Try free for 30 days
-
The Air Raid Book Club
- Narrated by: Jilly Bond
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from Wish List failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $26.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also picked
-
The Tea Ladies
- By: Amanda Hampson
- Narrated by: Zoe Carides
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sydney, 1965: After a chance encounter with a stranger, mild-mannered tea lady Hazel Bates becomes an accidental sleuth, stumbling into a world of ruthless crooks and racketeers in search of a young woman she believes to be in danger. In the meantime, Hazel's job at Empire Fashionwear is in jeopardy. The firm has turned out the same frocks and blouses for the past twenty years and when the mini-skirt bursts onto the scene, it rocks the rag trade to its foundations. War breaks out between departments and it falls to Hazel, the quiet diplomat, to broker peace and save the firm.
-
-
Fun story, light and entertaining
- By H. Russo on 21-11-2023
-
The Girl on the Boat
- The Emerald Sisters, Book 1
- By: Kate Hewitt
- Narrated by: Stephanie Cannon
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Sophie Weiss boards the SS St Louis, she has no reason to stay in Germany. The Nazis have taken everything from her, and her only hope is escape. But when she meets fellow Jewish refugees Rosa, Hannah and Rachel on board, the friendship they form gives Sophie hope that there can be happiness in her future, after all.
-
-
Excellent
- By Psalteryschool on 27-04-2024
-
The Princes in the Tower
- Solving History's Greatest Cold Case
- By: Philippa Langley
- Narrated by: Philippa Langley
- Length: 16 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Philippa Langley reveals the findings of a remarkable new research initiative: ‘The Missing Princes Project'. In the summer of 1483, Edward V (aged 12) and his brother Richard Duke of York (aged 9), disappeared from the Tower of London. For over 500 years, history has judged that they were murdered on the orders of their uncle Richard III. Following years of intensive research in UK, American and European archives, astonishing new archival discoveries have been uncovered that change what we know about the fate of the Princes in the Tower.
-
-
Most boring narrator ever
- By Stephanie Oliver on 20-03-2024
-
The Echo of Old Books
- A Novel
- By: Barbara Davis
- Narrated by: Vanessa Johansson, Steve West, Sarah Zimmerman
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rare-book dealer Ashlyn Greer’s affinity for books extends beyond the intoxicating scent of old paper, ink, and leather. She can feel the echoes of the books’ previous owners—an emotional fingerprint only she can read. When Ashlyn discovers a pair of beautifully bound volumes that appear to have never been published, her gift quickly becomes an obsession. Not only is each inscribed with a startling incrimination, but the authors, Hemi and Belle, tell conflicting sides of a tragic romance.
-
-
I loved the story that unfolded in this book
- By Angela Payne on 16-04-2024
-
Breathing Water
- By: Tanya Bird
- Narrated by: Anthea Greco
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Failed ballerina Ella Lewis has just landed a job in an industry she knows nothing about. The goal is simple: Build a normal life and keep her father happy. So when construction worker Dax Coburn enters the scene, six-foot-three of pure complication, she knows she should steer clear. The mystery shadowing him sets alarm bells ringing, yet she’s drawn to him in a way that makes no sense. As Ella gets to know the cryptic man, she discovers a secret that threatens to unravel her tidy life.
-
The Last Restaurant in Paris
- By: Lily Graham
- Narrated by: Polly Edsell
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In enemy-occupied Paris, as the locals go to bed starving and defeated by the war, music and laughter spills through the door of a little restaurant, crowded with German soldiers. The owner, Marianne, moves on weary feet between its packed tables, carrying plates of steaming, wholesome food for the enemy officers. Her smile is bright and sparkling, her welcome cordial. Nobody would guess the hatred she hides in her heart. That night, the restaurant closes its doors for the final time.
-
-
Food for thought
- By Catherine Clarke on 14-02-2023
-
The Tea Ladies
- By: Amanda Hampson
- Narrated by: Zoe Carides
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sydney, 1965: After a chance encounter with a stranger, mild-mannered tea lady Hazel Bates becomes an accidental sleuth, stumbling into a world of ruthless crooks and racketeers in search of a young woman she believes to be in danger. In the meantime, Hazel's job at Empire Fashionwear is in jeopardy. The firm has turned out the same frocks and blouses for the past twenty years and when the mini-skirt bursts onto the scene, it rocks the rag trade to its foundations. War breaks out between departments and it falls to Hazel, the quiet diplomat, to broker peace and save the firm.
-
-
Fun story, light and entertaining
- By H. Russo on 21-11-2023
-
The Girl on the Boat
- The Emerald Sisters, Book 1
- By: Kate Hewitt
- Narrated by: Stephanie Cannon
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Sophie Weiss boards the SS St Louis, she has no reason to stay in Germany. The Nazis have taken everything from her, and her only hope is escape. But when she meets fellow Jewish refugees Rosa, Hannah and Rachel on board, the friendship they form gives Sophie hope that there can be happiness in her future, after all.
-
-
Excellent
- By Psalteryschool on 27-04-2024
-
The Princes in the Tower
- Solving History's Greatest Cold Case
- By: Philippa Langley
- Narrated by: Philippa Langley
- Length: 16 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Philippa Langley reveals the findings of a remarkable new research initiative: ‘The Missing Princes Project'. In the summer of 1483, Edward V (aged 12) and his brother Richard Duke of York (aged 9), disappeared from the Tower of London. For over 500 years, history has judged that they were murdered on the orders of their uncle Richard III. Following years of intensive research in UK, American and European archives, astonishing new archival discoveries have been uncovered that change what we know about the fate of the Princes in the Tower.
-
-
Most boring narrator ever
- By Stephanie Oliver on 20-03-2024
-
The Echo of Old Books
- A Novel
- By: Barbara Davis
- Narrated by: Vanessa Johansson, Steve West, Sarah Zimmerman
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rare-book dealer Ashlyn Greer’s affinity for books extends beyond the intoxicating scent of old paper, ink, and leather. She can feel the echoes of the books’ previous owners—an emotional fingerprint only she can read. When Ashlyn discovers a pair of beautifully bound volumes that appear to have never been published, her gift quickly becomes an obsession. Not only is each inscribed with a startling incrimination, but the authors, Hemi and Belle, tell conflicting sides of a tragic romance.
-
-
I loved the story that unfolded in this book
- By Angela Payne on 16-04-2024
-
Breathing Water
- By: Tanya Bird
- Narrated by: Anthea Greco
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Failed ballerina Ella Lewis has just landed a job in an industry she knows nothing about. The goal is simple: Build a normal life and keep her father happy. So when construction worker Dax Coburn enters the scene, six-foot-three of pure complication, she knows she should steer clear. The mystery shadowing him sets alarm bells ringing, yet she’s drawn to him in a way that makes no sense. As Ella gets to know the cryptic man, she discovers a secret that threatens to unravel her tidy life.
-
The Last Restaurant in Paris
- By: Lily Graham
- Narrated by: Polly Edsell
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In enemy-occupied Paris, as the locals go to bed starving and defeated by the war, music and laughter spills through the door of a little restaurant, crowded with German soldiers. The owner, Marianne, moves on weary feet between its packed tables, carrying plates of steaming, wholesome food for the enemy officers. Her smile is bright and sparkling, her welcome cordial. Nobody would guess the hatred she hides in her heart. That night, the restaurant closes its doors for the final time.
-
-
Food for thought
- By Catherine Clarke on 14-02-2023
-
The Girls of Bomber Command
- Bomber Command Girls, Book 1
- By: Vicki Beeby
- Narrated by: Sofia Engstrand
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pearl has given up on her dreams of being a journalist after being denied a promotion because of her gender. Joining the WAAF as a radio telephone operator for Bomber Command, Pearl's new job at RAF Fenthorpe serves two purposes – providing an income for her grandmother, and keeping a close eye on her younger sister, Thea, an instrument repairer at another Lincolnshire bomber station.
-
-
Brilliant!
- By Anonymous User on 22-12-2023
-
The Midwife's Secret
- A missing girl, an accused woman and a family secret in this gripping, heartbreaking historical fiction
- By: Emily Gunnis
- Narrated by: Gemma Whelan
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When six-year-old Alice Hilton disappears on New Year's Eve 1979 from Yew Tree Manor, suspicion immediately falls on local boy Bobby James. Bobby claims he knows nothing about it, but his family has a grievance against Alice's landowner father. Tragically the child is never found. Decades later, Willow James, an architect working on a development at Yew Tree Manor, discovers that the land surrounding the house is holding a secret.
-
-
Another great story!
- By Nerissa on 30-10-2021
-
A Very English Murder
- A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery, Book 1
- By: Verity Bright
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
England, 1920. Eleanor Swift has spent the last few years travelling the world: taking tea in China, tasting alligators in Peru, escaping bandits in Persia and she has just arrived in England after a chaotic 45-day flight from South Africa. Chipstone is about the sleepiest town you could have the misfortune to meet. But then, from the edge of a quarry, through the driving rain, Eleanor is shocked to see a man shot and killed in the distance. Before she can climb down to the spot, the villain is gone and the body has vanished.
-
-
A fantastic book with characters that pop
- By A. Jecks on 16-09-2022
-
The Secret Midwife
- By: Soraya M. Lane
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Occupied Poland, 1942: Despite the constant presence of German soldiers in her village, Emilia is allowed certain freedoms as a midwife—the most precious is innocently cycling past Nazi checkpoints to the homes of expectant mothers on her rounds. But Emilia has a secret: for years she’s also been visiting the hidden Jewish mothers and working for the resistance…until she is betrayed.
-
-
Great listen
- By Helen on 22-02-2024
-
The Rainbow
- Absolutely Heartbreaking World War 2 Historical Fiction Based on a True Story
- By: Carly Schabowski
- Narrated by: Tamsin Kennard
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A heartbreaking novel of love, betrayal, and a secret passed down through a family. Inspired by an incredible true story. Perfect for fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, We Were the Lucky Ones, and The Alice Network.
-
-
Worth a listen
- By Amazon Customer on 05-11-2022
-
The Lost Bookshop
- By: Evie Woods, Nick Biadon
- Narrated by: Avena Mansergh-Wallace, Olivia Mace
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For too long, Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives. But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books. And by unlocking the secrets of the shelves, they find themselves transported to a world of wonder…where nothing is as it seems.
-
-
Magical fantasy for adults
- By Elizabeth on 19-11-2023
-
The Angel of Vienna
- By: Kate Hewitt
- Narrated by: Charlie Norfolk
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nazi-occupied Vienna, 1940. As bombs fall over Europe, Hannah Stern is a 27-year-old nurse who is just trying to survive. When she takes a position at Vienna’s esteemed psychiatric hospital, Am Steinhof, she thinks it will take her away from the danger. Her estranged half-brother has arranged the job for her on the condition that she must take his son, Willi, there too. He insists it’s a place where Willi will be safe. And Hannah soon forms a close bond with the sweet, fragile child in her care.
-
-
Very depressing
- By V. Bendle on 28-12-2023
-
The War Nurses
- By: Anthea Hodgson
- Narrated by: Harriet Gordan Anderson, Jo Van Es
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1942, country girls Minnie Hodgson and Margot McNee set sail from Perth, Australia for Singapore in search of adventure, full of excitement and keen to do their part working as nurses to the fallen soldiers in a time of war. What they encounter is an army of new friends and the terrors of a city under siege. When the Japanese attack and Singapore falls, they are forced to flee aboard the Vyner Brooke. The ship is bombed, resulting in utter devastation.
-
-
Loved it
- By Kelly on 25-05-2023
-
The Midwives' War
- By: Chrissie Walsh
- Narrated by: Julie Maisey
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Against the chaotic backdrop of World War II, Grace Murphy is working as a midwife in Doncaster Royal Infirmary with her two friends, Clodagh and Patsy. In between delivering babies and tending wounded airmen, the girls endure bombing raids, rationing and the hardships and heartbreak that war brings. But in the faces of the new babies she welcomes to the world, Grace always looks for hope, as she dreams of a time when the war will end.
-
One Italian Summer
- By: Pip Williams
- Narrated by: Felicity Jurd
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pip and Shannon dreamed of living the good life. They wanted to slow down, grow their own food and spend more time with the people they love. But jobs and responsibilities got in the way - their chooks died, their fruit rotted and Pip ended up depressed and in therapy. So they did the only reasonable thing - they quit their jobs, pulled the children out of school and went searching for la dolce vita in Italy.
-
-
I was bored
- By Sharon on 11-08-2021
-
The Cypress Maze
- By: Fiona Valpy
- Narrated by: Henrietta Meire, Ruth Redman
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tuscany, 1943. Stranded in war-ravaged Italy, Beatrice’s dream of an escapist year teaching English is shattered. Granted shelter at the Villa delle Colombe, she seeks refuge in Francesca and Edoardo’s beautiful walled garden, hidden from the outside world, with an elaborate cypress maze at its heart. But Beatrice is not the only one seeking an escape here. Francesca has brought children to the safety of the house, as well as other adults, all of them seeking sanctuary on the estate with its mysterious maze.
-
-
Worth the listen
- By Tim Pate on 04-05-2024
-
Wartime Brides
- Wives and Lovers, Book 1
- By: Lizzie Lane
- Narrated by: Julia Franklin
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The war has ended; the men are returning home to their loved ones, but for some, things have changed. Charlotte Hennessey-White's husband, David, is no longer the gentle loving man he once was and Charlotte, so independent during the war, is devastated. Edna Burbage's strong fiancée, Colin, has suffered appalling physical injuries. He won’t hold her to her promise of marriage, but she insists her feelings are unchanged. But is that true? And Polly Chandler's sweetheart, Gavin, who’d she’d planned her whole future around, hasn’t come home at all.
Publisher's Summary
An emotional and uplifting novel set in WW2 London about the remarkable power of books to bring hope and light in dark times, inspired by true events, from the USA Today bestselling author.
As the bombs began to fall, the book club kept their hopes alive...
London, 1938. Bookseller Gertie Bingham is facing difficult times, having just lost her beloved husband, Harry, and with a lingering sadness at never having been able to have a child of her own. Struggling to face running the bookshop she and Harry opened together, Gertie is preparing to sell up and move away when she is asked if she would be willing to take in a young Jewish refugee from Germany. Gertie is unsure and when sullen teenager Hedy Fischer arrives, Gertie fears she has nothing left to give the troubled girl.
But when the German bombers come and the lights go out over London, Gertie and Hedy realise that joining forces will make them stronger, and that books have the power to bring young and old together and unite a community in need in its darkest hour...
*Annie Lyons was shortlisted for the RNA Contemporary Romantic Novel of the Year Award*
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
Critic Reviews
'A warm and tender tale about the power and healing of friendship and community and the magic of books.' (Ruth Hogan)
'This story of grief, community, friendship and the restorative power of books, is charming, witty and thoroughly absorbing... Gertie is the very best of heroines: feisty and compassionate. I adored following her and Lyons' cast of colourfully drawn characters through the desperate landscape of the Second World War to the swooping joy of an ending which left tears rolling down my face. This book is exactly what we need right now to remind us that, with kindness, love and compassion for our fellow man, there is always light beyond the darkness.' (Lisa Timoney)
'A charming, uplifting story of resourceful women and the healing power of books.' (Clare Chambers, bestselling author of Small Pleasures)
More from the same
What listeners say about The Air Raid Book Club
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Me
- 10-02-2024
Fabulous story.
I really enjoyed this book. Such a lovely yet heartbreaking story.
Excellent narration. Really brought the story to life.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!