Every month, AudioFile Magazine reviewers and editors select the best new audiobooks just for BookTrib’s readers. To start things off strong this summer, take a listen to the best audiobooks that June has to offer!
The Other Mother by Rachel M. Harper
January LaVoy and William DeMeritt are well paired narrators for this complex family saga told through multiple points of view. DeMeritt begins with the portrayal of a gifted pianist named Jenry who leaves his mother in Miami to attend Brown University. He also seeks answers to questions he has about his father in his birthplace, Rhode Island. DeMeritt conveys Jenry’s impatience and shock as he discovers that his mother was involved with a woman, his “other mother,” when he was born. LaVoy lays out complications and secrets as she shares the stories of the women. Both narrators capture all the characters’ humanity.
Tracy Flick Can't Win by Tom Perrotta
Lucy Liu, Dennis Boutsikaris and other talented performers rivet listeners with Perrotta’s sequel to Election. Listeners revisit Tracy Flick, now a middle-aged assistant principal at Green Meadow High. Liu as Flick sounds no-nonsense yet girlish as she voices Traci’s midlife frustration and hope for a promotion. Boutsikaris, as retiring Principal Weede, has a world-weary, wistful tone. A rich alum’s interference stirs up troubling memories for the whole community. Ali Andre Ali and Ramona Young shine in portraying two seniors; their young voices convey that adolescence has its own regrets. This lively ensemble captivates right up to the audiobook’s unexpected, timely conclusion.
Managing Expectations: A Memoir in Essays by Minnie Driver
English actor Minnie Driver’s captivating performance of her exceptional memoir will have you listening 24/7. In witty prose and with great storytelling skill, Driver offers beautifully crafted, often funny, always wise snapshots of her life. Ten-year-old Minnie revenge-shopping on a solo trip from Barbados to Florida to England. Minnie evading the Coast Guard while delivering supplies on a paddleboard to fire-ravaged Malibu. Minnie sitting with her dying mother. Driver’s chameleon skill with accents populates the essays with memorable personalities. And her warm, inviting voice makes you wish to stay long in her company.
The Last Queen: A Novel of Courage and Resistance by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
No one else could have narrated this novel as skillfully and masterfully as Sneha Mathan. Her Indian accent and vocal dexterity infuse all the characters with distinct personalities. Rani Jindan, the last queen of the Sikh empire, became the favorite wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh during the mid-1800s. When the Maharaja dies, Jindan is left to fend for herself and her 6-year-old son, though survival is challenging in a royal court full of treachery and with the threat of a British invasion. Jindan matures from a naïve young woman to a warrior queen, and Mathan does a superb job of captivating listeners from the beginning of this historical fiction to the end.
A Lynching at Port Jervis: Race and Reckoning in the Gilded Age by Philip Dray
On June 2, 1892, Robert Lewis, a young Black man, was captured by a mob of men in Port Jervis, NY, intent on stringing him up for assault of a white woman, for which he was never convicted. Listeners are transported to that day by narrator Dion Graham, who delivers an electrifying performance of the activities before and after this heinous crime. Graham’s portrayal of this racist incident is scarily prescient for today’s listeners. His passion ripples through the words he speaks, and his expertise in creating suspenseful and shocking moments makes the graphic descriptions all too real.
Book of Night by Holly Black
Award-winning YA author Holly Black has created an imaginary masterpiece yet again with her first foray into adult fantasy, narrated with perfection by Sara Amini. With a mix of cynicism and humor, Amini brings Charlie Hall to life, even while those around him are disappearing — or altered? Shadows in this new world can be stolen, changed, find new lives, and even commit murder. Amini will keep listeners on the edge of their seats with clear differentiation and a vivid depiction of each unique character. The surprising journey through the convoluted world of shadows keeps listeners guessing.
The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray
Narrator Billie Fulford-Brown’s sparkling character portrayals and expressive tone create a theatrical experience of this enchanting Regency mystery featuring favorite characters from Austen’s novels. At Donwell Abbey, Emma Woodhouse-Knightley (Emma) hosts a month-long gathering of her friends, including Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy (Pride and Prejudice), Captain Frederick and Anne Wentworth (Persuasion) and Fanny and Edmund Bertram (Mansfield Park). When Mr. Wickham arrives and interrupts the festivities — and then is found dead — it becomes clear that nearly everyone had a motive for his murder. Fulford-Brown’s multidimensional characterizations are a marvel.
The Measure by Nikki Erlick
Golden Voice narrator Julia Whelan gives a thoughtful performance of a novel focused on a fundamental question: would you want to know how long you’re going to live? One night everyone 22 years and older receives a box containing a length of string that tells them how much longer they will live. Would you open the box? Whelan introduces listeners to characters who have a range of reactions to that question. She provides a sense of intimacy to their stories as she calmly explores the dramatic ways the world changes for each one. Whelan shares the intensity of their emotions and the camaraderie that develops, especially among the “short stringers” who are soon to die.
Embrace Fearlessly the Burning World: Essays by Barry Lopez, Rebecca Solnit
James Naughton has narrated several of the late Barry Lopez’s audiobooks: He performs in a deep, calm, resonant tone. His pace, timing and emulation of the author’s voice — intimate, self-analytical, philosophical — seem to enter the mind of the famed writer and naturalist. Naughton delivers these valedictory essays like prose poems, and they remain with the listener. Lopez was a close observer of the natural world, and the listener is treated to his forays to the South Pole, the Alaskan outback and Africa. Lopez was dedicated to getting the story in places “remote, elemental and fierce.”
The Last Resort: A Chronicle of Paradise, Profit, and Peril at the Beach by Sarah Stodola
Ann Marie Gideon performs this eye-opening audiobook with style, intelligence and subtlety. Through tone, she carefully differentiates the author’s travel writing from her more information-driven reporting on warming oceans and vanishing sand. The author travels the globe to observe resorts and share how they operate. Looking at the phenomenon of expanding middle-class tourism, she examines how the mega-wealthy are treated and provides a thought-provoking study of global warming’s impact on travelers, industry and governments. At once a thorough travel narrative and an examination of beach resort culture in the present and future, this is a fine and engaging listen.