A Simple Habana Melody: A Novel by Oscar Hijuelos

A Simple Habana Melody: A Novel by Oscar Hijuelos

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/789145 [https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/789145] to listen full audiobooks. Title: A Simple Habana Melody: A Novel Author: Oscar Hijuelos Narrator: Fabio Tassone Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 11 hours 49 minutes Release date: February 11, 2025 Genres: Historical Publisher's Summary: From a Pulitzer Prize-winning author comes a “masterpiece” about a composer returning to his beloved homeland after WWII (Kirkus, starred review). The year is 1947. Israel Levis, a Cuban composer whose life once revolved around music and love, is finally returning home. En route to Habana, Cuba from Spain, he is a shadow of his former self, disillusioned after he was mistakenly sent to a camp during the Nazi occupation of France. In Habana, he escapes his anguish by reminiscing about his happiest moments before the war, when he lived a life of pleasure and excitement—and had a loving, if unrequited romance with Rita Valladares, the alluring singer who inspired Levis’s most famous composition, “Rosas Puras.” A tender homage to music, art, and a vibrant country at the edge of modernity, A Simple Habana Melody is a virtuoso performance from one of America’s most talented writers. Includes a reading group guide.

Isola: Reese's Book Club: A Novel by Allegra Goodman

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/788113 [https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/788113] to listen full audiobooks. Title: Isola: Reese's Book Club: A Novel Author: Allegra Goodman Narrator: Fiona Hardingham, Allegra Goodman Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 12 hours 54 minutes Release date: February 4, 2025 Genres: Historical Publisher's Summary: REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK • “A shocking story, made all the more stunning by the fact that it has its roots in true history.”—Jodi Picoult, author of By Any Other Name “A new generation of survival story . . . an extraordinary book that reads like a thriller, written with the care of the most delicate psychological and historical fiction.”—Vogue (Best of 2025 Preview) A young woman and her lover are marooned on an island in this “lushly painted” (People) historical epic of love, faith, and defiance from the bestselling author of Sam. Heir to a fortune, Marguerite is destined for a life of prosperity and gentility. Then she is orphaned, and her guardian—an enigmatic and volatile man—spends her inheritance and insists she accompany him on an expedition to New France. That journey takes a unexpected turn when Marguerite, accused of betrayal, is brutally punished and abandoned on a small island. Once a child of privilege who dressed in gowns and laced pearls in her hair, Marguerite finds herself at the mercy of nature. As the weather turns, blanketing the island in ice, she discovers a faith she’d never before needed. Inspired by the real life of a sixteenth-century heroine, Isola is the timeless story of a woman fighting for survival. *This audiobook contains a PDF with a map and recommendations for further reading from the book.

The Sable Cloak by Gail Milissa Grant

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/789144 [https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/789144] to listen full audiobooks. Title: The Sable Cloak Author: Gail Milissa Grant Narrator: Murphy Lorenzo Applin Jr, Karen Chilton Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 9 hours 11 minutes Release date: February 4, 2025 Genres: Historical Publisher's Summary: In this atmospheric novel set in the Jim Crow South, a powerful Black family fights to protect their empire—for readers of Tayari Jones. Jordan Sable, a prosperous undertaker turned political boss, has controlled the Black vote in St. Louis for decades. Sara, his equally formidable wife, runs the renowned funeral establishment that put the Sable name on the map. Together they have pushed through obstacles in order to create a legacy for their children. When tragedy bursts their carefully constructed empire of dignity and safety, the family rallies around an unconventional solution. But at what cost?  Set in the Midwest in the 1940s, The Sable Cloak is a rarely seen portrait of an upper middle class, African American family in the pre-Civil Rights era. This deeply personal novel inspired by the author's own family history delves into legacy and the stories we tell ourselves, and celebrates a largely self-sustaining, culturally rich Missouri community that most Americans may not be aware of.

Red Clay by Charles B. Fancher

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/792986 [https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/792986] to listen full audiobooks. Title: Red Clay Author: Charles B. Fancher Narrator: Dion Graham Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 10 hours 34 minutes Release date: February 4, 2025 Genres: Historical Publisher's Summary: An astounding multigenerational saga, Red Clay chronicles the interwoven lives of an enslaved Black family and their white owners as the Civil War ends and Reconstruction begins. In 1943, when a frail old white woman shows up in Red Clay, Alabama, at the home of a Black former slave—on the morning following his funeral—his family hardly knows what to expect after she utters the words “… a lifetime ago, my family owned yours.” Adelaide Parker has a story to tell—one of ambition, betrayal, violence, and redemption—that shaped both the fate of her family and that of the late Felix H. Parker. But there are gaps in her knowledge, and she’s come to Red Clay seeking answers from a family with whom she shares a name and a history that neither knows in full. In an epic saga that takes us from Red Clay to Paris, to the Côte d’Azur and New Orleans, human frailties are pushed to their limits as secrets are exposed and the line between good and evil becomes ever more difficult to discern. Red Clay is a tale that deftly lays bare the ugliness of slavery, the uncertainty of the final months of the Civil War, the optimism of Reconstruction, and the pain and frustration of Jim Crow. With a vivid sense of place and a cast of memorable characters, Charles B. Fancher draws upon his own family history to weave a riveting tale of triumph over adversity, set against a backdrop of societal change and racial animus that reverberates in contemporary America. Through seasons of joy and unspeakable pain, Fancher delivers rich moments as allies become enemies, and enemies—to their great surprise—find new respect for each other.

Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/788088 [https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/788088] to listen full audiobooks. Title: Harlem Rhapsody Author: Victoria Christopher Murray Narrator: Robin Miles Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 15 hours 5 minutes Release date: February 4, 2025 Genres: Historical Publisher's Summary: “A gripping narrative, don't miss this historical fiction about the woman who kicked off the Harlem Renaissance.”—People Magazine “A page turner and history lesson at once, Harlem Rhapsody reminds us that our stories are our generational wealth.”—Tayari Jones, New York Times bestselling author of An American Marriage (Oprah’s Book Club Pick) She found the literary voices that would inspire the world…. The extraordinary story of the woman who ignited the Harlem Renaissance, written by Victoria Christopher Murray, New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Personal Librarian. In 1919, a high school teacher from Washington, D.C arrives in Harlem excited to realize her lifelong dream. Jessie Redmon Fauset has been named the literary editor of The Crisis. The first Black woman to hold this position at a preeminent Negro magazine, Jessie is poised to achieve literary greatness. But she holds a secret that jeopardizes it all. W. E. B. Du Bois, the founder of The Crisis, is not only Jessie’s boss, he’s her lover. And neither his wife, nor their fourteen-year-age difference can keep the two apart. Amidst rumors of their tumultuous affair, Jessie is determined to prove herself. She attacks the challenge of discovering young writers with fervor, finding sixteen-year-old Countee Cullen, seventeen-year-old Langston Hughes, and Nella Larsen, who becomes one of her best friends. Under Jessie’s leadership, The Crisis thrives…every African American writer in the country wants their work published there. When her first novel is released to great acclaim, it’s clear that Jessie is at the heart of a renaissance in Black music, theater, and the arts. She has shaped a generation of literary legends, but as she strives to preserve her legacy, she’ll discover the high cost of her unparalleled success.