Literary Fiction Audiobooks | Literature

The Last Days of Dogtown: A Novel Audiobook

"“An excellent novel. A lovely and moving portrait of society’s outcasts…affirms the essential humanity of its poor and stubborn residents, for whom each day of survival is a victory” (The New York Times Book Review). Set on the high ground at the heart of Cape Ann, the village of Dogtown is peopled by widows, orphans, spinsters, scoundrels, whores, free Africans, and “witches.” Among the inhabitants of this hamlet are Black Ruth, who dresses as a man and works as a stonemason; Mrs. Stanley, an imperious madam whose grandson, Sammy, comes of age in her brothel; Oliver Younger, who survives a miserable childhood at the hands of his aunt; and Cornelius Finson, a freed slave. At the center of it all is Judy Rhines, a fiercely independent soul, deeply lonely, who nonetheless builds a life for herself against all imaginable odds. Rendered in stunning, haunting detail, with Anita Diamant’s keen ear for language and profound compassion for her characters, The Last Days of Dogtown is an extraordinary retelling of a long-forgotten chapter of early American life."

Anita Diamant (Author), Kate Nelligan (Narrator)

Audiobook

Wickett's Remedy: A Novel

"The triumphant follow-up to the bestselling Bee Season, Wickett’s Remedy is an epic but intimate novel about a young Irish-American woman facing down tragedy during the Great Flu epidemic of 1918. Wickett’s Remedy leads us back to Boston in the early part of the 20th century and into the world of Lydia, an Irish-American shop girl yearning for a grander world than the cramped confines of South Boston. She seems to be well on her way to the life she has dreamed of when she marries Henry Wickett, a shy medical student and the scion of a Boston Brahmin family. Soon after their wedding, however, Henry shocks Lydia by quitting medical school and creating a mail-order patent medicine called Wickett’s Remedy. And then just as the enterprise is getting off the ground, the Spanish Influenza epidemic of 1918 begins its deadly sweep across the world, drastically changing their lives. In a world turned almost unrecognizable by swift and sudden tragedy, Lydia finds herself working as a nurse in an experimental ward dedicated to understanding the raging epidemic — through the use of human subjects. Meanwhile, we follow the fate of Henry’s beloved Wickett’s Remedy as his one-time business partner steals the recipe and transforms it into QD Soda, a wildly popular soft drink. Based on years of research and evoking actual events, Wickett’s Remedy perfectly captures the texture of the times and brings a colourful cast of characters vividly to life, including a sad and funny chorus of the dead. With wit and dexterity, Goldberg has fashioned a novel that is both charming and grand. Wickett’s Remedy announces her arrival as a major novelist. South Boston belonged to Lydia as profoundly and wordlessly as her thimble finger. Her knowledge of its streets was more complete than any atlas, her mental maps reflecting changes that occurred from season to season, day to day, and hour to hour. Each time she left 28 D Street — one among a row of identical triple-decker houses, the tenements lining the street like so many stained teeth — her route reflected this internal almanac. . . . For ten years this was enough. Then in fifth grade, Lydia saw a city map and realized her entire world was a mitten dangling from Boston’s sleeve. Across the bridge lay Washington Street — the longest street in all New England — which began like any other but then continued north, a single determined thread of cobblestone that wove itself through every town from Boston to Providence. Once Lydia saw Washington Street she knew she could not allow it to exist without her. —excerpt from Wickett's Remedy"

Myla Goldberg (Author), Chris Burns, David Aaron Baker, Ilyana Kadushin, Myla Goldberg (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Myth of You and Me: A Novel

"Searingly honest, beautiful, and full of fragile urgency, The Myth of You and Me is a celebration and portrait of a friendship that will appeal to anyone who still feels the absence of that first true friend. When Cameron was fifteen, Sonia was her best friend-no one could come between them. Now Cameron is a twenty-nine-year-old research assistant with no meaningful ties to anyone except her aging boss, noted historian Oliver Doucet. When an unexpected letter arrives from Sonia ten years after the incident that ended their friendship, Cameron doesn't reply, despite Oliver's urging. But then he passes away, and Cameron discovers that he has left her with one final task: to track down Sonia and hand-deliver a mysterious package to her. Now without a job, a home, and a purpose, Cameron decides to honor his request, setting off on the road to find this stranger who was once her inseparable other half. The Myth of You and Me, the story of Cameron and Sonia's friendship-as intense as any love affair-and its dramatic demise, captures the universal sense of loss and nostalgia that often lingers after the end of an important relationship."

Leah Stewart (Author), Staci Snell (Narrator)

Audiobook

Birdsong

"Brought to you by Penguin. Birdsong is a mesmerising story of love and war spanning three generations between WW1 and present day. THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 1910. Amiens, Northern France. Stephen Wraysford, a young Englishman, arrives in the French city to stay with the Azaire family. He falls in love with unhappily married Isabelle and the two enter a tempestuous love affair. But, with the world on the brink of war, the relationship falters. With his love for Isabelle forever engraved on his heart, Stephen volunteers to fight on the Western Front and enters the unimaginable dark world beneath the trenches of No Man's Land. From award-winning writer Sebastian Faulks, Birdsong is an exceptionally moving and unforgettable portrait of the ruthlessness of war and the indestructability of love. 'Magnificent - deeply moving' Sunday Times Also available by Sebastian Faulks as part of the French trilogy series: The Girl at the Lion d'Or Charlotte Gray © Sebastian Faulks 1993 (P) Penguin Audio 2005"

Sebastian Faulks (Author), Samuel West (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

"'The dog was lying on the grass in the middle of the lawn in front of Mrs Shears' house. It looked as if it was running on its side, the way dogs run when they think they are chasing a cat in a dream. But the dog was not running or asleep. The dog was dead. There was a garden fork sticking out of the dog.'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a murder mystery novel like no other. The detective, and narrator, is Christopher Boone. Christopher is fifteen and has Asperger's, a form of autism. He knows a very great deal about maths and very little about human beings. He loves lists, patterns and the truth. He hates the colours yellow and brown and being touched. He has never gone further than the end of the road on his own, but when he finds a neighbour's dog murdered he sets out on a terrifying journey which will turn his whole world upside down. Christopher is a brilliant creation, and Mark Haddon's depiction of his world is deeply moving, very funny and utterly convincing. The novel is being published simultaneously for adults by Jonathan Cape and for children by David Fickling, publisher of Philip Pullman. We are convinced that both audiences will recognise it as one of those very rare books that change the way you see everything."

Mark Haddon (Author), Ben Tibber (Narrator)

Audiobook

[German] - Dekameron

"Die Pest, der 'Schwarze Tod', wütet 1348 in Florenz. Eine Gruppe junger, lebens- und liebeshungriger Frauen und Männer hat sich in die Campagna, in Sonne, Licht und Natur geflüchtet. Jeden Abend erzählen sie sich prickelnd, frivole Geschichten - dem Schrecken zum Trotz. Loblieder auf das Leben und die Liebe. - Der Gärtner im Frauenkloster - Der Stallknecht und die Königin - Das Mädchen und der Einsiedler - Die Schöne in der Badestube - Die gefangene Nachtigall"

Giovanni Boccaccio (Author), Christian Baumann, Maike Wessel (Narrator)

Audiobook

[German] - Wart' mal schnell - Minima Temporalia

"Wer hat schon Zeit in unserer Zeit? Zeit, über die Zeit zu schmunzeln? Vergessen Sie doch einfach eine Weile die Zeit, indem Sie sich mit ihr beschäftigen. Karlheinz A. Geißlers Überlegungen sind klug, amüsant, ironisch und tiefsinnig. Ein Hörbuch von einem Liebhaber der Zeit, für Menschen, die diese lieben oder zu lieben vorhaben."

Karlheinz A. Geißler (Author), Achim Höppner (Narrator)

Audiobook

[German] - Al Capone & Company: Amerikas größte Gangster

"In den wilden 20er & 30er Jahren und mit Beginn der Prohibition explodierte in Amerika die Kriminalität. Illegale Bars, Schwarzbrennereien und Prostitution schufen einen boomenden Schwarzmarkt mit gewaltigen Profiten. Auf den Straßen war der Umgangston rau und hart. Die Luft war bleihaltig. Die wahren Geschichten von Al Capone & Company waren kein Hollywood-Mythos sondern blutige Realität."

Achim Höppner (Author), Achim Höppner (Narrator)

Audiobook

[German] - Michel, sag ich

"Eine große Stadt an einem dunklen Fluß, mit einer geheimnisvoll bunten Unterwelt und einer geheimnislosen Oberwelt, mit einer heißen Vergangenheit und einer eisigen Zukunft. Schattenhaft die Gegenwart, von lebendigen Toten bevölkert. In dieser halb realen, halb imaginären Welt der Zerstörungen sucht eine Frau ihren Mann. Eine insgeheime Orpheus- und Eurydike-Geschichte, eine Geschichte, in der es Eurydike ist, die ihren Geliebten aus dem Untergrund ins Leben - jenseits der tödlichen Stadt - zurückholen will. Herzgewiß geht die Frau unbeirrt durch alle Gefährdungen. Bis sie tatsächlich wieder 'Michel' sagen kann. Ulla Berkéwicz, Schauspielerin und Schriftstellerin. Erzählungen ('Josef stirbt', 1982; 'Michel, sag ich' 1984; 'Adam', 1987; 'Mordad', 1995), Romane ('Engel sind schwarz und weiß', 1992; 'Ich weiß, daß Du weißt', 1999) und Theaterstücke. Zuletzt erschien 2002 ihr Essayband 'Eine Orientierung in vergleichendem Fanatismus'. Ulla Unseld-Berkéwicz leitet seit 2002 den Suhrkamp Verlag Frankfurt am Main. Hermann Beil, Dramaturg in Frankfurt, Basel, Stuttgart und Bochum. 13 Jahre Arbeit am Wiener Burgtheater und an der 'Weltkomödie Österreich'. Seit 1999 am Berliner Ensemble. Berliner Theaterpreis (1995 zusammen mit Claus Peymann), Deutscher Kritikerpreis (1996)."

Ulla Berkéwicz (Author), Hermann Beil (Narrator)

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[German] - Höllensturz und Himmelfahrt des Luftschiffers Giannozzo: oder: Vogelperspektive auf die A

"Der 'wilde Menschenverächter' Giannozzo entflieht im Ballon seiner alltäglichen Existenz, um einsam über der sinnentleerten Welt 'ein stilles weites Land der Seelen' zu suchen. - Eine bittere Satire auf das zerfallene deutsche Reich und den beginnenden Kapitalismus. Dem Hörspiel von Heinz von Cramer liegt 'Des Luftschiffers Giannozzo Seebuch' von JEAN PAUL (1763-1825) zugrunde - 'einer der schönsten Texte Jean Pauls, der zudem wie kein anderer die ewige Leidenschaft des Menschen für alles Neuland darstellt, den geradezu selbstmörderischen Reiz des Unbekannten', so Heinz von Cramer."

Heinz Von Cramer, Jean Paul (Author), Curt Beck, Franz Kolasch, Gert Anthoff, Grete Wurm, Hans Diehl, Paul Bürks, Rita Russek, Siemen Rühaak (Narrator)

Audiobook

[German] - Gespräche mit Einstein: Die Gedanken eines außergewöhnlichen Menschen

"Seine Spezielle Relativitätstheorie, die Quantenstruktur des Lichts sowie die atomistische Struktur der Materie hatten Einstein Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts bekannt gemacht. Neben seiner Lehrtätigkeit an der Universität Berlin war er ab 1917 begehrter Gast und Gesprächspartner in der 'Literarischen Gesellschaft' im Hotel Bristol. Hier verkehrten bevorzugt Professoren aller Fakultäten wie auch Journalisten. Die Gespräche in diesem erlesenen Kreis geben Einblicke in das Denken Albert Einsteins. Ein faszinierendes Zeitdokument mit allgemein verständlichen Betrachtungen über die Relativitätstheorie und das Weltbild des Jahrhundertgenies."

Herbert Lenz (Author), Achim Höppner (Narrator)

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[German] - Die Bienen sind verrückt geworden: Reden und Aufsätze über unsere wahnsinnige Welt

"Dieses Hörbuch ist ein Manifest der Courage, der klaren Worte, des politischen Engagements. Gegen Faschismus und Rassismus, gegen Rechtsextremisten und skrupellose Multis, ein Manifest gegen die Verlogenheit und die Grausamkeit in unserer Zeit. Es ist ein Hörbuch für die Freiheit des Wortes, für die Achtung der Menschenrechte und für einen verantwortungsbewussten Umgang mit unserer Erde. Das Hörbuch enthält auch ein Gespräch des Autors mit Sandra Maischberger (ca. 30 Min.) das auf dem TV-Sender n-tv ausgestrahlt wurde."

Johannes Mario Simmel (Author), Gert Heidenreich (Narrator)

Audiobook

Literary Fiction Audiobooks in Literature