Every month, AudioFile Magazine reviewers and editors select the best new audiobooks just for BookTrib’s readers. This month, listeners will follow a strange map to hidden secrets, mend broken hearts with ridiculous schemes, find themselves captivated by larger-than-life tales of failure and triumph and more. So, grab your earbuds and queue ’em up!
by Peng Shepherd | Read by Emily Woo Zeller, Nancy Wu, Karen Chilton, Ron Butler, Neil Hellegers, Jason Culp, Brittany Pressley
Harper Audio | 14.25 hrs.
AudioFile Earphones Award Winner
A superb ensemble of narrators animates this exciting tale of friendships and betrayals, a cartographers’ cabal, maps, murder and towns that may not be there. Among her father’s effects, Nell discovers what appears to be a worthless 1930s highway map. However, this map hides dark secrets as well as a “phantom settlement” known only to “the Cartographers.” Nell’s third-person point of view comes alive with narrator Emily Woo Zeller’s artistry, while the other narrators’ perceptive interpretations create fascinating, believable secondary characters. A thrilling literary mystery.
A Sunlit Weapon: A Maisie Dobbs Novel
by Jacqueline Winspear | Read by Orlagh Cassidy
Harper Audio | 11 hrs.
AudioFile Earphones Award Winner
Narrator Orlagh Cassidy uses her talent with accents and voices to draw listeners into the world of the indomitable Maisie Dobbs. The magic in this series is how Winspear’s words and Cassidy’s voices create an engrossing listening experience that combines historical facts, psychology, mystery, romance and suspense. Listeners hear insights on the courageous women pilots who served in WWII and the ways that American racism impacted Black soldiers stationed in the U.K. Winspear, partnered with Cassidy, dramatically conveys the emotional impact of war on the soldiers and their families.
The Last Confessions of Sylvia P.
by Lee Kravetz | Read by Maggi-Meg Reed, Karissa Vacker, Teri Clark Linden
Harper Audio | 8.5 hrs.
AudioFile Earphones Award Winner
This historical fiction about Sylvia Plath and her circle of confessional poets is wonderfully performed by three narrators. In 2019, three notebooks are discovered that are believed to be the handwritten notes of Plath’s semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar. The story is told in three parts. Reed gives Estee, curator of a contemporary auction house, a cultured tone. Linden’s voice drips poisonously as Boston Rhodes, a pseudonym for Sylvia’s literary rival Agatha White. Vacker’s Dr. Barnhouse, Sylvia’s psychiatrist, is forward-thinking, determined and sympathetic. Well-written and well-read, this is choice listening.
Written and read by Bernardine Evaristo
Blackstone Audio | 6 hrs.
AudioFile Earphones Award Winner
Bernadine Evaristo, author of the Booker Prize-winning novel Girl, Woman, Other, narrates her new memoir with an actor’s skill and an author’s emotional engagement. Speaking in an attractively husky voice, with exquisite enunciation and pacing, Evaristo mines her life to explore what it’s like to grow up visually different in majority-white England. The daughter of a Black Nigerian father and a white English Catholic mother, Evaristo was the middle child in a large family that lived in an eccentric house in a working-class London neighborhood. Honest, smart and often very funny, Evaristo is a captivating and enlightening woman to spend time with.
by Harlan Coben | Read by Steven Weber
Brilliance Audio | 10 hrs.
AudioFile Earphones Award Winner
This audiobook is an edge-of-your-seat gripper. Wilde is a loner hero who, as a small boy, survived living alone in the woods; nobody knew how, or for how long. Decades later, he still doesn’t know who he is or why he was abandoned. Narrator Steven Weber is a wizard at making Wilde, the marvelous attorney Hester Crimstein and the rest of the team vivid with regional accents, attitude and verve. The story takes off like a rocket when an ancestry website identifies a match to Wilde’s father, who promptly vanishes. Then a cousin; same story. Then the bodies start piling up. It’s very skillful, very high-octane fun.
by Sabaa Tahir | Read by Deepti Gupta, Kamran R. Khan, Kausar Mohammed
Listening Library | 10.5 hrs.
AudioFile Earphones Award Winner
A stellar trio of narrators delivers the alternating viewpoints in Sabaa Tahir’s superb contemporary YA debut. Narrator Kamran R. Khan portrays Salahudin, whose vulnerability and poet’s soul shine as he tries to handle his father’s drinking and family debts — and his own tangled relationship with his ex-best friend Noor, played beautifully by Kausar Mohammed. Noor lost her family and almost her life in an earthquake when she was six, and though her uncle rescued her, he’s exacting a terrible price. Narrator Deepti Gupta’s deep voice expresses the graceful personality of Misbah, Salahudin’s mother, who also has lovingly guided Noor toward adulthood. The story shifts through their three perspectives, weaving a powerful story about pain, forgiveness, love and hope.
In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss
Written and read by Amy Bloom
Random House Audio | 4.75 hrs.
AudioFile Earphones Award Winner
Amy Bloom narrates her moving memoir, speaking of both her great love and devastating loss with equal parts emotional warmth and quiet composure. Positive and genuine, Bloom’s husband, Brian, sounds like someone anyone would love to know. Sadly, in 2019 he received an Alzheimer’s diagnosis and eventually called on Bloom’s support as he chose to end his own life before the disease could. Bloom’s voice is capable and clear, inspiring admiration for the strength it must have taken not only to write these moments down but to then read them aloud. The memoir is a loving tribute; Bloom’s narration of it is remarkable.
by Kosoko Jackson | Read by Timothy Bell Reese
Penguin Audio | 11 hrs.
AudioFile Earphones Award Winner
Timothy Bell Reese narrates a humorous yet heartfelt fake dating romance. Kian Andrews is absolutely and completely OVER Hudson Rivers, who broke his heart three months ago. Reese portrays Kian’s constant overthinking and rampant word vomit convincingly and sympathetically, highlighting the comedy without being cruel. Reese gives Hudson, Kian’s ex, an accent as thick and sweet as Georgia peach syrup, making it easy to see why Kian fell for him, and why he is willing to go along with Hudson’s ridiculous scheme. Reese delivers a charming and engaging performance of this Gen Z love story.
I Was Better Last Night: A Memoir
Written and read by Harvey Fierstein
Random House Audio | 12.5 hrs.
AudioFile Earphones Award Winner
This wonderful audiobook is a special treat for those who know and love actor, writer and director Harvey Fierstein. He narrates the book himself in THAT VOICE. His singular, often outrageous, perspective reflects his artistry. His writing is frequently poetic, always awake and aware, and his wit is without peer. Winner of numerous awards, Fierstein recounts his larger-than-life personal and artistic triumphs and failures, frequently passing on the credit for his successes to his colleagues. With wildly funny anecdotes sprinkled throughout (no one can do that combination of sweetness and vitriol quite like Fierstein), this is a must-listen.
by ReShonda Tate Billingsley | Read by Patricia R. Floyd
Recorded Books | 10.5 hrs.
AudioFile Earphones Award Winner
Narrator Patricia R. Floyd’s honeyed voice offers exactly the right warmth for this family saga about siblings with secrets and the powerful woman who raised them. Something more sinister than the usual family resentments have kept the Bell sisters estranged for many years. Mama Pearly’s sudden illness forces Maxine to contact her sisters to come home. As their stories unfold, Floyd captures their essence with only slight vocal changes. As deeply hidden secrets make their way to the surface, Floyd’s mellifluous voice and honest performance will captivate listeners.
This story appears through BookTrib’s partnership with AudioFile and contains material originating from the AudioFile website.
The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd
AudioFile Earphones Award Winner
A superb ensemble of narrators animates this exciting tale of friendships and betrayals, a cartographers’ cabal, maps, murder and towns that may not be there. Among her father’s effects, Nell discovers what appears to be a worthless 1930s highway map. However, this map hides dark secrets as well as a “phantom settlement” known only to “the Cartographers.” Nell’s third-person point of view comes alive with narrator Emily Woo Zeller’s artistry, while the other narrators’ perceptive interpretations create fascinating, believable secondary characters. A thrilling literary mystery.
A Sunlit Weapon: A Maisie Dobbs Novel by Jacqueline Winspear
AudioFile Earphones Award Winner
Narrator Orlagh Cassidy uses her talent with accents and voices to draw listeners into the world of the indomitable Maisie Dobbs. The magic in this series is how Winspear’s words and Cassidy’s voices create an engrossing listening experience that combines historical facts, psychology, mystery, romance and suspense. Listeners hear insights on the courageous women pilots who served in WWII and the ways that American racism impacted Black soldiers stationed in the U.K. Winspear, partnered with Cassidy, dramatically conveys the emotional impact of war on the soldiers and their families.
The Last Confessions of Sylvia P. by Lee Kravetz
AudioFile Earphones Award Winner
This historical fiction about Sylvia Plath and her circle of confessional poets is wonderfully performed by three narrators. In 2019, three notebooks are discovered that are believed to be the handwritten notes of Plath’s semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar. The story is told in three parts. Reed gives Estee, curator of a contemporary auction house, a cultured tone. Linden’s voice drips poisonously as Boston Rhodes, a pseudonym for Sylvia’s literary rival Agatha White. Vacker’s Dr. Barnhouse, Sylvia’s psychiatrist, is forward-thinking, determined and sympathetic. Well-written and well-read, this is choice listening.
Manifesto: On Never Giving Up by Bernardine Evaristo
AudioFile Earphones Award Winner
Bernadine Evaristo, author of the Booker Prize-winning novel Girl, Woman, Other, narrates her new memoir with an actor’s skill and an author’s emotional engagement. Speaking in an attractively husky voice, with exquisite enunciation and pacing, Evaristo mines her life to explore what it’s like to grow up visually different in majority-white England. The daughter of a Black Nigerian father and a white English Catholic mother, Evaristo was the middle child in a large family that lived in an eccentric house in a working-class London neighborhood. Honest, smart and often very funny, Evaristo is a captivating and enlightening woman to spend time with.
The Match by Harlan Coben
AudioFile Earphones Award Winner
This audiobook is an edge-of-your-seat gripper. Wilde is a loner hero who, as a small boy, survived living alone in the woods; nobody knew how, or for how long. Decades later, he still doesn’t know who he is or why he was abandoned. Narrator Steven Weber is a wizard at making Wilde, the marvelous attorney Hester Crimstein and the rest of the team vivid with regional accents, attitude and verve. The story takes off like a rocket when an ancestry website identifies a match to Wilde’s father, who promptly vanishes. Then a cousin; same story. Then the bodies start piling up. It’s very skillful, very high-octane fun.
All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir
AudioFile Earphones Award Winner
A stellar trio of narrators delivers the alternating viewpoints in Sabaa Tahir’s superb contemporary YA debut. Narrator Kamran R. Khan portrays Salahudin, whose vulnerability and poet’s soul shine as he tries to handle his father’s drinking and family debts — and his own tangled relationship with his ex-best friend Noor, played beautifully by Kausar Mohammed. Noor lost her family and almost her life in an earthquake when she was six, and though her uncle rescued her, he’s exacting a terrible price. Narrator Deepti Gupta’s deep voice expresses the graceful personality of Misbah, Salahudin’s mother, who also has lovingly guided Noor toward adulthood. The story shifts through their three perspectives, weaving a powerful story about pain, forgiveness, love and hope.
In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss by Amy Bloom
AudioFile Earphones Award Winner
Amy Bloom narrates her moving memoir, speaking of both her great love and devastating loss with equal parts emotional warmth and quiet composure. Positive and genuine, Bloom’s husband, Brian, sounds like someone anyone would love to know. Sadly, in 2019 he received an Alzheimer’s diagnosis and eventually called on Bloom’s support as he chose to end his own life before the disease could. Bloom’s voice is capable and clear, inspiring admiration for the strength it must have taken not only to write these moments down but to then read them aloud. The memoir is a loving tribute; Bloom’s narration of it is remarkable.
I'm So (Not) Over You by Kosoko Jackson
AudioFile Earphones Award Winner
Timothy Bell Reese narrates a humorous yet heartfelt fake dating romance. Kian Andrews is absolutely and completely OVER Hudson Rivers, who broke his heart three months ago. Reese portrays Kian’s constant overthinking and rampant word vomit convincingly and sympathetically, highlighting the comedy without being cruel. Reese gives Hudson, Kian’s ex, an accent as thick and sweet as Georgia peach syrup, making it easy to see why Kian fell for him, and why he is willing to go along with Hudson’s ridiculous scheme. Reese delivers a charming and engaging performance of this Gen Z love story.
I Was Better Last Night: A Memoir by Harvey Fierstein
AudioFile Earphones Award Winner
This wonderful audiobook is a special treat for those who know and love actor, writer and director Harvey Fierstein. He narrates the book himself in THAT VOICE. His singular, often outrageous, perspective reflects his artistry. His writing is frequently poetic, always awake and aware, and his wit is without peer. Winner of numerous awards, Fierstein recounts his larger-than-life personal and artistic triumphs and failures, frequently passing on the credit for his successes to his colleagues. With wildly funny anecdotes sprinkled throughout (no one can do that combination of sweetness and vitriol quite like Fierstein), this is a must-listen.
Miss Pearly's Girls by ReShonda Tate Billingsley
AudioFile Earphones Award Winner
Narrator Patricia R. Floyd’s honeyed voice offers exactly the right warmth for this family saga about siblings with secrets and the powerful woman who raised them. Something more sinister than the usual family resentments have kept the Bell sisters estranged for many years. Mama Pearly’s sudden illness forces Maxine to contact her sisters to come home. As their stories unfold, Floyd captures their essence with only slight vocal changes. As deeply hidden secrets make their way to the surface, Floyd’s mellifluous voice and honest performance will captivate listeners.
