See also: recommended new physical audiobooks
BorrowBox
Children of Virtue and Vengeance, by Tomi Adeyemi, read by Bahni Turpin
Follow-up to Children of Blood and Bone.
“After battling the impossible, Zélie and Amari have finally succeeded in bringing magic back to the land of Orïsha. But the ritual was more powerful than they imagined, reigniting the powers of not only the maji but also some nobles with magic ancestry.
“Now, Zélie struggles to unite the maji in an Orïsha where the enemy is just as strong and magical as they are. When Amari’s mother forms an army of royals with newly awakened powers, Zélie fights to secure Amari’s right to the throne and protect the new maji from the monarchy’s wrath.
“But with civil war looming on the horizon, Zélie finds herself at a breaking point: she must find a way to bring the kingdom together or watch as Orïsha tears itself apart.”
The Family Upstairs, by Lisa Jewell, read by Tamaryn Payne, Dominic Thorburn & Bea Holland
“In a large house in London’s fashionable Chelsea, a baby is awake in her cot. Well-fed and cared for, she is happily waiting for someone to pick her up
“In the kitchen lie three decomposing corpses. Close to them is a hastily scrawled note. They’ve been dead for several days.
“Who has been looking after the baby? And where did they go?”
A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles, read by Nicholas Guy Smith
“On 21 June 1922, Count Alexander Rostov – recipient of the Order of Saint Andrew, member of the Jockey Club, Master of the Hunt – is escorted out of the Kremlin, across Red Square and through the elegant revolving doors of the Hotel Metropol.
“Deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, the Count has been sentenced to house arrest indefinitely. But instead of his usual suite, he must now live in an attic room while Russia undergoes decades of tumultuous upheaval.
“Can a life without luxury be the richest of all?”
No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference, written and read by Greta Thunberg
“In August 2018 a fifteen-year-old Swedish girl, Greta Thunberg, decided not to go to school one day. Her actions ended up sparking a global movement for action against the climate crisis, inspiring millions of pupils to go on strike for our planet, forcing governments to listen, and earning her a Nobel Peace Prize nomination.
“This book brings you Greta in her own words. Collecting her speeches that have made history across Europe, from the UN to mass street protests, No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference is a rallying cry for why we must all wake up and fight to protect the living planet, no matter how powerless we feel. Our future depends upon it.”
The Starless Sea, by Erin Morgenstern, read by various
“When Zachary Rawlins stumbles across a strange book hidden in his university library it leads him on a quest unlike any other. Its pages entrance him with their tales of lovelorn prisoners, lost cities and nameless acolytes, but they also contain something impossible: a recollection from his own childhood.
“Determined to solve the puzzle of the book, Zachary follows the clues he finds on the cover – a bee, a key and a sword. They guide him to a masquerade ball, to a dangerous secret club, and finally through a magical doorway created by the fierce and mysterious Mirabel. This door leads to a subterranean labyrinth filled with stories, hidden far beneath the surface of the earth.
“When the labyrinth is threatened, Zachary must race with Mirabel, and Dorian, a handsome barefoot man with shifting alliances, through its twisting tunnels and crowded ballrooms, searching for the end of his story.”
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World, by Elif Shafak, read by Alix Dunmore
“Our brains stay active for ten minutes after our heart stops beating. For Leila, each minute brings with it a new memory: growing up with her father and his wives in a grand old house in a quiet Turkish town; watching the women gossip and wax their legs while the men went to mosque; sneaking cigarettes and Western magazines on her way home from school; running away to Istanbul to escape an unwelcome marriage; falling in love with a student who seeks shelter from a riot in the brothel where she works.
“Most importantly, each memory reminds Leila of the five friends she met along the way - friends who are now desperately trying to find her.”
Drive: the surprising truth about what motivates us, written and read by Daniel H. Pink
“Forget everything you thought you knew about how to motivate people - at work, at school, at home. It’s wrong.
“As Daniel H. Pink explains in Drive, the secret to high performance and satisfaction in today’s world is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world. Along the way, he takes us to companies that are enlisting new approaches to motivation and introduces us to the scientists and entrepreneurs who are pointing a bold way forward.
“Drive is bursting with big ideas - the rare book that will change how you think and transform how you live.”
Girl, Woman, Other, by Bernadine Evaristo, read by Anna-Maria Nabirye
“Teeming with life and crackling with energy, told through many distinctive voices, this novel follows the lives of twelve very different characters. Mostly women, black and British, they tell the stories of their families, friends and lovers, across the country and through the years.”
Idaho, by Emily Ruskovich, read by Justine Eyre
“One hot August day a family drives to a mountain clearing to collect birch wood. Jenny, the mother, is in charge of lopping any small limbs off the logs with a hatchet. Wade, the father, does the stacking. The two daughters, June and May, aged nine and six, drink lemonade, swat away horseflies, bicker, sing snatches of songs as they while away the time.
“But then something unimaginably shocking happens, an act so extreme it will scatter the family in every different direction.”
Underland, by Robert Macfarlane, read by Roy McMillan
“In Underland, Robert Macfarlane takes us on a journey into the worlds beneath our feet. From the ice-blue depths of Greenland’s glaciers, to the underground networks by which trees communicate, from Bronze Age burial chambers to the rock art of remote Arctic sea-caves, this is a deep-time voyage into the planet’s past and future.
“Global in its geography, gripping in its voice and haunting in its implications, Underland is a work of huge range and power, and a remarkable new chapter in Macfarlane’s long-term exploration of landscape and the human heart.”
OverDrive
The Vanishing Box, by Elly Griffiths, read by Luke Thompson
“Christmas 1953. Max Mephisto and his daughter Ruby are headlining Brighton Hippodrome, an achievement only slightly marred by the less-than-savoury support act: a tableau show of naked ‘living statues’. This might appear to have nothing in common with DI Edgar Stephens’ investigation into the death of a quiet flower seller, but if there’s one thing the old comrades have learned it’s that, in Brighton, the line between art and life - and death - is all too easily blurred…”
Casanova, by Ian Kelly, read by Benedict Cumberbatch
“In this fascinating biography of the notorious libertine, Ian Kelly draws on documents by Casanova, his friends and his lovers (male and female) in order to bring fresh insights to the man’s life and world.
“The sights and smells of eighteenth-century Europe are brought keenly to life, as are the colourful incidents of Casanova’s life. As the young cleric he embarked upon a scandalous affair with a married woman, fleeing eventually to Constantinople. He created a stir at the French court of King Louis XV, began intrigues in London that led him to a soaking in the Thames, and sought to meet Catherine the Great at a ball in St Petersburg. His own memoirs ensured his lasting fame, and changed the way we think and write about ourselves and about sex.
“Benedict Cumberbatch is the reader of this abridged edition, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra.”
I Am Missing, by Tim Weaver, read by Charlotte Ritchie & Joe Coen
“When a young man wakes up bruised and beaten, with no memory of who he is or where he came from, the press immediately dub him ‘The Lost Man’. Naming himself Richard Kite, he spends the next ten months desperately trying to find out who he is. But despite media appeals and the efforts of the police, no one knows him. Richard’s last hope may be private investigator David Raker - a seasoned locator of missing people.
“But Raker has more questions than answers. Who is Richard Kite? Why does no one know him? And what links him to the body of a woman found beside a London railway line two years ago? Could Richard be responsible for her death - or is he next?”
The Family Upstairs, by Lisa Jewell, read by Tamaryn Payne, Dominic Thorburn & Bea Holland
“In a large house in London’s fashionable Chelsea, a baby is awake in her cot. Well-fed and cared for, she is happily waiting for someone to pick her up
“In the kitchen lie three decomposing corpses. Close to them is a hastily scrawled note. They’ve been dead for several days.
“Who has been looking after the baby? And where did they go?”
The Hunt for Red October, by Tom Clancy, read by Lance C. Fuller
“Silently, beneath the chill Atlantic waters, Russia’s ultra-secret missile submarine, the Red October, is heading west. The Americans want her. The Russians want her back. With all-out war only seconds away, the superpowers race across the ocean on the most desperate mission of a lifetime.”
Last Breath, by Karin Slaughter, read by Kathleen Early
“At the age of thirteen, Charlie Quinn’s childhood came to an abrupt and devastating end. Two men, with a grudge against her lawyer father, broke into her home – and after that shocking night, Charlie’s world was never the same.
“Now a lawyer herself, Charlie has made it her mission to defend those with no one else to turn to. So when Flora Faulkner, a motherless teen, begs for help, Charlie is reminded of her own past, and is powerless to say no. But honour-student Flora is in far deeper trouble than Charlie could ever have anticipated. Soon she must ask herself: how far should she go to protect her client? And can she truly believe everything she is being told?”
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, written and read by Ocean Vuong
“On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family’s history that began before he was born – a history whose epicentre is rooted in Vietnam – and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation.
“At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, it is also a brutally honest exploration of race, class, and masculinity. Asking questions central to the American moment, immersed as it is in addiction, violence, and trauma, but undergirded by compassion and tenderness, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is as much about the power of telling one’s own story as it is about the obliterating silence of not being heard.”
A Little History of Economics, by Niall Kishtainy, read by Steven Crossley
“What causes poverty? Are economic crises inevitable under capitalism? Is government intervention in an economy a helpful approach or a disastrous idea? The answers to such basic economic questions matter to everyone; yet the unfamiliar jargon and math of economics can seem daunting. This clear, accessible, and even humorous book is ideal for young readers new to economics and to all readers who seek a better understanding of the full sweep of economic history and ideas.
“Economic historian Niall Kishtainy organizes short, chronological chapters that centre on big ideas and events. He recounts the contributions of key thinkers including Adam Smith, Ricardo, Marx, Keynes, and others, while examining topics ranging from the invention of money and the rise of agrarianism to the Great Depression, entrepreneurship, environmental destruction, inequality, and behavioural economics. The result is a uniquely enjoyable volume that succeeds in illuminating the economic ideas and forces that shape our world.”
Love for Imperfect Things, by Haemin Sunim, read by Raymond Lee
“No one is perfect. But that doesn’t stop us from imagining ourselves smarter, funnier, richer, or thinner, and how much happier we would then be. Love for Imperfect Things, by the bestselling Korean monk, Haemin Sunim, shows how the path to happiness and peace of mind includes not only strong relationships with others, but also letting go of worries about ourselves.
“Packed with his typical spiritual wisdom, Sunim teaches us to embrace our flaws rather than trying to overcome them, and demonstrates that love has very little to do with perfection. With chapters on self-compassion, relationships, empathy, courage, family, healing, our true nature, and acceptance, as well as beautiful full-colour illustrations, Love for Imperfect Things is a much-needed guide for learning to love ourselves - imperfections and all.”
You Know You Want This, written and read by Kristen Roupenian
“From the creator of Cat Person – the first short story to go viral – comes You Know You Want This, a compulsive collection about sex, dating and modern life. These are stories of women’s lives now. They also happen to be horror stories. In some, women endure the horror. In others, they inflict it.
“Here are women at work, at home, on dates, at the doctor’s, with their families and with their friends. Here are women grappling with desire, punishment, guilt and anger. These are stories that make you feel fascinated but repelled, scared but delighted, revolted but aroused.
“You Know You Want This shows why Kristen Roupenian is the most audacious new voice in American fiction. Funny, furious, sly and explicit, she takes a long, hard look at the messed-up power dynamic between men and women – and messes it up some more.”