January 2026 Earphones Award Winners

Cia Court captures all the profound and devastating flaws in an engaging yet reprehensible protagonist. Margo and Ian have been stymied in their efforts to find a forever home outside Washington, D.C. Intense and simmering with rage issues, Margo takes matters into her own morally questionable hands when her dream home is listed for sale. Court shines in her delivery of Margo's... Read More

Saskia Maarleveld's new performance of Mahy's Carnegie Medal-winning novel, originally published in 1984, will enthrall listeners. Laura Chant is desperate to save her younger brother from the hands of a horrifying vampiric villain. Fourteen-year-old Laura doesn't act on the warning she feels before Carmody Braque fixates on her younger brother, Jacko. Only she realizes what is... Read More

Carpenters and landlords stand alongside playwrights and actors in this lively audiobook history of London's first commercial theaters. The very first, The Theater, opened in 1576, and its history chronicles the birth of British theater. Renaissance scholar Swift works from scraps--leases, lawsuits, lumber prices, apprenticeship figures, plague deaths, and the names of actor... Read More

Cookbook author and Vogue contributor Adler narrates with controlled emotion in a lovely voice, with just the right tone and tempo. These meditations on life and food, spanning a calendar year, began as a project to write her way out of depression. Adler's style is intimate yet informed. She includes quotes from poets (Louise Glück, May Swenson, and Mary Oliver among them) and... Read More

Samuel Barnett delivers a fresh interpretation of the St. George and the Dragon legend. George, whom Barnett portrays in a snide, harried tone that makes him bitingly funny, becomes increasingly hysterical as his contemporary London life falls apart. After he inexplicably time travels to the medieval era, his neuroses are subsumed into the immediacy of survival and the... Read More

American filmmaker, actor, writer, and artist John Waters' irreverent style is definitely an acquired taste and not for the faint of heart. Called "The Pope of Trash" by author William S. Burroughs, Waters performs "every single role in my movies out loud for your twisted enjoyment." As Waters narrates the screenplays of six of his movies, his over-the-top style is outrageous;... Read More

Peter Noble coolly performs this twisty crime novel. Using a narrative tone that is distant and objective, he still manages to inhabit each character, providing credible male and female voices while instilling each with appropriate emotion. In this story filled with betrayals, secrets, and stunning surprises, he handles the Scandinavian pronunciations with ease. The... Read More

Author Vieta chronicles her efforts to return stolen antiquities to Italy. Lisa Flanagan helps create an atmosphere worthy of a mystery novel with a narration that carries the story along nicely for listeners, adding to the drama by varying her tone and conveying surprise, outrage, or suspense. The author is a journalist, and her writing style adapts well to audio. She uses... Read More

Together, six narrators create a captivating audiobook production, instilling humanity into a story where listeners might believe there is none left. Silber's novel, focusing on a cast of characters whose lives were all touched by one man's overdose in 1970s New York City, paints a sweeping picture of the social and political circumstances that influenced his drug use. From the... Read More

Aysha Kala crafts a delicate performance surrounding a surprisingly complex story about a carousel. The carousel, originally built in 1900s Paris, is shrouded in a mystery and linked to a history of missing children. Kala narrates as Maisie, an immigrant just arriving in Chicago in 1920, uncovers the dark secret of said carousel alongside Det. Laurent. Kala's elegant narration... Read More

Tim Campbell's sonorous voice is a splendid match for Wellerstein's account of the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan in 1945. Wellerstein, a scholar of the history of nuclear weapons and the creator of the website NUKEMAP, delves deep into American nuclear policy. His conclusion is that President Harry S. Truman was almost entirely out of the decision loop. After the... Read More

Sir Derek Jacobi and Joe Jameson's stellar performances add sparkle and verisimilitude to this delightful locked-room mystery. The first adult book by Montgomery, an award-winning children's book author, is set in a Cornish manor house during the 1910 passing of Halley's Comet. Jacobi sets the semiserious tone with resonant action updates and intense performances of yesteryear... Read More

Woodson narrates her picture book with sure timing and emotional stresses that increase the story's poignancy. Woodson voices the confusion and innocence of viewpoint character Johnson. This contrasts with the prickly, defensive attitude of his older sister, Beebee. Eventually the children are taken to their Gracie Aunt, an unfamiliar relative. Woodson expresses Gracie's warmth... Read More

Eva Kaminsky flawlessly introduces this charming slow-burn love story and its relatable characters. Ingrid and her boyfriend of 11 years take a month off to date others before marrying. Bubbly Ingrid plans to date her grumpy longtime coworker Macon--both are impressively portrayed--but he resists her persistent overtures. Every challenging month of the year is cleverly... Read More

In this latest from Preston and Child, Jefferson Mays completely immerses himself in the character of A.X.L. Pendergast, taking him back to his first case as a probationary FBI agent. After 22 previous adventures, Mays still manages to add nuance and subtlety to the enigmatic hero, making him as intriguing as ever. A close look at Pendergast's man-of-all-work, Proctor, begins... Read More

Stacy Gonzalez, Jasmin Walker, and Kim Ramirez breathe life into Straight's poignant account of the lives of Larette, Cherrise, and Marisol, ICU nurses who are working during the Covid-19 pandemic. Shaun Taylor-Corbett offers a glimpse of a man on the outside. Early in 2020, isolated in small trailers in San Bernardino, Calif., the three exhausted women deal with their fears of... Read More

Film and stage veteran Hugh Jackman and promising newcomer Ella Beatty perfectly find the nuance, tension, and naturalism in the voices of a small-town college English professor who slides into the "horrible predictability" of an affair with a bright 19-year-old coed. It's certainly not a new tale, but Jackman and Beatty are more than capable of wrestling with the complex... Read More

Edoardo Ballerini convincingly portrays thugs, a torch singer, all manner of gumshoes; he does Hungarians, Germans, English elites. His vocals are spot-on. The wildly imagined plot begins in Milwaukee and then shifts to Eastern Europe. Hicks McTaggart, a former strike breaker, now a private eye, likes to dance and to romance--until he runs afoul of the Milwaukee mob. Much of... Read More

Woodson's tone is soft and gentle as she reads her picture book about Sarah's adjustment to her grandfather's death. Sarah's family's sweet remembrances recall vividly the wisdom of a tender man who reminded all of them that "everything and everyone goes on and on." This refrain occurs throughout, reminding listeners and reinforcing the audio's central theme. Woodson's dialogue... Read More

A dynamic ensemble of all-star narrators brings to life these stories assembled--and in one case, published--for the first time. Representing Sanderson's writing experimentation and growth over the course of 25 years, they feature worlds in which reality is unstable and characters move freely through simulations, universes, and bodies. The narrators are impressively well... Read More

Cobie Smulders delivers an authentic and captivating performance that anchors this audiobook. The story follows a family whose lives are upended when their memoir about raising a child with Down syndrome is optioned for a Hollywood film. Sharp, genuine writing draws listeners into this exploration of identity, family bonds, and the tension between truth and adaptation. Josh... Read More

Rebecca Calder's narration drives this surreal tale about "antimemes" that can attack memory and identity. With precision and controlled energy, Calder shapes an audio experience that highlights the text's clever constructions and unsettling logic. Calder's clear articulation and confident pacing make rapid conceptual shifts feel purposeful, helping listeners absorb the... Read More

Drout, professor of English and director of the Center for the Study of the Medieval at Wheaton College, narrates this deeply researched and remarkably comprehensive examination of Tolkien's genius. Drout's strong, sonorous voice is the perfect vehicle for sharing his own findings, imbuing the audio with deep meaning and a full understanding of both his own work and that of... Read More

"Bridgerton" heartthrob Luke Thompson performs this novel with restraint, ensuring that the self-deluded first-person narrator is fully believable. The setting, Venice in 1899, has a gloss of wrongdoing. The protagonist, an unsuccessful English writer named Evelyn Dohlman, is a morally ambiguous soul. He speaks no Italian, and his recent bride, an American heiress, has cooled... Read More

Christian Coulson's narration is beautifully enhanced by inspiring flute music and immersive sound effects. Norbury's story introduces listeners of all ages to the fundamental principles of a peaceful life rooted in Zen Buddhism. Coulson's portrayals of Big Panda and Tiny Dragon offer teachable moments filled with gentle warmth and practical insights as they address complex... Read More