? Adapted for Radio 3, O’Casey’s classic tragicomedy stars Sorcha Cusack and Stanley Townsend. The Plough and the Stars – Painting a stark portrait of a city and a nation in turmoil, this classic play tells the story of ordinary Dubliners during the Easter Rising of 1916. Introduced by the playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah and starring Elaine Cassidy, Padraic Delaney, Gabrielle Reidy, Finbar Lynch & Matthew McNulty. Cock-a-Doodle Dandy – Rich farmer Michael Marthraun tries to stamp out permissiveness in rural Ireland, but the appearance of a beautifully plumed rooster calls the villagers to love and liberty. Believing the bird to be demonic, Marthraun calls in the priest, Father Domineer… Joseph O’Conor, Stephen Brennan and T. P. McKenna star in this adaptation of O’Casey’s own favourite play. Bedtime Story – Pious young clerk John Joe Mulligan is known to be a pillar of the Church. So why has he invited the seductive Angela back to his room? A concise exploration of morality and religious hypocrisy, this farcical comedy stars John Lynch, Sorcha Cusack and Angela Dearden. The Silver Tassie – A tale of love and the bitter heroics of war, O’Casey’s moving Expressionist play follows young athlete Harry Heegan (Jim Norton) as he leaves the football field for the Western Front. Text copyright © Sean O’Casey 1923 (The Shadow of a Gunman), 1924 (Juno and the Paycock), 1926 (The Plough and the Stars), 1927 (The Silver Tassie), 1949 (Cock-a-Doodle Dandy), 1951 (Bedtime Story) Production credits Written by Sean O’Casey The Shadow of a Gunman Juno and the Paycock The Plough and the Stars Cock-a-Doodle Dandy Bedtime Story The Silver Tassie © 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd"

Sean O'Casey (Author), Elaine Cassidy, Elizabeth Morgan, Finbar Lynch, Full Cast, Geoffrey Matthews, Jim Norton, John Hollis, John Kavanagh, John Lynch, Mary O'Farrell, Sorcha Cusack (Narrator)

Audiobook

Blood and Ice & other plays: Five Full-Cast BBC Radio Productions

"Five full-cast dramas by the celebrated Scottish writer Liz Lochhead, plus a short story Liz Lochhead is a widely recognised poet, playwright and performer. She was the Makar, Scotland’s national poet, between 2011 and 2016, and was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 2015. The six pieces in this anthology are characterised by their evocative language and focus on different facets of female identity: from schoolgirls, wives and mothers to convention-defying creators and ‘cunning women’. Blood and Ice – Summer, 1816. Following their scandalous elopement, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and her lover Percy Shelley decamp to Lake Geneva. There, they are joined by Lord Byron and his mistress Claire Clairmont, and one night, in a villa by the shore, they challenge each other to write a ghost story. Mary’s tale will become the most famous Gothic novel of all time – and the creature at its centre will haunt her for the rest of her life. Starring Gerda Stevenson, Stephen Boxer, Jack Klaff and Stella Gonet. Quelques Fleurs – Liz Lochhead plays lonely, ‘born to shop’ housewife Verena, with Stuart Hepburn as her oil-rig worker husband in these tragicomic intercut monologues, which paint a portrait of a childless couple trapped in an unhappy marriage. Maleficium – Taking its title from a Latin word meaning ‘malevolent sorcery’, this chilling play draws on real accounts of witch trials to create voices for three women: Alice, Margery and Jinnet – a farm labourer, a farmer's wife and an elderly wisewoman. When two of them are accused of witchcraft by the other, they are brought to the point of tragedy… Starring Clare Corbett, Siobhan Redmond and Freda Dowie. Fancy You Minding That – Separated by three generations and by the 400 miles from London to Glasgow, a grandmother, mother and daughter recall their very different, very painful memories of the men in their lives. With Phyllis Logan as Valerie, Jennifer Piercey as Ina and Catherine Clarke as Kate. Cuba – Scotland, 1962. With the Cuban Missile Crisis at its height, best friends Barbara and Bernadette believe the world is about to end. They decide to spend their last days making a stand for women and peace – only to find themselves facing a very personal betrayal. Julie Wilson Nimmo, Pauline Lockhart and Liz Lochhead star. ‘The Cure’ – Hoping to impress her handsome house captain, a schoolgirl takes to the athletics track – but the course of true love does not run smoothly. Read by Grace Glover. Text copyright © Liz Lochhead 1982 (Blood and Ice), 1986 (Fancy You Minding That), 1991 (Quelque Fleurs), 1994 (‘The Cure’), 1998 (Cuba), 2001 (Maleficium) © 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd"

Liz Lochhead (Author), Catherine Clarke, Clare Corbett, Full cast, Gerda Stevenson, Jack Klaff, Jon Glover, Liz Lochhead, Phyllis Logan, Siobhan Redmond, Stella Gonet (Narrator)

Audiobook

Roseanna

Beverley Watts (Author), TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Ivory City: A Novel

"The Devil in the White City meets Pride and Prejudice in this romantic historical murder mystery set at the 1904 World's Fair. The St. Louis World's Fair, 1904: A miniature city of palaces and pavilions that becomes a backdrop for romance, betrayal-and murder. Cousins Grace and Lillie have been best friends since birth, despite Grace's vastly inferior social status ever since her mother married for love instead of wealth. When Lillie invites Grace to the biggest event of the century-the legendary World's Fair, also known as "The Ivory City"-Grace hopes her fortunes might be about to change. But when a member of their party is brutally killed at the fair, and suspicion falls on Lillie's brother Oliver, Grace must prove Oliver's innocence before her beloved cousins' family is ruined forever. Along the way, she'll discover that the city's wealthy elite-including Oliver's handsome but irritable friend Theodore-aren't quite who they appear to be. And amidst the glitz, glamor, and magic of the Ivory City lurks a danger that just may claim her life."

Emily Bain Murphy (Author), Stephanie Cannon (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Killing at Crowswood Castle

"A vicious master, a cruel injustice, and a long-held secret… After travelling to the notoriously haunted Crowswood Castle to recover from illness, Cambridge student Vita Carew finds herself at the centre of a ghostly unsolved mystery. As renovations on the ancient castle near completion, old secrets emerge, and Vita must decipher the meaning of a hidden message in an old painting of the deceased previous mistress of the house. When workmen unearth human remains in the castle grounds, Vita finds herself piecing together the clues to a chilling decades-old mystery. Armed with her sharp intellect and keen eye for detail, can Vita unravel the truth behind the killing at Crowswood Castle and bring justice to the long-forgotten victim? Fran Smith’s gripping fifth installment of the Vita Carew Mysteries series will have readers enthralled until the very last page."

Fran Smith (Author), Sophie Roberts (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Vol. 8: Vol. 8

"'Strange, considering it all now after a night's sleep, that I'd had no premonition of what awaited. That seems to be the nature of life, however. Things that ought to come with warnings rarely do.' The Year is 1884 and Emma M. Lion has, at long last, gained her majority. Entering a golden age of friendship with Pierce, Islington, and Hawkes, Emma is confident she will manage whatever comes her way. It is The Season she must help Arabella secure a husband, while navigating the threat of Aunt Eugenia, the unflagging adoration of Charles Goddard, and the amusing unpredictability of St. Crispian's. But the secrets of her trusted friends are what might very well bring about disaster. Emma M. Lion offers up her Unselected Journals, however self-incriminating they may be. Armed with wit and a sideways amusement, Emma documents the curious realities of her life at Lapis Lazuli House. Readers have compared Beth Brower's writing to Jane Austen, Oscar Wilde, P.G. Wodehouse, and L. M. Montgomery."

Beth Brower (Author), TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

Cup of Gold: A Life of Henry Morgan, Buccaneer, with Occasional Reference to History

"“There was no desire in him for a state or condition, no picture in his mind of the thing to be when he had followed his longing; but only a burning and a will overpowering to journey outward and outward after the earliest risen star.” John Steinbeck’s first novel, and his only work of historical fiction, is loosely inspired by Sir Henry Morgan, the infamous pirate of the 1650s and 60s. Captain Morgan was a legendary and notorious man who struck terror into the hearts of men, in service of his personal ambitions. He has become obsessed with two thoughts: the beautiful and mysterious woman known as La Santa Roja, and to conquer Panama City (the titular Cup of Gold) away from Spain. Unique in Steinbeck’s oeuvre, this swashbuckling tale is both a historical and fantastical retelling of the life of this legendary Welsh pirate. Featuring an introduction written and read by Stefan Rudnicki"

John Steinbeck (Author), Stefan Rudnicki (Narrator)

Audiobook

Argentia Station

"On the eve of WWII, a group of submariners brace against the tides of the gathering storm. In the spring of 1939, four young, untested Ensigns emerge from the unforgiving halls of Annapolis and the US Navy’s Submarine School, ready to enter the Silent Service. Alistair, the privileged son and playboy; Fred, the underestimated athlete; Stan, the farm boy with big dreams; and Brad, the admiral’s wayward child. Drawn from vastly different worlds, they forge a bond stronger than steel as they prepare for the dangerous battles ahead. Stationed in the cold, unforgiving waters of the North Atlantic at the secret Argentia base in Newfoundland, Canada, the men are tasked with a pre-war mission few will ever know: supporting Britain’s struggle against the German U-boats. With outdated equipment, overly cautious commanders, and whispers of sabotage, they navigate the treacherous ocean and freezing conditions to hunt an enemy beneath the waves. And as the shadow of war stretches closer, and a German plot to dramatically disrupt the course of the approaching conflict comes to light, they begin to suspect that their mission is far more risky—and much more pivotal—than any of them could ever have imagined. Plunging readers into the untold stories of the Atlantic theater, George Wallace and Don Keith’s Argentia Station is a sweeping tale of bravery, brotherhood, and sacrifice. Great for readers of Tom Clancy and Lee Jackson."

Don Keith, George Wallace (Author), TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Good Nazi

"1933. A body has been found on a luxury airship en route from Berlin to Rio de Janeiro. Police Detective Bruno Brückner, travelling on board, is immediately asked to investigate—and soon discovers that the murdered man was not the proud Nazi he claimed to be. What's more, he was carrying a stash of banned 'degenerate' material. As Brückner interviews his fellow passengers—a wealthy baroness, an antisemitic doctor, a debonair Englishman—he realizes that each of them has something to hide. Uncovering the truth will reveal a story of secret identities, forbidden love and revenge, where nothing is as it appears."

Samir Machado de Machado (Author), Paul Woodson (Narrator)

Audiobook

Trigger Happy

"Accompanied by his Crow partner, Moses Red Buffalo, the famed army scout Nathan Stark takes on a mission in Montana Territory that forces him to choose between duty and honor in this action-packed frontier adventure from the Greatest Western Writers of the 21st Century. Steely-eyed. Quick as a rattler. Unforgiving as the desert sun. The stories of Nathan Stark’s grit and determination as a manhunter across Indian territory are legendary. He stalks the wild western frontier on behalf of the army, pursuing hostiles to avenge his slaughtered family—and redeem his own failure to protect them. Once again reluctantly partnered with Crow scout Moses Red Buffalo, Nathan has been assigned to assist the U.S. cavalry in escorting a large band of Blackfoot Indians across Montana and into Canada. Refusing to leave, Chief Thunder Elk threatens to wage war if his tribe is not left alone. Wealthy rancher Bennett McGreevey wants the land the Blackfoot call home, and he’s powerful enough to ensure the army does his bidding. But Nathan Stark is not a soldier. And no cattle baron is going to give him marching orders. It’s a perfect storm for bullets to rain sheer hell across the land . . . NATHAN STARK—A MAN TO RIDE THE RIVER WITH."

J.A. Johnstone, William W. Johnstone (Author), Chris Henry Coffey (Narrator)

Audiobook

Thunder of the Mountain Man

"In this pulse-pounding western from national bestselling authors William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone, Smoke Jensen welcomes a new rancher to the valley—whose intentions are deadly, especially when his …arrival brings a wild bunch of merciless killers in his wake . . . JOHNSTONE COUNTRY. GOOD GUNS MAKE FOR GOOD NEIGHBORS. Thaddeus Bolton sees himself as a cattle king. His ambitions are as big as the land and stock he just purchased near Smoke Jensen’s Sugarloaf ranch. Bolton and his family are friendly enough, although in the case of his wife Emmaline, perhaps too friendly. While her husband stakes his claim with plans to spread throughout the territory, she’s set her sights on Smoke. But fending her off is the least of Smoke’s worries when outlaws sweep across the valley on daring rustling raids—hitting every ranch except Bolton’s. Fearing it’s only a matter of time before his cattle falls prey to the rustlers, Bolton takes the law into his own hands. Forming a band of vigilantes, he tracks down the men he believes are the thieves and hangs them, despite no evidence linking them to the crimes. Then when Bolton’s ranch is actually rustled, his vigilantes go on an even deadlier, merciless rampage. To stop the escalating violence, Smoke forms his own posse to bring the outlaws to justice—only to discover that Bolton’s plans are sinister and downright evil."

J.A. Johnstone, William W. Johnstone (Author), Jack Garrett (Narrator)

Audiobook

Historical Audiobooks in Fiction