Historical fiction lets us time travel to different eras to understand and feel what happened. We’ve put together a list of audiobook recommendations in which female characters lead the retelling of true events and eras of the past. Whether it’s a historical romance set hundreds of years ago or a twentieth-century drama based on actual events, discover listens that are both heartbreaking and humbling as resilient, inspiring and badass female characters lead the way. Enjoy them solo or with your audiobook club.
Product list
  • The Book of Longings cover art

    • The Book of Longings

    • By: Sue Monk Kidd
    • Narrated by: Mozhan Marnò, Sue Monk Kidd
    • Length: 13 hrs and 27 mins
    • Release date: 21-04-20
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 316 ratings
    • The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
    • Sue Monk Kidd imagines what it would have been like for a woman in ancient Galilee. In The Book of Longings Ana secretly studies and writes down the stories of her peers and then her life becomes entangled with a young Jesus Christ. The first century can feel like ancient history, but the events of the time had long-lasting repercussions that shaped society today. The best we can do is imagine what the women of the time could have been capable of. Sue Monk Kidd uses meticulous research to reconstruct life in the distant past and imagine the struggles people of the time faced.

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  • The Book of Lost Friends cover art

    • The Book of Lost Friends

    • By: Lisa Wingate
    • Narrated by: Bahni Turpin, Dominic Hoffman, Lisa Flanagan, Lisa Wingate, Robin Miles, Sophie Amoss, Sullivan Jones
    • Length: 15 hrs and 6 mins
    • Release date: 07-04-20
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 43 ratings
    • The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate
    • If you’re looking for a trending title that sinks its teeth into challenging issues and the history of the American South, reach for Lisa Wingate’s The Book of Lost Friends. Lisa explores the post-Civil War South through the eyes of three women from vastly different backgrounds who are forced together on a journey from Louisiana to Texas, taking dangerous roads rife with vigilantes and soldiers. It’s a story that dives into the legacy of the Civil War, emancipation and lost and broken families across the South.

      Titles like The Book of Lost Friends give us insights into how lives were changed during the social tumult of the post-Civil War years. Women’s advancement has come a long way, and the achievements of the past are a reminder of how change can happen.

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  • The Age of Light cover art

    • The Age of Light

    • By: Whitney Scharer
    • Narrated by: Therese Plummer
    • Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
    • Release date: 07-02-19
    • Language: English
    • 4 out of 5 stars 17 ratings
    • The Age of Light by Whitney Scharer
    • Enter the bohemian cabarets of 1930s Paris with Lee Miller, the real-life model-turned-photographer who apprenticed under surrealist Man Ray and became Vogue’s war correspondent during WWII. This debut from writer Whitney Scharer will inspire anyone pursuing (or dreaming about) a career as an artist in these turbulent times. Miller was a figure who seized the opportunity and constantly challenged the status quo. Whitney’s portrait shows a fiercely independent woman vulnerable to self-doubt that can strike anyone who dares to be different.

      Miller once famously said, 'I’d rather take a photograph than be one.' The Age of Light lets us in on the world of one of bohemian Paris’s most compelling and overlooked artists. Lee was a pioneer in photography and made enormous strides for women in journalism. Her story finally gets its due in Whitney’s complex and sensitive portrayal.

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  • The Other Boleyn Girl cover art

    • The Other Boleyn Girl

    • By: Philippa Gregory
    • Narrated by: Vanessa Kirby
    • Series: The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels, Book 9
    • Length: 22 hrs and 13 mins
    • Release date: 26-07-18
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 544 ratings
    • The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
    • Philippa Gregory’s The Other Boleyn Girl is inspired by the true story of historical figure Anne Boleyn, her sister and King Henry VIII. In this number one New York Times best seller, the 'queen of royal fiction' ( USA Today) crafts a strong female lead: Mary Boleyn, a young girl who catches the eye of Henry VIII. What follows is her love story with the Tudor king and the prospect of her duties as the unofficial queen. Yet Mary soon realises her family has ulterior motives and she is just a pawn in their ambitious plans. As the king’s interest in her begins to fade, she is forced to step aside for her sister and best friend, Anne. Mary must go against her family and take control of her destiny. This compelling tale of love, ambition and the Tudor court will grip historical fiction book lovers from start to finish.

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  • Six Tudor Queens: Anna of Kleve, Queen of Secrets cover art

    • Six Tudor Queens: Anna of Kleve, Queen of Secrets

    • Six Tudor Queens, Book 4
    • By: Alison Weir
    • Narrated by: Esther Wane
    • Series: Six Tudor Queens, Book 4
    • Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
    • Release date: 02-05-19
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 267 ratings
    • Six Tudor Queens: Anna of Kleve, Queen of Secrets by Alison Weir
    • The fourth title from historian and author Alison Weir’s Six Tudor Queens series consists of six titles, each dedicated to one of Henry VIII’s wives and Tudor queens. Six Tudor Queens: Anna of Kleve, Queen of Secrets paints a fascinating portrait of Anna of Kleve, King Henry VIII’s fourth wife, who was a German princess with a guilty secret. The King falls in love with the portrait he sees of Anna, but she lacks the qualities he seeks in a new bride. With the balance of power in Europe depending on their marriage, the pressure is on the couple. Anna's past is never far from her thoughts, and rumours begin to spread about her. With his relentless track record, everyone knows the King won't stand for any problems.

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  • Hamnet cover art

    • Hamnet

    • Winner of The Women's Prize for Fiction 2020 - the No. 1 Bestseller
    • By: Maggie O'Farrell
    • Narrated by: Daisy Donovan
    • Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
    • Release date: 31-03-20
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 5,973 ratings
    • Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
    • In this deeply profound listen set in England in 1580, a poor young Latin tutor falls in love with Agnes, an eccentric and bewitching young woman. Known locally for her unusual healing gifts and her habit of roaming around the family estate with a falcon on her shoulder, Agnes understands plants and potions better than most. She prefers to dedicate her time to these endeavours over people. But soon, Agnes becomes a wife and protective mother of twins Hamnet and Judith. She faces heartbreak when her precious children become infected with the bubonic plague. The family’s luck worsens when one of the twins succumbs to the highly contagious disease. In this moving and poetic novel, author Maggie O’Farrell paints a mesmerising portrait of a grief-ridden family led by a stunning female protagonist who suffers the ultimate loss and heartache as a mother.

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  • Lessons in Chemistry cover art

    • Lessons in Chemistry

    • By: Bonnie Garmus
    • Narrated by: Miranda Raison
    • Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
    • Release date: 05-04-22
    • Language: English
    • 5 out of 5 stars 8,302 ratings
    • Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
    • In Bonnie Garmus’s Lessons in Chemistry, Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. She’s a female chemist in the early 1960s, working with an all-male team at Hastings Research Institute that takes an unscientific view of equality. Nobel-prize-nominated Calvin Evans isn’t like the rest and falls in love with her mind.

      A few years later, Elizabeth is a single mother and the star of the American cooking show Supper at Six. Her approach to cooking is revolutionary, but as her following grows, not everyone approves. The unapologetic chemist-turned-chef is not only teaching women to cook, she is also inspiring them to change the status quo.

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  • The Marriage Portrait cover art

    • The Marriage Portrait

    • By: Maggie O'Farrell
    • Narrated by: Genevieve Gaunt
    • Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
    • Release date: 30-08-22
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,487 ratings
    • The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell
    • Maggie O'Farrell’s The Marriage Portrait takes listeners back to Florence in the 1560s, when Lucrezia, daughter of Cosimo de' Medici, is free to wander the palazzo. But when her older sister dies just before she is due to marry the powerful Alfonso d'Este, the duke asks for Lucrezia’s hand in marriage.

      As she sits to have her portrait painted, the reality of the situation hits Lucrezia. The woman in the portrait looks perfect, yet she feels terrified and alone. It soon becomes clear that Lucrezia must provide the heir who will secure the future of the Ferrarese dynasty. Is Alfonso who he appears to be, or will everything change once he marries Lucrezia?

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  • Tipping the Velvet cover art

    • Tipping the Velvet

    • By: Sarah Waters
    • Narrated by: Juanita McMahon
    • Length: 19 hrs and 4 mins
    • Release date: 25-09-14
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 797 ratings
    • Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
    • Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters is a steamy, multi-layered historical romance which follows the life and career of a young woman called Nan King, a working-class girl who works at her family’s oyster restaurant in Whitstable, Kent. In this coming-of-age story set in England in the 1890s, Nan falls for a male impersonator, Kitty Butler, and follows her to London. Nan explores ways of supporting herself when she moves to the capital, including performing in music halls. In this riveting tale - full of sex and adult themes - Sarah imagines a lesbian history in Victorian England that wasn’t recorded.

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