New Reviews: Historical Fiction

Michael Brusasco delivers fact and fiction in this novel based on true events. In 1943, in a remote Tuscan village, the Fascist authorities order that all Jews be rounded up and imprisoned in the Bishop's villa to await relocation. As events unfold, Brusasco turns René, an unassuming village cobbler who is secretly in love with Anna, a widowed seamstress, into a man with a... Read More

A young mother and daughter who are struggling to survive the horrors of WWII London find solace in books in this novel, smoothly narrated by Saskia Maarleveld. With a pleasing accent and a mostly straightforward delivery, Maarleveld describes the community of a subscription library. Called booklovers' libraries, these staples of early-twentieth-century England provided curated... Read More

Carolina Hoyos gives a powerful performance of a parent's worst nightmare. In 1976, Argentina was in the grip of its Dirty War. Lorena Ledesma, a young mother, is kidnapped, leaving her 3-year-old son, Matías, with her mother, Esme. As time passes, Esme covertly meets with the mothers of others who have disappeared. Learning that while imprisoned Lorena gave birth to a... Read More

Saskia Maarleveld brings life to this story of plague, death, misogyny, and a gifted young midwife in Provence in 1347. Leaving midwifery to fight the plague is hard enough, but when the terrified citizens start a literal witch hunt looking for a scapegoat, Elea must save herself and her twin, Margo. Maarleveld's narration is spirited, meaningful, and skilled. With inflection... Read More

Bahni Turpin's narration draws listeners into the fifth in Ibrahim's Yellow Crocus series. The audiobook opens with a birth and the bombing of Pearl Harbor. (Turpin gets five stars for realistic childbirth sounds.) Friends since childhood, next-door neighbors Kay Lynn and Japanese-American Kimiko face the challenges brought by WWII. Filled with fear of the unknown, they find... Read More

Narrators are expected to distinguish between men and women--and Shayna Small does it exceptionally well. Historical fiction comes alive with this account of the life of Effa Manley, who became a Negro League team owner with her husband Abe from 1935 to 1948. Effa faced racial stereotypes, as well misogyny from entering a male domain. The audiobook is entertaining from start to... Read More

Narrator Emilia Clarke uses a soft voice and a crisp British accent interspersed with fluid Italian phrases for this story of music in early- eighteenth-century Venice. Venetian orphan Anna Maria della Pietà, daughter of a local prostitute, is a violin prodigy who studies under Antonio Vivaldi. Descriptions of the harsh life in the Pietà, an orphanage for the children of... Read More

Fiona Hardingham narrates this fictional memoir of orphaned noblewoman Marguerite de la Roque, ward of her cousin, the adventurer and speculator Jean François de la Roque de Roberval. Hardingham's unemotional tone varies subtly to capture Marguerite's and Roberval's aristocratic status. Telling her story as a flashback, Marguerite painstakingly recounts her life of loss,... Read More

Bahni Turpin gives a winning performance of this historical novel set in the world of Black vaudeville in the early twentieth century. After Lucille's father gets involved in the aftermath of a bank robbery, Lucille and her parents leave town and start singing in churches as the "Traveling Loves." Lucille, "the little girl with the big voice," is taken under the tutelage of... Read More

Gabra Zackman narrates this audiobook about new discoveries and second chances at love. Like her father, Augusta Stern has devoted her life to pharmacy science after a disastrous attempt to use her great aunt's mysterious mixtures to capture the love and attention of a young man named Irving. Sixty years later, Augusta is forced into retirement and finds herself at a sunny... Read More

Edoardo Ballerini's spellbinding performance of this intergenerational tale of love and survival lingers in the mind long after one is done listening. Based on memories of the author's Dutch grandmother, the novel incorporates two stories--the child Mieke, who is trying to survive Holland's "Hunger Winter" of 1944, and Mieke's adult grandson, Will, who visits his now elderly... Read More

Rebecca Lowman presents this provocative novel based on Peggy Guggenheim's diary and other historical sources. Lowman's thoughtful pace serves the narrative well as the listener experiences Peggy's reminiscences of her unconventional life and accomplishments. Because of her inherited wealth, Guggenheim was able to live a flamboyant bohemian existence, but Lowman also depicts... Read More

January LaVoy performs this genre-bending audiobook with expert skill. Stephenson's new audiobook, while shorter than his usual work, is the first part of a promised series. The action centers around Dawn, who as a young adult is deployed as a Russian spy, gathering intel for a large Communist movement. The story hops around the globe from Russia to Chicago to Washington, DC,... Read More

Nicola Barber masterfully portrays Liz Houghton, a determined journalist who is stuck in the Obituary Department of a national British newspaper. Liz is on a mission to launch her career by uncovering the link between the mysterious disappearances of three girls during WWII and a present-day case in 1968. Barber's voice work shines as she differentiates Liz's posh British... Read More

Candace Joice performs this fictionalization of Julia Child's overseas service in WWII with brio. While her narration can veer into the melodramatic, its eagerness matches the author's enthusiastic writing style. In conversational sections, Joice's delivery becomes more low-key as she creates nuanced vocal portraits of a range of characters. She also does an impressive job of... Read More

Olivia Vinall's slight English accent and careful diction allow the listener to enjoy the lyrical language in the overlapping stories of Arthur, a young man in Victorian London; Narin, a Yezidi girl in Turkey in 2014; and Zaleekhah, a woman in London in 2018. Vinall's pleasant narration starts with a raindrop that falls beside the River Tigris in olden times, which will wind... Read More

Aimee Crocker was a real person, born into a wealthy, conventional family in 1864. Narrator Suzanne Toren's interpretation of Aimee's development from naïve teenager to a beautiful intellectual and sexual gourmand well into her 50s is phenomenal. Toren's fine performance will give listeners an understanding of this mysterious woman whom no one understood in her time. Women... Read More

Kristin Atherton delivers a powerhouse performance of the final volume in Booker Prize novelist Pat Barker's trilogy reimagining the Trojan War from a female perspective. This book is told mostly by Ritsa, a Trojan healer who is enslaved to Cassandra, who is herself the slave-concubine of King Agamemnon. The war is over, the seas perilous, egos fragile, prophesies unkind, and... Read More

Narrator Helen Laser breathes life into Minnie Soffer, who narrates her family's story of coming to America and making a new life for themselves in 1920s New York City. The Soffers, Jewish Americans from Ukraine, are acculturating while retaining their religious rituals and attitudes. The father, Ike, runs a speakeasy and is involved in racketeering, bootlegging, and enforcing... Read More

Impressive performances from a stellar cast transform this "Novel in Five Acts" into an absorbing listening experience. Focusing less on Oscar Wilde's affairs and gross indecency trial, Bayard's look behind the scenes probes their damaging psychological effects on Wilde's wife and young sons. Elisabeth Rodgers is simply amazing as Oscar's wife, Constance, suddenly realizes... Read More