Showing results by publisher "Penguin Audio" in Historical Fiction

Christmas time is fast approaching at Mary Vale and newcomer Libby is ready to start a fresh chapter working alongside the Wartime Midwives. When she discovers that the local primary school is struggling, Libby rallies the midwives to band together and work with the local community. With the help of midwife Ada and teacher Margaret, Libby has a plan to save Christmas. But not everyone likes what Libby is doing, and local landlord Thorpe is hiding something.

Welcome to Hampshire, 1795, where a young Jane Austen has her sights set on securing a marriage proposal from the dashing Tom Lefroy at a local ball. But when a shocking discovery is made - a milliner's lifeless body tucked away in a linen closet - Jane finds herself embroiled in an unexpected murder mystery. As she races against the clock to clear her beloved brother Georgy's name, Jane uses her sharp wits to navigate the treacherous waters of society, unmasking secrets and unearthing hidden motives along the way. With every twist and turn, Jane's determination to solve the case deepens.

Michael and Pauline seemed like the perfect couple - young, good-looking, made for each other. The moment she walked into his mother's grocery store in the Polish neighbourhood of Baltimore, he was smitten. And in the heat of World War II fervour, they were hastily wed. But they never should have married. Pauline, impulsive and impractical, tumbles hit-or-miss through life; Michael, plodding, cautious, and judgemental, proceeds deliberately. In time their foolish quarrels take their toll.

When a chance encounter with Theodore Camden, one of the architects of the grand New York apartment house the Dakota, leads to a job offer for Sara Smythe, her world is suddenly awash in possibility - no mean feat for a servant in 1884. The opportunity to move to America. The opportunity to be the female manager of the Dakota. And the opportunity to see more of Theo, who understands Sara like no one else...and is living in the Dakota with his wife and three young children.

Los Angeles, 1936. Kay Fischer, a young and ambitious architect, is being followed by an old man. When confronted, he explains that his name is Salvador Carriscant - and that he is her father. In a matter of weeks Kay will join Salvador on an extraordinary journey as they delve back into his past to not only learn the truth behind her own birth, but also to discover the whereabouts of a woman long thought dead - and to uncover the identity of a killer.

The date is 15 AD. The German chieftain Arminius has been defeated, one of the lost Roman eagles recovered and thousands of German tribesmen slain. Yet these successes aren't nearly enough for senior centurion Lucius Tullus. Not until Arminius is dead, his old legion's eagle found and the enemy tribes completely vanquished will he rest. But Arminius - devious, fearless - is burning for revenge of his own.

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of The Striker by Clive Cussler and Justin Scott, read by Scott Brick. It is 1902. Isaac Bell is a bright, inexperienced young detective. Hired to hunt for radical unionist saboteurs in the coal mines, he is witness to a terrible accident that makes him suspect that something else is going on - that provocateurs are at work and much bigger stakes are in play.

Cleo Finch has loved gothic literature all her life. She’s spent years researching and writing her thesis on the works of one gothic novelist in particular, Orlando Browne, and is determined to prove that Browne was the pen name of a female author, Alys Weston. But as her best friend Tris never fails to remind her, she still hasn’t succeeded in finding concrete evidence that proves this to be true. That is, until Cleo’s Uncle Ambrose unknowingly gifts her Alys’ very own journal, forgotten in a stack of first-edition gothic novels.

When Andrée joins her school, Sylvie is immediately fascinated. Andrée is small for her age, but walks with the confidence of an adult. Under her red coat, she hides terrible burn scars, and when she imagines beautiful things, she gets goosebumps. Secretly Sylvie believes that Andrée is a prodigy about whom books will be written. The girls become close. They talk for hours about equality, justice, war and religion; they lose respect for their teachers; they build a world of their own. But they can't stay like this forever.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of On the Bright Side by Hendrik Groen, read by Patrick Ryecart. Everyone's favourite octogenarian is back and - together with the Old-But-Not-Dead Club - is more determined than ever to wreak havoc. After a year mourning the death of his beloved friend Eefje, Hendrik picks up his pen once again to chronicle the goings on both inside his care home and in the increasingly confusing world outside.

London, 1939. When tragedy strikes, Libby Andrews is left homeless and destitute, fending for herself on the capital's most dangerous streets. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Libby is on the cusp of making a decision that could jeopardise her future when a local boy saves her from ruin. The kindness of this stranger sets her on a different path, and Libby heads to Liverpool with a determined mind and hope in her heart. There, she reconnects with long lost family - but will she be able to uncover the truth that tore them apart all those years ago?

May 1940: Sergeant Jack Tanner has been posted to a training company on the southeast coast of England where the mysterious deaths of two Polish refugees lead him to believe there has been foul play. As the Germans launch their blitzkrieg in Europe, the entire company are sent to join the battle to stop Hitler's drive across the Low Countries. Pitted against the die-hard Nazis of the SS "Death's Head" division and the great panzer commander, General Rommel himself, it is left to Tanner to get his men back to Allied lines.

Tall, dark, and dour, Captain Jasper Blunt was once hailed a military hero, but tales abound of his bastard children and his haunted estate in Yorkshire. What he requires now is a rich wife to ornament his isolated ruin, and he has his sights set on the enchanting Julia Wychwood. For Julia, an incurable romantic cursed with a crippling social anxiety, the only time she feels any confidence is on her horse. Unfortunately, a young lady can’t spend the whole of her life in the saddle, so Julia makes an impetuous decision to take her future by the reins—she proposes to Captain Blunt.

As Rome's war with Carthage continues, two friends - now on opposing sides - confront each other in one of the most brutal sieges of all time. A new Hannibal novel by the Sunday Times best-selling author of The Forgotten Legion series. 213 BC, Syracuse: Under the merciless Sicilian sun, a city is at war. Outside the walls, a vast Roman army waits. Yet the city’s incredible defences, designed by Archimedes, mean that Syracuse will not be taken easily.

Los Angeles. August 4, 1962. The city broils through a mid-summer heat wave. Marilyn Monroe ODs. A B-movie starlet is kidnapped. The overhyped LAPD overreacts. Chief Bill Parker's looking for some getback. The Monroe deal looks like a moneymaker. He calls in Freddy Otash. The freewheeling Freddy O. Tainted ex-cop, defrocked private eye, dope fiend, and freelance extortionist. A man who lives by the maxim "Opportunity is Love." Freddy gets to work.

New York Times best-selling author Margaret George captures history's most enthralling queen-as she confronts rivals to her throne and to her heart. One of today's premier historical novelists, George dazzles here as she tackles her most difficult subject yet: the legendary Elizabeth Tudor, queen of enigma - the Virgin Queen who had many suitors; the victor of the Armada who hated war; the gorgeously attired, jewel-bedecked woman who pinched pennies.

Lizzie has just arrived in London, determined to make the best of her new life. Her mother may be keen that she should have a nice wedding in the country to a suitable man chosen by her, and Lizzie may be going to cookery school to help her become a good wife...but she definitely wants to have some fun first. It's 1963, and London is beginning to swing as Lizzie cuts her hair, buys a new dress with a fashionably short hemline and moves in with two of her best friends, one of whom lives in a grand but run-down house in Belgravia that has plenty of room for a lodger.

It’s Los Angeles, 1986, and metal rules the world. For aspiring drummer Rikki Thunder, life is good—even if he is sleeping in a condemned paint store and playing with a band that’s going nowhere. But when he gets a shot to join L.A.’s hottest up-and-coming band, Whyte Python, Rikki’s young life turns up to 11. But good fortune can be deceiving. With the Cold War breathing its last gasps and American music blasting through the Iron Curtain, a youth revolution is taking hold—and a hair band is unknowingly playing host to the final battle for the hearts and minds of the Eastern Bloc.

Young Mikey Quinn, scavenging on the streets of Hull, is thrown into prison for stealing a rabbit from the butcher. His chief accuser, a well-to-do lawyer, has a daughter, Eleanor, whom he badly mistreats. When Mikey is released he finds that his mother has died and his brothers taken into the workhouse - determined to find a better life for his family, he walks all the way to London to seek his fortune.

Singapore, 1910 - Desperate for a fresh start, Harriet Gordon finds herself living with her brother, a reverend and headmaster of a school for boys, in Singapore at the height of colonial rule. Hoping to gain some financial independence, she advertises her services as a personal secretary. It is unfortunate that she should discover her first client, Sir Oswald Newbold - explorer, mine magnate, and president of the exclusive Explorers and Geographers Club - dead with a knife in his throat.