New Reviews: Fiction

At the heart of this audiobook about how communities can heal a broken heart is Efren "Chino" Flores, a middle school teacher who has moved back to his California hometown in the wake of a personal tragedy. Andrew Joseph Perez brings a natural warmth to Chino's story. His voice is defined by liveliness that lifts up the joyful moments and softens the heavy ones. Each person in... Read More

Family dynamics can be complex, and that's true in this audiobook. Ostensibly, the story is about four adult sisters who were orphaned early and forced to take care of themselves and--in their own ways--each other. The novel sketches their personal lives, professional ambitions, and interwoven histories when one sister goes missing. Sarah Bolger, Aisling Franciosi, Caoilinn... Read More

Sophie Amoss performs this quiet novel about two sisters who have spent the last 10 years caring for their ailing mother. At their home on an island off the coast of Washington, Sam and Elena fight to make ends meet working menial jobs and taking paid surveys online. But when a strange brown bear returns to their neighborhood again and again, the two sisters have very different... Read More

Beep is a monkey, and in Bill Roorbach's offbeat fantasy tale, he's the central narrator, communicating to the listener in a kind of childlike animal-speak akin to his species. Roorbach provides the words and voice to this amusing and disorienting story about the relationship between nature and humans. Listeners follow Beep's travels from his homeland to New York with young... Read More

Allyson Johnson performs a story revolving around generations of Black women in a small Kentucky town named Opulence. Minnie Mae, the matriarch of her family, strives to keep her secrets buried deep. In another family, a young widow named Francine Clark mysteriously becomes pregnant long after her husband has died. Johnson captures these beautifully written characters, imbuing... Read More

Narrator Rachel Atkins conveys the heartbreak, pain, and confusion experienced by Sarajevans under siege during the first year of the Bosnian War in 1992. Artist Zora Koovi chooses to stay in Sarajevo even as family members flee, bombs begin to fall, and snipers wreak havoc from nearby rooftops and hills. Atkins provides a pitch-perfect performance, capturing Zora's love for... Read More

This audiobook immerses listeners in a fictionalized season in the life of a black-throated blue warbler, chronicling a female bird's trials and tribulations in undertaking migration, finding a mate, and interacting with other birds. Narrator Jess Moran's small, feminine voice complements the petite stature of the lead character in this avian drama. Sporting a band on her leg,... Read More

David Crellin narrates this gloomy novel set in 2001 in Northern England, featuring sheep farmers Steve Elliman and William Herne. Their flocks are suffering from deadly foot-and-mouth disease and must be euthanized, a calamity that is destroying other generations-old family farms, as well. In the aftermath, the dour men rustle healthy flocks in an attempt to survive. With the... Read More

Bahni Turpin delivers this story of feminist entrepreneurship and second chance love with the humor and hilarity it deserves. Toni is a single mother of twins with big dreams. Turpin captures Toni's spunkiness as she balances motherhood and a demanding job with her aspirations for entrepreneurship. Turpin deftly portrays Toni's loving, if chaotic, world, which includes... Read More

Narrator Mara Wilson uses an urgent and precise tone as a middle-aged millennial looks back at the murder of Karlie Richards, a North Carolina college student. Pearson uses the framework of the standard whodunit to explore a variety of colorful characters. Joy Brunner, Karlie's former roommate, finds a letter in a book that may exonerate the mentally challenged young man who... Read More

Part literary mystery, part astronomy lesson, this audiobook, narrated by Casey Withoos, provides listeners with a compelling story set in Australia in 1997. Sylvia Knight is recovering from the hit-and-run that made her a widow more than two years ago. She believes she knows who killed her husband, but no one has been held accountable. Sylvia is working as an assistant in a... Read More

Heller returns to the beauty and challenges of the wilderness in his latest audiobook. This time hunters and lifelong friends Jess and Storey encounter the deadliest and most unpredictable of predators: man. Mark Deakins delivers an excellent performance. He captures the intense action without tipping into cliché, and his pacing is perfectly attuned to the story in which Maine... Read More

Karla Cornejo Villavicencio narrates her debut novel about undocumented immigrant Catalina Ituralde. Facing an uncertain future after her Harvard graduation, Catalina reflects on her time as a student and her childhood with her grandparents. Villavicencio speaks with a smile in her voice, capturing Catalina's skepticism and wry humor. Her melodic intonation lends itself well to... Read More

With its stellar cast and sprawling story, this audiobook is outstanding. Jane, an archivist at Harvard, returns to her childhood home on the coast of Maine to get her late mother's affairs in order. She discovers that her dream house there has been sold, and the new owner hires her for historical research on the house, which could be haunted. Told by several narrators, the... Read More

Prepare to be swept away to Scotland's northernmost reaches, wrapped warmly in the voice of narrator Eilidh Beaton. She pipes out quiet, unassuming Gertie MacIntyre's daydreams as she works in the local grocery store, knitting constantly. In contrast, opinionated pilot Morag sounds definitive, even as she proposes that Gertie fill in at the airfield, a miraculous new start for... Read More

Fans of stories about mismatched people are certain to enjoy Brian Craig's narration of this novel. Hank is a curmudgeon who mostly wants to be left alone, except for one last attempt to rekindle a very brief, very one-sided high school romance. Luis is a good-natured guy living in unfortunate but not insurmountable circumstances. Together, the pair make an odd couple, and... Read More

Narrator Kristen Ariza lends her expert skills to this intimate character study. The story follows Jane, a biracial author who is struggling with finishing her novel, which she believes to be revolutionary. She moves her family near Hollywood, where she meets a producer who wants to make her book into a television show. Jane is a complex character who is often skeptical, and... Read More

Baron Ryan's first collection of short stories explores a semester in the lives of Charlie and his friends, who are students at Harvard. The author narrates his own work, lending his youthful voice to stories featuring the 36 questions to ask to fall in love, a tongue-in-cheek correspondence with a professor regarding a writing assignment, the "story behind the story," and... Read More

Fourteen narrators give superb performances in this collection of coming-out stories. Their range of accents, tones, inflections, and styles brings the stories to life. Some works are funny and some heartbreaking, but all are honest, open, and full of heart. Though Maggar mentions in her introduction that the stories are from all over the world, the audiobook's settings are... Read More

It's hard to imagine anyone other than Rachel Kushner narrating her gripping and highly original novel about an unconventional spy. Sadie is hired by governments and unnamed private entities to infiltrate radical eco and industrial terrorist groups. She is now in France, where she is blending into a group of potentially violent animal rights activists with a brewing plot... Read More

Fans of the popular "Mystery Science Theater 3000" TV series will delight in listening to Frank Conniff narrate his own novel, essentially a clever, sardonic comic monologue. The over-the-top bleakness of the darkest superhero movies--the films that took the fun out of Batman--are mercilessly and wittily mocked throughout. Dark Apnea, a would-be superhero in a sleep apnea mask... Read More

Author and narrator Roxana Robinson weaves together the many pieces of her great-grandparents' memoirs, letters, and journal entries, adding threads that turn them into a novel. Her inviting delivery engages listeners with English-born Frank Dawson, who embraces African American civil rights after surviving battles in the Confederate Navy and becoming editor of the Charleston... Read More

This novel tells the story of a mega-rich octogenarian and a 33-year-old Black woman. Audie Award winner Nicole Lewis is an excellent narrator who does subtle gradations of tone and tempo. She makes an excellent guide to the gilded world in this story of wealth and aspiration, race and power. The plot involves Vassar-educated Brooke Orr; Lewis gets her sound and style. Orr goes... Read More

Hawaiian actor Kaipo Schwab performs the first published novel by a citizen of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. In the middle of WWII, Cowney Sequoyah is hired to be a groundskeeper at the historic Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina. While there, he learns more about the Axis diplomats being held prisoner at the inn. But when a Japanese girl goes missing, the U.S.... Read More

Lisa Flanagan performs this group story of a faculty at one public high school as if she were herself an entire acting company. At the beginning of the story's school year a superannuated substitute teacher dies ingloriously on a couch in the eponymous lounge. That episode and each one following introduces more linked characters, events, complications, and unintended... Read More

Narrator Elisabeth Lagelee uses a soft French accent for this story of love and loss set in Milly, France. Twenty-one-year-old Justine works as a nursing assistant in a retirement/nursing home, where she collects the stories of her charges, especially those of Hélène, a nearly 100-year-old resident. Hélène recounts her life from the 1920s through the Nazi Occupation, including... Read More

In a stellar narration, David Pittu infuses this audiobook with genuine wit and plenty of tenderness. In two timelines, we follow Artie, a struggling gay copywriter who hates his job, first, on his 30th birthday in 1992 and, again, on his 60th in 2022. On his 30th, his three best friends urge him to quit his job and write a novel. David Pittu imbues young Artie with a funny,... Read More

This family saga set in Venezuela follows political movements in the 1960s and the 1990s, and their effects on the lives of Stanislavo; Emiliana; Maria; and her son, Eloy. Four narrators take turns delivering the story of Stanislavo, which takes place in the jungles of northeastern Venezuela in 1964 as he participates in a leftist uprising and forms a relationship with... Read More

The three Japanese actors in this charming collection of linked short stories offer sympathetic and generally successful interpretations of everyone from heartsick people to talking cats. While actor Sadao Ueda's strong Japanese accent and halting rhythm can occasionally distance listeners from characters, he narrates with warmth and appreciation for the audiobook's wisdoms.... Read More

After suffering several miscarriages, Irene Willard, now pregnant again in 1948, finds herself at a home/institution for expectant mothers who have had difficulties with pregnancy. Narrator Carlotta Brentan's slight, scratchy voice fits the fragile condition of the women. She provides lower pitched voices for the male characters when they do appear in this largely... Read More

Alex Howard's endearing narration illuminates the time travel of a 15-year-old male cat living in 1887. After his death, Grimalkin spends his remaining eight lives in the supernatural realm, visiting the same Edinburgh tenement in 1902, 1930, 1942, 1953, 1969, 1997, 2008, and 2022. Howard's performance highlights Grimalkin's charming, sometimes cantankerous personality through... Read More

Christine Rendel gives a quietly unforgettable performance of this dark and witty 1986 novel--a queer classic that is finally available on audio. Janet and Susan, known around their Cotswolds village as "the girls," live a comfortable life running a quaint gift shop. When Jan gets pregnant, it leads to a series of unexpected (and dramatic) events. Rendel's narration captures... Read More

Karen Chilton's and Kirby Heyborne's performances bring a distinctive energy to this unique story about two talent agents who are chasing soccer's next rising star. Mark is bored yet intrigued by his brother's mission to find the elusive star, Godwin. Heyborne as Mark, captures the man's internal conflicts and decisions in a reflective tone that fits the character's... Read More

An ensemble cast performs a story of love and loss. Dara and Austin are just weeks from their wedding when Austin is given life-changing news. Their wedding is called off, and Dara hesitates to tell her family what has caused this rift. She travels to California and South Carolina, hoping to find solace. Austin flies home to the fate that awaits him in London. Told from... Read More

Cassandra Campbell, Devon Sorvari, and Fred Sanders provide an authentic narration of this moving novel. Sorvari portrays Keaton, a woman whose life has been turned upside down. Needing time to recover, she is sent to North Carolina by her mother to prepare her late grandparents' home for sale. Upon arriving in Beaufort, Keaton discovers that the house has remained untouched... Read More

Fiona Hardingham delivers Simonson's latest novel. In England in 1919, life has returned to a postwar normal. But Orphaned Constance worries about her future. What will she do when her current position as gentle Mrs. Fog's companion ends? Poppy is young, confident and eager to help her disabled brother. Hardinghan's tone of humility and empathy provides balance to Poppy's... Read More

Kevin Barry narrates his dark story about a whirlwind romance between an opium addict and a mail-order bride in the winter of 1891 in Montana. This story--resplendent with esoteric language and a quirky style--is surely best consumed in audiobook form, and Barry's narration does it justice. Tom Rourke long ago abandoned the miserable work in the copper mines in favor of... Read More

Narrators Caroline Lee and Geraldine Hakewill weave the threads of this tense exploration of free will. Everyone on a delayed flight across Australia is tired and frustrated as they await reaching their destination. Suddenly, a nondescript woman stands and begins pointing to fellow passengers and stating how they will die and when. She won't remember this later--when the... Read More

André Santana narrates this queer coming-of-age story with tenderness that will touch listeners' hearts. The story begins with 6-year-old Santiago's arrival in the U.S. from Colombia with his mother and half-brother. As they settle in place, his mother, who is always working, often leaves Santiago to his own devices. As Santiago matures, he discovers and embraces his queer... Read More

This familiar story of a teen pop star pushed to early stardom is given a haunting performance by Brittany Pressley. Amber has grown up pleasing her mother by attending audition after audition. Her success in landing a spot in the supergroup Cloud9 was only the beginning. Now exploring her solo pop career, Amber becomes an oversexualized idol who yearns for a normal childhood.... Read More

Willy Vlautin narrates this novel, a series of linked stories, with the gentle twang of a vintage Telecaster. His characters are woven into the settings of the American Southwest, around Las Vegas and Reno, in run-down hotels and casinos. Here, guitar players are buoyed by their love of performing music, even if the audience is small and disinterested. Here, listeners trace the... Read More

Cynthia Nixon tells this story of loss with empathy and compassion. Magda is taking the road trip her best friend, Sara, had planned for the two of them--she's traveling with an urn containing Sara's remains. Except for the hint of Sweden in one's character's voice, Nixon doesn't employ accents to identify characters. Instead, her amazing ability to insert emotions into their... Read More

Joyce Maynard's sweater-warm voice is rich with nuance as she performs her newest, a sequel to her Earphones Award-winning COUNT THE WAYS. Taking place between 2010 and 2024, the story finds Eleanor, a successful writer, back on the family's New England farm after her former husband's death. In a story that is simultaneously profound and quotidian, she navigates life with three... Read More

Not many 13-year-olds have favorite mathematicians, but Jamie O'Neill is not an ordinary 13-year-old. He's a math genius; he's stuck mourning the loss of his mother, who died when he was born; he's on the spectrum; and he's voiced by the very fine Gary Furlong. Jamie and his father, Eoin (Owen), live in a small fishing town on the west coast of Ireland, where Jamie is starting... Read More

As an audiobook, Hamya's low-key novel might easily have employed two narrators--or even a third. The action revolves around the opening of Sophia's play, which is attended by her father, a novelist who is appalled when he finds himself depicted as a crass philanderer while they were on their vacation together in Italy when Sophia was a teenager. During the performance Sophia... Read More

Drawing inspiration from BLACK MIRROR, THE MATRIX, and 1984, this debut audiobook takes listeners inside the evolving world of AI with a dystopian twist. Although it's set in a world of cutting-edge tech, it is a deeply human story, and Joe Knezevich's narration imbues it with warmth and subtlety. When a tech start-up creates an algorithm that can change events in the real... Read More

Raffi and Britt are queer and extremely intelligent. Both are portrayed well by Natalie Naudus and Xe Sands. As a cosmologist, Raffi is searching for dark matter and longs to spend every free moment with Britt, a queer sculptor. Naudus and Sands provide strong performances in this speculative fiction, which explores parallel worlds; complex women who fracture into hordes of... Read More

Eanna Hardwicke's narration highlights the rich emotionality of Rooney's newest novel. Hardwicke's smooth voice shifts to capture every mood--becoming desperately angry, bitter, and frantic yet also achingly tender, patient, and loving--as he performs a story of two grieving brothers. Peter and Ivan's father has died, leaving them unmoored and their relationship strained. Peter... Read More

Narrator Cindy Kay entertains listeners as she skillfully delivers this satirical novel's snarky tone. Aki Hiyashi-Brown accepts a teaching job at the expensive, predominantly white Wesley Friends School in order for her daughter, Meg, to be able to attend. After racist graffiti is found at the school, Aki, one of the few teachers of color, is assigned to be the head of the new... Read More

Anyone can have a bad day, but Jenny's bad day is exceptional in this audiobook. Beth Eyre's sweet, lilting voice is ideal as she portrays the young, single mother whose hard-won, modest, and independent lifestyle is in jeopardy, thanks to a series of unfortunate developments. Eyre offers excellent pacing, and her comic timing suits Jenny well, especially in her conversations... Read More

Andrew Byron's voice sets the scene of a historic city with a culture steeped in both Europe and the East. His performance is transporting, embedding listeners in the city of Lviv, Ukraine. This fascinating place and its impact on its residents is the heartbeat of this quietly moving audiobook. Deeply drawn characters, including aging hippies, a former secret policeman, and a... Read More

Hanako Footman's delicate tones resonate with the otherworldly atmosphere of this short novel about revisiting cherished memories. Footman sustains the intrigue regarding Mr. Hirasaka, an affable guide of the afterlife who owns a fantastical photo studio somewhere between life and death. Although he assists each of the three characters--an old woman, a gangster, and a girl--to... Read More

Narrator Annie Maynard's comfortable tone and Australian accent set the scene for this audiobook. Kerryn Mayne's debut introduces listeners to Lenny Marks, a fifth-grade teacher in her mid-30s. When a letter from her parole board addressed to Helena Winters is delivered to her school, Lenny's long-buried past is resurrected. Maynard injects humor and pathos as she brings this... Read More

While listening to this audiobook, one must believe the impossible is possible--maybe even probable. The otherworldly story begins with an email from a despondent college student, Morris, to his former math teacher, Grace. Jordan Stephens narrates the gloomy email, and listeners feel his pain. Grace responds by telling her amazing story of how she, at age 72, found new energy... Read More

Bahni Turpin's performance takes listeners to that time in the early 1990s when the world was changing and the latest alternative rock bands were everything. Jane meets burgeoning rock star Elijah in an Internet chat room, a connection that leads to a deep professional and personal bond. They form The Lightning Bottles and amass a devoted fan base, with Jane providing the... Read More

Eunice Wong's narration of this debut novel captures the essence of its story with a perfect deadpan tone. Linh Ly is confronted with a multitude of challenges that disrupt her routine. First, she finds herself coping with her mother's new dating life and with an active shooter lockdown at work. She's also experiencing palpable anxiety as she grapples with her past, family... Read More

Adepero Oduye and Chukwudi Iwuji perform this whirlwind story told by a group of characters who are all connected by the events of a single night. In an unnamed city in Nigeria, Kalu attends a sex party to help him forget that his girlfriend, Aima, has just left him. But everything goes wrong, and Kalu finds himself sucked into the city's seedy underbelly with no way out. Oduye... Read More

Sometimes metafiction--shape shifting, self-referential, time bending--can seem like a party favor. While it possesses many meta elements, this satisfying audiobook is at once a comic romp, a satire of fame in the Internet Age, and a look at race--set in rural Mississippi. This is the 2021 revision of the debut novel from Laymon, whose more recent memoir, HEAVY, was much... Read More

Even at more than 15 hours, with a story covering several decades, this audiobook never slows its pace as narrated by Edoardo Ballerini. The epic begins in 1980 with the kidnapping of a Long Island factory owner and follows the lives of his three underachieving adult children, all of whom are damaged in their own way by the ordeal. Ballerini expertly captures the Jewish... Read More

Three narrators, Susan Bennett, Christina Moore, and Xe Sands, combine their talents to tell the story of Dr. Lark Smith. Lark has been moved from oncology to the ER because she is deemed to be too emotional. Dr. Lorenzo Santini has offered to help her get back to oncology if she will pretend to be his girlfriend to please his grandmother. Sands gives Lark vulnerability as her... Read More

This historical mystery brings a strong, idealistic American woman to a small village in mountainous Calabria, Italy, in 1960. Francesca is running from marital turmoil in Rome when she comes to Santa Chionia to build a nursery school. Narrator Lisa Flanagan gives Francesca a passionate, authoritative voice as she tells her story of trying to raise up the people of a forgotten... Read More

Golden Voice Narrator January LaVoy becomes the characters of Troy, Georgia, as they face off on the issue of banning books in libraries. Lula Dean, the prime book banner, fills her little free library with "wholesome books." Little does she know that her rival, Beverly Underwood's daughter, Lindsay, put banned books beneath the wholesome book jackets. Oh, my! LaVoy imbues... Read More

Those who listen to this audiobook will join a group of friends lost to time. It's been 25 years since the last meeting of the Midnight Club. The old group of friends who bonded over the campus literary magazine have returned to campus, where they're also bonded by having experienced something sinister all those years ago--the death of their friend, Jennet. A mysterious... Read More

Most very good novels, like this one, cover a broad range of subjects, but they also often focus on some specific questions about human existence--in this case, what we do for love and how we recover from that. Narrator Marin Ireland manages to keep everything in this novel tied together without creating voices for all the numerous characters. She trusts the text to tell us who... Read More

Sophia's current beau, the man of her dreams, surprises her with a cruise to the Galapagos Islands. Just as they are boarding, he gets an "emergency" call from his ex-wife and tells Sophia he can't go. At his insistence, she decides to go alone. Narrator Erin Bennett gives a great performance, delving into Sophia's ruminations with excellent pacing and varying tones that reveal... Read More

Natalie Naudus narrates the opening of a duology retelling the Mulan legend. Meilin escapes from her abusive father when he arranges to sell her to an equally abusive husband. She disguises herself as a boy and enlists in the army, where she augments her training with nightly sessions. A jade necklace she inherited from her mother is imbued with black magic, and she starts to... Read More

Narrator Julia Whelan portrays Nora Noone with an earnest tone in this gripping family drama. Nora's father, Liam, a thrice-married hotel magnate, has become distant from his grown children. After recently changing his will, he falls from a slippery cliff at a California seaside cottage. Did he slip, or was he pushed? Whelan voices Nora's estranged stepbrother, Sam, with a... Read More

This stunning collection of short stories is narrated beautifully by a quartet of gifted narrators who bring to life the reimagined lives of the nine-tailed fox of Asian folklore. As each story unfolds, the narrator imbues it with passion, sensuality, and a healthy dose of feminist perspective. Nancy Wu, Annie Q, Jen Zhao, and Eunice Wong have engaging and charming voices, and... Read More

With her vibrant and expressive delivery, Weruche Opia's narration elevates this family comedy about Temi, a young Nigerian woman who plans to have glute-enhancing surgery. Her ability to capture the distinct voices of Temi, her family, and the extended family of female characters adds depth to each personality, making the listener feel fully immersed in their world. Opia's... Read More

In this audiobook thriller, women take action against violent men, cruel women, and a world that underestimates them and takes them for granted. Sisters Paula and Julie grow up with a vengeful mother, ultimately paying the price for her choices. Three narrators take turns voicing the lead as the story jumps around in time, making the shifts easy for listeners to manage. As... Read More

Elena Rey rises to the challenge of narrating this emotionally charged and hilarious story of love and trauma shared among three generations of women. Luciana, the youngest daughter in a Colombian American family, becomes exasperated when her eccentric grandmother, Abue, refuses to evacuate from Miami during a hurricane. A mass found on Abue's gallbladder throws everything into... Read More

Narrator Ann Richardson performs this beautifully crafted story about female bonding, personal growth, and the transformative power of friendship. The audiobook alternates between the viewpoints of an aging, reclusive bestselling author, Inez, and her cleaner, Meja. Meja lacks direction in her life and comes to help Inez declutter her cottage in coastal Sweden. The story is... Read More

Andre Bellido skillfully narrates this story of writers, generational trauma, and magical realism. Aureliano Más returns to Mexico City at the behest of his aunt. She has secured him a writing fellowship she hopes will give him direction and help him stop drinking. But Aureliano's alcoholism, rooted in his mother's haunting disappearance and his best friend's suicide, has a... Read More

Genevieve Gaunt narrates this genre-defying surreal novel about art, artists, and relationships. Her genteel English accent fits the prose, which evokes a mood of elite European salon communities. Gaunt's pacing is slow, giving listeners needed time to absorb the disorienting introspective narrative, which frequently switches from the first to the third person. Main characters... Read More

Jean Ann Douglass narrates this Depression-era story of an orphaned runt bear that is saved by the cook at an isolated logging camp and raised to be part of the cook's family and the camp community. When a savage death occurs, Bruno the bear is blamed, kidnapped, and sold. The cook's daughter, Pearly, determined to save her "brother" from certain death, sets off on a perilous... Read More

A talented ensemble cast narrates a ripped-from-the-headlines thriller set at a prestigious Miami public school. When newcomer Melody Howard arrives from Kansas, she is swept into the glamorous world of PTA moms at her daughter's new school. Andi Arndt's portrayal of Melody as she slowly unravels due to the high-stakes pressure of her new environment is compelling. Other... Read More

Atta Otigba maintains a steady and engaging narration of Able God's journey from hotel worker to fugitive migrant. Otigba draws listeners into Able's thoughts, giving us a clear sense of his fear when he is on the run and then falls into the hands of human traffickers. Otigba's pacing aligns well with the novel's tense moments, especially during Able's dangerous encounters.... Read More

Petey Gibson gives an exuberant and emotional performance of this charming queer love story about ghosts, grieving, and big family messes. Ezra has been able to see ghosts since his grandfather died when he was a kid, and he wants nothing to do with his family's Jewish funeral home. But when his mom announces she's leaving his dad for the rabbi's wife, he reluctantly agrees to... Read More

Hearing the dry, intense voice of narrator Emily Rankin as she portrays Julia Ames is like being a psychoanalyst who is listening to a particularly troubled patient. Julia grapples with her identity as a daughter, wife, mother, friend, and, briefly, an adulteress. She is insecure, emotionally vulnerable, witty, pessimistic, and totally self-absorbed. Rankin presents all aspects... Read More

Gail Shalan, who narrates most of this long and flabby novel, is an agile and adept performer. She does fine work shifting from the youthful voice of Jolie Aspern, the primary narrator of this fictional memoir, to the voice of her junkie failure of a father, Ethan. Shalan captures the other lightly drawn characters with subtle shifts of tone and tempo. Ari Fliakos is quite... Read More

It's easy to imagine the voice of Brian Nishii as that of the great Japanese writer Osamu Dazai (1909-1948) as Nishii delivers these searingly personal short stories, each of which depicts a morsel of Dazai's short life. Nishii presents the stories in a conversational tone that sounds as if Dazai is telling them to friends. From anecdotes to sweeping portraits of... Read More

Narrator Christine Lakin balances the poignancy and humor in this 1990s story of three generations of strong, complicated women: Dale, a gritty veteran of five husbands who left her only child, Cherie; Marlys, her dying friend who is Cherie's stepmother; Cherie herself, now a confident, wealthy woman and "fixer"; and Laura, Cherie's pregnant daughter whose perfect life is... Read More

Listeners will savor this story of high school soulmates reuniting under less-than-ideal circumstances. Narrator Rebecca Lowman has a subtly elegant voice that allows the story to shine. Shiloh and Cary were best friends in high school who were secretly in love, but self-doubt and immaturity kept them apart. Eventually, they lost touch. Now 33 and divorced with two kids, Shiloh... Read More

Narrators Natalie Beran, Ben Allen, and Helen Lloyd bring this charming story of unlikely friendship to life. After a horrible accident, Ned, a minor Internet celebrity, finds himself locked in his own body and struggling to communicate. Ben Allen gives a believable performance as a man who is struggling to be understood, even as his body betrays him. Mrs. Malley is shaken out... Read More

Listeners will be moved by this compelling story about the immigrant experience in America and what it means to define our own lives. Narrator Junior Nyong'o voices Mamush, the son of Ethiopian immigrants. Facing a failing marriage, Mamush leaves his wife and son in Paris to visit his mother in Washington, DC. Upon arrival, he is told that Samuel, the man he considers a father... Read More

Aasne Vigesaa captures the varied charms of Minnesota and its indomitable people in this intriguing collection of short stories. In each work, Minnesota is more than a backdrop; it becomes a vibrant character, adding atmosphere and distinction. In "The Picnic," Vigesaa's sweet, gentle Megan plans a picnic months in advance--to her commitment-phobic boyfriend's irritation--until... Read More

Megan Tusing performs this new audiobook featuring the state of Florida, accidental death cults, and dangerous technology that could rip apart reality. In a world of stray cats, bizarre human behavior, and random floods, a ghostwriter finds herself dealing with the present, as well as the past wrongs of her father and other members of her strange family. After her sister's... Read More

Narrator Shayna Small infuses teen angst throughout Chambers's novel. Diamond, a biracial teen, is still reeling from her father's death eight years ago. Narrating largely from Diamond's point of view, Small skillfully uses nuanced voicings for the many conversations Diamond has with other characters. Small captures the teen's pain when Ma has Pop declared dead in order to... Read More

Carlotta Brentan's narration offers all the glamour and sparkle of Rome in the 1960s. After marrying David Shepard, an American diplomat based in Italy, Teddy Huntley Carlyle experiences life in the Euro fast lane. Royalty, film stars, corporate executives, foreign diplomats, Russian spies, and American expats populate her new life. But Teddy has secrets that could destroy... Read More

Mikaela Hoover performs this wildly delightful novel about Iranian American fast-food heiresses who want to be TV stars. The four Milani sisters have very different reactions to learning that their reality television series is delayed because of COVID-19. Now the Milani family members are forced to spend all their time together, and tensions rise as they wonder if their... Read More

Narrator Kimberly Farr pretty much owns Elizabeth Strout's Maine characters at this point, and what a good thing that is. This quietly compelling novel brings together Strout's beloved, sometimes maddening, always vivid characters from multiple novels past, many of them also performed by Farr. Life and time have landed Bob Burgess and his wife, Margaret; Lucy Barton and her... Read More

Johnny Rey Diaz navigates these short stories with touching empathy. He performs the lived experiences of Salvadorans and the larger Latin American diaspora in ways both fascinating and challenging. Reyes, Jr's, storytelling starts conventionally but soon evolves into darker themes that capture the impact of late capitalism, which is characterized, in part, by the drive to... Read More

African Caribbean dialect specialist Emana Rachelle introduces this immersive dystopian novel in a composed, intelligent tone. After 500 years of climate disasters, social unrest, and biological experimentation, an authoritarian society has arisen in the "Northwestern Hemisphere." It's divided between the DPs (dominant population) and a servant class of Invisibles, whose skin... Read More

Rebecca Lowman gives an affecting performance of this stirring audiobook about grief and adventure. Ammalie, a 50-something waitress who has recently lost her husband, Vincent, decides to take a trip to revisit one place she went to with him and two other locations that had special significance to him. Lowman's expressive tone and relaxed pacing settle listeners into Ammalie's... Read More

Jocelyn Tam's narration of this stirring autobiographical novel offers an evocative portrayal of Lai Wen's coming of age in Beijing at the time of the Tiananmen Square uprising. Tam brings to life the dynamics within Lai's family, in particular her grandmother's tough love and her father's silent struggles, and illuminates Lai's gradual awakening to the political and social... Read More

Narrator Chante McCormick performs this audiobook about Mae, a biracial young woman who struggles with her identity, racism, family secrets, and how to re-create a lost family recipe for macaroni and cheese. McCormick skillfully adjusts her tone, pitch and accents to create the many characters in Mae's extended family. Mae is on a mission to unite her interracial family and... Read More

Juliet Stevenson's voice in this production is like a spa tub, soothing and stimulating at the same time. The fact that she is narrating a masterpiece will keep listeners from being soothed to inattention. THE TRANSIT OF VENUS does have some astronomy in the background, but it is mostly a study of many of the forms of love, focused on the inhabitants of an English country... Read More

Escape with Brittany Pressley and Karissa Vacker to an adults-only nostalgic summer camp. Jesse and Hillary became best friends years ago at Camp Chickawah and thought they would return as adults to be camp counselors. While that dream came true for Jesse, Hillary moved on to other opportunities. Now that the camp may be sold, Jesse invites Hillary and former campers to create... Read More

Emily Lawrence captures the snarky, often exasperated, voice of Bernadette Fareown as she looks back at her Midwest childhood. In the shadow of her free-spirited older sister, Joanne, Bernadette observes her parents' volatile marriage and the effects of generations of mental illness. The novel's setting is the 1980s farm crisis, which will permanently shape Bernadette's... Read More

Michelle Lee's narration of this compelling debut will immediately engage listeners. Abby Rodier grew up in foster care in the U.S. after being a "drop-box baby" in Korea. She was eventually taken in by her friend Iseul's family, and they remain connected as adults. She becomes a marine biologist and makes an unexpected discovery while studying sea slugs. Her research into the... Read More

Narrator Kristin Atherton brings us to the tiny South Atlantic island of Tuga de Oro, known for being the most remote British colony in the world. London vet Charlotte Walker accepts a fellowship to study the endangered gold coin tortoises there, and perhaps find out more about herself. The caliber of acting Atherton displays is truly laudable. She goes beyond assigning... Read More

Naruto Komatsu and Natsumi Kuroda perform this award-winning Japanese bestseller with conviction, warmth, and audible appreciation. In five whimsical stories, individual Kyoto residents find their way to a quirky clinic where they are unexpectedly prescribed a cat. Kuroda displays emotional range and witty timing in his performance of two stories. A disheartened accountant... Read More

Narrator Stephen Thorne's nuanced narration is ideal for this comic depiction of a society in chaos. Listeners will enjoy its emphasis on the ridiculous. During Dan's first vacation in a decade, the sun explodes, and the resort where he's staying is plunged into darkness. A social hierarchy quickly takes hold in which Building A, with the most amenities and wealthiest guests,... Read More