Every month, AudioFile Magazine reviewers and editors give “Earphones Awards” to the best new audiobooks — the listens that combine blow-you-away narrations with standout writing. BookTrib, thanks to our partnership with AudioFile, offers this month’s picks of the newest, not-to-be-missed titles. Don’t forget your earbuds!
Beach Read
by Emily Henry | Read by Julia Whelan | Penguin Audio
Narrator Julia Whelan inhabits the first-person point of view of January Andrews, a bestselling romance writer who was a hopeless romantic until her father died and she learned of his mistress. Listeners share January’s despair as she faces a summer of failing to write her next romance novel while packing up her father’s secret beach house. She’s dismayed to discover that her grumpy neighbor is her college rival, Augustus Everett, an acclaimed author of literary fiction. Whelan perfectly captures January’s defensiveness, which soon gives way to laughter and yearning.
Read our review of Beach Read here!
The Redeemed
by Tim Pears | Read by Jonathan Keeble | ISIS Audio Books
Narrator Jonathan Keeble’s mastery of Tim Pears‘s quietly beautiful and evocative writing is one of the many pleasures in this final installment of his West Country Trilogy. Following the intertwining lives of Leo, the carpenter’s son, and Lottie, the daughter of the local estate, this volume brings us to WWI and beyond in a story that is absorbing, undramatic and deeply satisfying.
Pizza Girl
by Elizabeth Acevedo | Read by Elizabeth Acevedo, Melania-Luisa Marte | Harper Audio
Elizabeth Acevedo, the author and narrator of the multi-award winning The Poet X, co-narrates this highly anticipated audiobook. Acevedo is joined by Melania-Luisa Marte in an alternating dialogue between two sisters, neither of whom knows the other exists until their father’s death in a plane crash. These two voices create a beautiful duet of the girls’ raw and lingering grief, forgiveness of their beloved and imperfect father and nascent sisterhood. Fans of Acevedo, as well those new to her work, will not be disappointed.
Braised Pork
by An Yu | Read by Vera Chok | Recorded Books
Vera Chok delightfully narrates this ambitious debut fiction about a woman haunted by dreams of a mysterious creature. With her charming voice, Chok becomes Jia Jia, whose husband, Cheng Hang, is found dead at their lush Beijing apartment; beside him is his sketch of a creature with the body of a fish and the head of a man. Chok’s smooth narration will have listeners hooked on the drama and intrigue surrounding Cheng Hang’s sketch.
Wuhan Diary: Dispatches from a Quarantined City
by Fang Fang, Michael Berry [Trans.] | Read by Emily Woo Zeller | HarperAudio
Emily Woo Zeller’s melodious voice, clear diction and thoughtful pacing shape these dispatches from the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak. She emulates Fang Fang’s tone whether she discusses daily life, takes officials to task for an insufficient response to the pandemic, or vigorously defends herself from the Internet trolls and ultra-leftists who attack her. This audiobook presents a heroic writer.
PEW
by Catherine Lacey | Read by Bahni Turpin | Brilliance Audio
Narrator Bahni Turpin gives a tour-de-force performance in this strange allegory featuring a nondescript person found sleeping on a church pew in a small, unnamed Southern town. Pew refuses to speak, so the townspeople pass them from one institution to another as they debate their identity. PEW is a strange ride, but trust Turpin to steer the ship.
Marshmallow Malice: Amish Candy Shop, Book 5
by Amanda Flower | Read by Rebecca Mitchell | Tantor Media
In this delightful audiobook, Juliet and Reverend Brooks’s wedding day has arrived, and it seems that anything that can go wrong does so. The next morning candymaker Bailey King goes to inspect the church and finds the murdered body of a woman who tried to crash the wedding. The murder leads to Bailey’s most dangerous investigation yet. But, listeners, beware! The frequent descriptions of various types of candy will leave you craving Bailey’s delicious-sounding sweets.
Pretty Things
by Janelle Brown | Read by Julia Whelan, Lauren Fortgang, Hillary Huber | Penguin Audio
Julia Whelan and Lauren Fortgang perform a near-perfect duet narrating this utterly absorbing psychological thriller. Whelan’s Nina is a grifter. Nina’s mark is Vanessa, a socialite media influencer, apparently all entitlement and vanity, whose family once did a terrible thing to teenaged Nina. Or so Nina believes. Somehow the worst people come across as most appealing, a hugely effective diversion as you unravel who the real cons and marks are.
They Went Left
by Monica Hesse | Read by Caitlin Davies | Hachette Audio
Narrator Caitlin Davies reflects the terrible confusion of 18-year-old Zofia, who has recently been liberated from Gross-Rosen concentration camp in Germany. She is haunted by memories of her younger brother, Abek, who may be her only family member still alive. Davies’s narration doesn’t hold back on emotions as the story reveals Zofia’s past hell, broken present and future hopes.
The Book of Koli: Rampart Trilogy, Book 1
by M.R. Carey | Read by Theo Solomon | Hachette Audio
Theo Solomon’s narration is astounding in this story of a ruined future in which humanity is slowly dying and technology is viewed as magic from the past. While the audiobook is outstanding in its examination of humanity’s struggle in an evolving world, it’s the authenticity of Solomon’s voice that makes it so emotionally compelling and deeply personal. Listeners will be spellbound by the aural depiction of a complex and bitter society in which hope and innocence are precious gifts.
This story appears through BookTrib’s partnership with AudioFile.
The Redeemed by Tim Pears
Read by Julia Whelan
Pizza Girl by Elizabeth Acevedo
Narrator Julia Whelan inhabits the first-person point of view of January Andrews, a bestselling romance writer who was a hopeless romantic until her father died and she learned of his mistress. Listeners share January’s despair as she faces a summer of failing to write her next romance novel while packing up her father’s secret beach house. She’s dismayed to discover that her grumpy neighbor is her college rival, Augustus Everett, an acclaimed author of literary fiction. Whelan perfectly captures January’s defensiveness, which soon gives way to laughter and yearning.
Read our review of Beach Read here!
Wuhan Diary: Dispatches from a Quarantined City by Fang Fang
Read by Jonathan Keeble
PEW by Catherine Lacey
Narrator Jonathan Keeble’s mastery of Tim Pears‘s quietly beautiful and evocative writing is one of the many pleasures in this final installment of his West Country Trilogy. Following the intertwining lives of Leo, the carpenter’s son, and Lottie, the daughter of the local estate, this volume brings us to WWI and beyond in a story that is absorbing, undramatic and deeply satisfying.
Pretty Things by Janelle Brown
Read by Elizabeth Acevedo, Melania-Luisa Marte
They Went Left by Monica Hesse
Elizabeth Acevedo, the author and narrator of the multi-award winning The Poet X, co-narrates this highly anticipated audiobook. Acevedo is joined by Melania-Luisa Marte in an alternating dialogue between two sisters, neither of whom knows the other exists until their father’s death in a plane crash. These two voices create a beautiful duet of the girls’ raw and lingering grief, forgiveness of their beloved and imperfect father and nascent sisterhood. Fans of Acevedo, as well those new to her work, will not be disappointed.
Read by Vera Chok
Vera Chok delightfully narrates this ambitious debut fiction about a woman haunted by dreams of a mysterious creature. With her charming voice, Chok becomes Jia Jia, whose husband, Cheng Hang, is found dead at their lush Beijing apartment; beside him is his sketch of a creature with the body of a fish and the head of a man. Chok’s smooth narration will have listeners hooked on the drama and intrigue surrounding Cheng Hang’s sketch.
Read by Emily Woo Zeller
Emily Woo Zeller’s melodious voice, clear diction and thoughtful pacing shape these dispatches from the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak. She emulates Fang Fang’s tone whether she discusses daily life, takes officials to task for an insufficient response to the pandemic, or vigorously defends herself from the Internet trolls and ultra-leftists who attack her. This audiobook presents a heroic writer.
Read by Bahni Turpin
Narrator Bahni Turpin gives a tour-de-force performance in this strange allegory featuring a nondescript person found sleeping on a church pew in a small, unnamed Southern town. Pew refuses to speak, so the townspeople pass them from one institution to another as they debate their identity. PEW is a strange ride, but trust Turpin to steer the ship.
Read by Rebecca Mitchell
In this delightful audiobook, Juliet and Reverend Brooks’s wedding day has arrived, and it seems that anything that can go wrong does so. The next morning candymaker Bailey King goes to inspect the church and finds the murdered body of a woman who tried to crash the wedding. The murder leads to Bailey’s most dangerous investigation yet. But, listeners, beware! The frequent descriptions of various types of candy will leave you craving Bailey’s delicious-sounding sweets.
Read by Julia Whelan, Lauren Fortgang, Hillary Huber
Julia Whelan and Lauren Fortgang perform a near-perfect duet narrating this utterly absorbing psychological thriller. Whelan’s Nina is a grifter. Nina’s mark is Vanessa, a socialite media influencer, apparently all entitlement and vanity, whose family once did a terrible thing to teenaged Nina. Or so Nina believes. Somehow the worst people come across as most appealing, a hugely effective diversion as you unravel who the real cons and marks are.
Read by Caitlin Davies
Narrator Caitlin Davies reflects the terrible confusion of 18-year-old Zofia, who has recently been liberated from Gross-Rosen concentration camp in Germany. She is haunted by memories of her younger brother, Abek, who may be her only family member still alive. Davies’s narration doesn’t hold back on emotions as the story reveals Zofia’s past hell, broken present and future hopes.
Read by Theo Solomon
Theo Solomon’s narration is astounding in this story of a ruined future in which humanity is slowly dying and technology is viewed as magic from the past. While the audiobook is outstanding in its examination of humanity’s struggle in an evolving world, it’s the authenticity of Solomon’s voice that makes it so emotionally compelling and deeply personal. Listeners will be spellbound by the aural depiction of a complex and bitter society in which hope and innocence are precious gifts.
