Biography & Memoir Audiobooks

Joy Prescriptions: How I Learned to Stop Chasing Perfection and Embrace Connection

"Doctor by day and Bravo's Real Housewife by night, Tiffany Moon has a prescription for releasing perfectionism and finding joy! As a self-proclaimed "good girl," Tiffany was a people pleaser and straight A student, fitting into roles that were prescribed by her Chinese-American family. As a lifelong overachiever, she accomplished a thriving career as an anesthesiologist. Yet Tiffany felt unfulfilled. She spent more time at work than at home with her loving husband and twin girls, didn't know how to say no to anyone, and was governed by the external pressures of being "perfect" by standards set by society. In Joy Prescriptions, Tiffany shares the journey of how she reconnected with herself. In order to feel whole, she had to work on herself from the inside out. She took surprising chances, put herself first, and embraced more creativity and laughter. She dove headfirst into a candle business, became a reality TV star, tried her hand at stand-up comedy, and became a social media influencer. Tiffany abandoned other people's expectations and started to live for herself, ultimately discovering her true self. Joy Prescriptions offers a healthy dose of introspection and healing that will release you from the constrained expectations of others and inspire you to explore who you really are. You deserve a life that is authentically designed for more joy-and more you. "

Tiffany Moon (Author), Tiffany Moon (Narrator)

Audiobook

Truth Demands: A Memoir of Murder, Oil Wars, and the Rise of Climate Justice

""Essential reading, filled with exactly the kind of truth that this precarious moment demands." -Kaira Jewel Lingo, author of We Were Made for These Times Abby Reyes lost her partner, Terence Unity Freitas, as he and two others were murdered after departing Kajka Ika-the heart of the world-of Indigenous U'wa territory in Colombia. Imperiled by multinational oil interests, U'wa lifeways were under attack. Terence, Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa (Menominee), and Lahe'ena'e Gay (Hawaiian) arrived to listen to community needs and accompany the U'wa. But then they disappeared. Days later, their bodies were found, bound and bullet-riddled in a cow field across the border in Venezuela. Twenty years later, Abby finds herself in Case 001 of Colombia's truth and recognition process. They want to know her stories. They want to know her questions. They want to know her truth demands: the fragments she's held for decades about the last days of Terence's life. Why was he taken? Who pulled the trigger? Who was really behind the killings? Plunged back into grief, ambiguity, and the unknown, Abby is called to navigate the past. Old wounds are reopened, old histories are redrawn, and fresh angers flare as she confronts the testimony of one of her lover's killers-and the burden that Terence unwittingly compelled her to bear. Spanning three decades and three continents, Truth Demands charts Abby's parallel journeys as she navigates the waters of loss, purpose, and impermanence while fighting for truth and accountability from big oil. A profound and haunting memoir, Truth Demands is an invitation into the current. It shows us how to hold fast even as we let go-holding us as we bear witness and welcome with courage and skill what the truth demands of us all."

Abby Reyes (Author), Ferdelle Capistrano (Narrator)

Audiobook

Forever Forward: The inside story of McLaren Formula 1

"Brought to you by Penguin. With a foreword by McLaren CEO Zak Brown and written with inside access, this is the real-time, unfolding story of one of F1’s greatest ever teams, as they rise back up from oblivion. Few names in motorsports carry the same authority as McLaren and, with their remarkable victory in the 2024 constructors championship, they are now returning to form in a spectacular way under the leadership of Zak Brown. Going into 2023, Brown’s team were the second slowest on the grid, only to end it as arguably the second fastest, after a dramatic mid-season turnaround. In 2024, their driver Lando Norris achieved his first ever Grand Prix win in Miami, and McLaren fiercely competed for podiums against Ferrari and Red Bull. Zak Brown took over a failing team from Ron Dennis in 2018, and his strategic vision is now seeing results. McLaren are on the rise again, looking to a future that will echo its hallowed past and legendary drivers James Hunt, Alain Prost, Niki Lauda, Ayrton Senna and Lewis Hamilton. With access to the team's inner sanctum, this exhilarating account delves deep into McLaren’s history, revealing how their rich heritage forms the core of their identity today, before taking us behind the scenes to give us the inside track on their extraordinary resurgence. Guided by the motto motto ‘Forever Forward’, McLaren has a tradition of coming back from adversity time and time again to take the chequered flag against all the odds. Here they go again. © Ben Hunt 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025"

Ben Hunt (Author), Nigel Barden (Narrator)

Audiobook

My Family and Other Spies

"Brought to you by Penguin. The unforgettable memoir of life in a family like no other, and their extraordinary, eccentric part in half a century of espionage . . . ‘It has always been inculcated into me that no good could ever come of having anything to do with my father …’ As a boy, Alistair Wood lived within the (very high) walls of a Secret Intelligence Service – or MI6 – training camp, surrounded by some of the most senior - and colourful - characters in SIS history. After all, he was family. His mother was one of a handful of women to have operated behind the lines in post-war Berlin. His father, once one of Britain’s most highly-regarded intelligence officers, was an absent and perplexing figure, the reasons for his sudden departure from the Service still classified to this day. But Wood’s search for the truth took him on a journey more remarkable than even he had imagined. My Family and Other Spies is a gripping exploration of an extraordinary, scarcely believable life, a globe-trotting spy story that spans a half century from the gathering storm before the Second World War to the fall of Communism, and a son’s reckoning with the secrets of the past. 'Simply stunning ... might be the best non-fiction book I’ve ever read about post-war SIS' - CHARLES BEAUMONT © Alistair Wood 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025"

Alistair Wood (Author), David Rintoul (Narrator)

Audiobook

In Defence of Leisure: Experiments in Living with Marion Milner

"Brought to you by Penguin. We all want more free time. But do we know how to use it? The celebrated psychoanalyst Marion Milner lived for the entirety of the twentieth century. By the age of ninety-eight she had written nine books revealing how free time and creativity are vital for a fulfilled life. Akshi Singh was born ninety years after Milner, in Rajasthan, over four thousand miles away from where Milner lived and worked. At first glance, the worlds of these two women seem entirely separate. Yet when Singh found herself standing at a crossroads in her life and grieving personal loss, she realised the questions and preoccupations Milner was exploring were her own. In Defence of Leisure presents Marion Milner as a writer for our times. In asking the simple question: how do I want to spend my free time? Milner developed a method for discovering her true likes and dislikes. As Singh follows Milner's approach - from keeping a diary to painting, building a home to travelling to the sea - she discovers the importance of rest, creativity and play in all of our lives, and how it can open the door to achieving what we truly desire. 'Illuminating and thought-provoking' Darian Leader 'I feel renewed and accompanied by Singh’s tender self-explorations and insights’ Amy Key 'An exquisite, open-hearted celebration of desire, friendship and lives imaginatively lived' Marianne Brooker 'Astounding, generous, and quietly exhilarating' Daisy LaFarge 'Singh's verve and intelligence radiate from every page' Hannah Zeavin © Akshi Singh 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025"

Akshi Singh (Author), Akshi Singh (Narrator)

Audiobook

I Regret Almost Everything

"The entertaining, irreverent, and surprisingly moving memoir by the visionary restaurateur behind such iconic New York institutions as Balthazar and Pastis. A memoir by the legendary proprietor of Balthazar, Pastis, Minetta Tavern, and Morandi, taking us from his gritty London childhood to his serendipitous arrival in New York, where he founded the era-defining establishments Odeon, Cafe Luxembourg, and Nell's. Eloquent and opinionated, Keith McNally writes about his stint as a child actor, his travels along the hippie trail, his wives and children, his devastating stroke, and his Instagram notoriety. "

Keith McNally (Author), Richard E. Grant (Narrator)

Audiobook

My Father's House: An Ode to America’s Longest-Serving Black Congressman

"In this moving work, part clear-eyed assessment, part memoir, the son of iconic African American Congressman John Conyers Jr. shines a spotlight on his father and his political legacy, and reveals how, as his son, he eventually learned to leverage his own voice in a world that his father helped create. A respectful, thoughtful, yet clear-eyed reframing of a national hero’s personal and political odyssey, My Father’s House is John Conyers III's love letter to his father and a record of his own journey. Conyers reveals a towering figure in modern American political history and an ordinary family man; a leader whose work in Washington necessitated his many absences as a father from a son coming of age in Detroit. John Conyers III introduces us to John James Conyers, Jr. the legislator, who changed lives and made history, and of his equity-focused work that remains to be done. We meet Conyers the politician and mentor who worked with and counselled a network of powerbrokers—often from the family home on Seven Mile Road in the Motor City—including President Bill Clinton, Congressmen Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Charlie Rangel, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, feminist Gloria Steinem, entertainer-activists Harry Belafonte, Berry Gordy, Stevie Wonder, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Chris Tucker and a slew of other players in Washington, DC, and across the nation. A resonant political, historical, and family story, My Father’s House explores how John James Conyers, Jr., was at once a man of deep and abiding spiritual faith, human talents, and human weaknesses. As he places his father among this land's greatest lawmakers, he also demystifies and grounds the Civil Rights giants of that era, reminding us of their noble yet deeply flawed humanity. This exploration of John James Conyers, Jr., told through John Conyers III's eyes and experiences, is essential to a thorough understanding of modern U.S. politics and the cultures and human lives it continues to shape."

John Conyers III (Author), John Conyers III, Michael Eric Dyson (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Art Spy: The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WWII Resistance Hero Rose Valland

"* Publishers Weekly Best Books of Summer 2025 * Bookbub Best Non-Fiction Release of the Season * MSNBC/Afar Magazine 10 Best Books for the Summer Traveler * Newsday’s Top Must-Read Book for Summer * Christian Science Monitor Best Book of May 2025 * Longlisted for the 2025 American Library in Paris Book Award A riveting and stylish saga set in Paris during World War II, The Art Spy uncovers how an unlikely heroine infiltrated the Nazi leadership to save the world's most treasured masterpieces. On August 25, 1944, Rose Valland, a woman of quiet daring, found herself in a desperate position. From the windows of her beloved Jeu de Paume museum, where she had worked and ultimately spied, she could see the battle to liberate Paris thundering around her. The Jeu de Paume, co-opted by Nazi leadership, was now the Germans’ final line of defense. Would the museum curator be killed before she could tell the truth—a story that would mean nothing less than saving humanity’s cultural inheritance? Based on troves of previously undiscovered documents, The Art Spy chronicles the brave actions of the key Resistance spy in the heart of the Nazi’s art looting headquarters in the French capital. A veritable female Monuments Man, Valland has, until now, been written out of the annals, despite bearing witness to history’s largest art theft. While Hitler was amassing stolen art for his future Führermuseum, Valland, his undercover adversary, secretly worked to stop him. At every stage of World War II, Valland was front and center. She came face to face with Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, passed crucial information to the Resistance network, put herself deliberately in harm’s way to protect the museum and her staff, and faced death during the last hours of Liberation Day. At the same time, a young Free French soldier, Alexandre Rosenberg , was fighting his way to Paris with the Allied forces battling to liberate France. Alexandre's father was the exclusive art dealer for Picasso, Matisse, George Braque, and Fernand Léger. The Nazis had taken everything from their family—their art collection, their nationality, their gallery, and their home in Paris. Vivid and atmospheric, The Art Spy moves from the glittering days of pre-War Paris, home to geniuses of modern culture, including Picasso, Josephine Baker, Coco Chanel, Le Corbusier, and Frida Kahlo, through the tension-riddled cities and resorts of Europe on the eve of war, to the harrowing years of the Nazi occupation of France when brave people such as Valland and Rosenberg risked everything to fight monstrous evil. In the spirit of Hidden Figures, with the sweeping narrative of The Rape of Europa and the depth of The Resistance Quartet, The Art Spy is an extraordinary tale of a female hero whose courage and tenacity in a time of violence and terror is an inspiration for us all."

Michelle Young (Author), Erin Bennett (Narrator)

Audiobook

Queen of All Mayhem: The Blood-Soaked Life and Mysterious Death of Belle Starr, the Most Dangerous W

"A riveting, deeply researched, blood-on-the-spurs biography of Belle Starr, the most legendary female outlaw of the American West. On February 3, 1889, just two days shy of her forty-first birthday, Myra Maybelle Shirley—better known at that point by her outlaw sobriquet “Belle Starr”—was blown from her horse saddle and killed by a pair of shotgun blasts, delivered by an unseen assailant, only a few miles away from her home in the Indian Territory of present-day Oklahoma. Thus ended the life of one of the most colorful, authentic, and dangerous women in the history of the American West. While today’s household names like Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane had dubious criminal bona fides, Belle’s were not in any doubt. She led a gang of horse thieves (a very serious crime in an era when horses were often the basis of one’s livelihood); was romantically involved with two of the West’s most legendary outlaws, Cole Younger and Jim Reed (her first husband); and participated in stickups and robberies across present-day Texas and Oklahoma. When Reed was murdered, Belle crossed into Indian Territory, where she assimilated into the Cherokee tribe, a matrilineal society, and soon married Sam Starr, a direct descendant of Nanye’hi, the greatest female warrior in Cherokee history. Dane Huckelbridge, acclaimed author of No Beast So Fierce, probes a life rich in contradictions and intrigue. Why did a woman who had considerable advantages in life—a good family, a decent education, solid marriage prospects, a clear path to financial security—choose to pursue a life of crime? The life of Belle Starr is one of almost endless trauma: the horrors of the Civil War, which destroyed her hometown and killed her beloved brother, Bud; the untimely deaths of her first two husbands, both of them murdered; a stint in Detroit’s notorious women’s prison. Her career coincided with those of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and yet Belle Starr was a very different sort of feminist icon. Queen of All Mayhem is a triumph of biography, revealing one of the most-mythologized figures of Western lore as she truly was. Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook."

Dane Huckelbridge (Author), George Newbern (Narrator)

Audiobook

Hunger Like a Thirst: From Food Stamps to Fine Dining, a Restaurant Critic Finds Her Place at the Ta

"Written and read by food writer and New York Times contributor Besha Rodell—(formerly) one of the world’s last anonymous restaurant critics—comes this this witty and lively memoir. When Besha Rodell moved from Australia to the United States with her mother at fourteen, she was a foreigner in a new land, missing her friends, her father, and the food she grew up eating. In the years that followed, Rodell began waitressing and discovered the buzz of the restaurant world, immersing herself in the lifestyle and community while struggling with the industry’s shortcomings. As she built a family, Rodell realized her dream, though only a handful of women before her had done it: to make a career as a restaurant critic. From the streets of Brooklyn to lush Atlanta to sunny Los Angeles to traveling and eating around the world, and, finally, home to Australia, Rodell takes us on a delicious, raw, and fascinating journey through her life and career and explores the history of criticism and dining and the cultural shifts that have turned us all into food obsessives. Hunger Like a Thirst shares stories of the joys and hardships of Rodell’s coming-of-age, the amazing (and sometimes terrible) meals she ate along the way, and the dear friends she made in each restaurant, workplace, and home. A Macmillan Audio production from Celadon Books."

Besha Rodell (Author), Besha Rodell (Narrator)

Audiobook

In Theory, Darling: Searching for José Esteban Muñoz and the Queer Imagination

"A love letter to queer of color theory and how it has helped the author to discover himself, reclaim identities, celebrate queer joy, and work towards liberation Marcos Gonsalez found his greatest source of joy when he encountered queer theory in college. As they put it, 'queers and college go together like peanut butter and jelly,' and for them, this was especially true. Seeing himself reflected in the work José Esteban Muñoz was life-changing: Muñoz's theory of disidentification empowered Gonsalez to reclaim their Latinx and queer identities--and inspired him to push back against the largely-white monolith of queer theory. In the sophisticated yet intimately disarming prose of In Theory, Darling, Gonsalez takes his copy of Disidentifications to the gay bar, to the classroom, to their childhome and beyond, inviting us to go along with him as he limns the queerness of reality TV, mourns the victims of the Pulse nightclub massacre, searches for their uncle in Paris Is Burning, looks for Muñoz's legacy in the streets of New York, and situates themself in the lineage of the queer elders who have come before him. Conversational yet deeply analytical, intimate yet wide-ranging, youthful yet sophisticated, Gonsalez's essays crackle with intellectual energy--and remind us just how life-giving theory can be."

Marcos Gonsalez (Author), Marcus Zarco (Narrator)

Audiobook

I'll Look So Hot in a Coffin: And Other Thoughts I Used to Have About My Body

"A "raw, vulnerable, and utterly hilarious" (Harper's Bazaar) memoir about one woman's experience living with a deformity, and her quest to find freedom and joy in her body "Sosenko's experience with body shame and judgment, from herself and others, is universal. She shows us her journey from self-hatred to joy so that we may follow her lead."-Jo Piazza, bestselling author of The Sicilian Inheritance, podcast creator, and award-winning journalist Carla Sosenko was born with Klippel-Trenaunay syndrome, a rare vascular disorder that resulted in legs of different sizes, a mass of flesh on her back, a hunched posture, and other idiosyncrasies big and small. She spent years trying to hide under layers of clothing, and then experimented with the opposite: wearing tiny dresses and short shorts, daring people to stare so she could make them regret it. No matter what she did, she was worried that she didn't measure up. In this candid and funny memoir, Sosenko shares what existing in an unconventional body has meant for her self-image, mental health, relationships, and ambitions. She writes of having liposuction when she was eight years old, and an adulthood spent obsessively gaming Weight Watchers points. She wrestles with the rise of Ozempic after working hard to reject diet culture. She tries to parse whether it is in spite of or because of her physical differences that she is a social butterfly who chose a high-profile career in media. Most of all, Sosenko explores the ways in which she's felt alone and without community: not disabled but different; the recipient of pretty privilege but also fatphobia; too much, but still never enough. We follow along as she learns to claim her body-and mind and spirit and life-for exactly what they are: her own. A clarion call for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider or believed they should take up less space, I'll Look So Hot in a Coffin offers hope, recognition, and a new way to see ourselves-by celebrating what sets us apart."

Carla Sosenko (Author), Carla Sosenko (Narrator)

Audiobook