Literary Fiction Audiobooks | Literature

"A tender portrait of four misfits, on the run across Texas, that speaks to those who are left out, those who opt out-and to the wild animal in us all "Libaire creates a delicious universe at a constant brink of collapse, a universe I never wanted to see end."-Gerardo Sámano Córdova, author of Monstrilio It's springtime in Oklahoma, and Ernie, an outcast in a group of outcasts, feels uneasy. Nerves at the abandoned summer camp where he and his fellow oddballs are crashing have been on edge since the arrival of a teenager named Coral, unceremoniously dropped off from her family's minivan one afternoon. Adding to her aura of mystery, Coral doesn't say a word. Ever. When a drug lab explosion burns the compound to the ground, Ernie, Coral, and the hard-living couple Staci and Ray escape on a pair of motorcycles. Feeling shaky with fear and alive with a new surge of freedom, the four outcasts find a rundown house in rural Texas: It's a place to stay, they tell themselves, for now. Yet to their surprise, over card games and wild strawberries and target-shooting and late-night dancing to ZZ Top on the local radio, a quirky little family forms. At the heart of their new home is Coral, whose silence only amplifies her strange, undefinable power and the sense that she found them for a reason. But soon, tensions rise, and a mysterious threat begins to materialize-whether it's coming from inside or outside the house still isn't clear. All this crew knows is, now there's something at stake: their chosen family, forged by both loneliness and joy, and bonded by an awkward kind of love."

Jardine Libaire (Author), Dani Martineck (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Book of Fire: The moving, captivating and unmissable new novel from the author of THE BEEKEEPER

"'Stunning... will long remain in the reader's mind' - Kristin Hannah This morning, I met the man who started the fire. He did something terrible, but then, so have I. I left him. I left him and now he may be dead. Once upon a time there was a beautiful village that held a million stories of love and loss and peace and war, and it was swallowed up by a fire that blazed up to the sky. The fire ran all the way down to the sea where it met with its reflection. A family from two nations, England and Greece, live a simple life in a tiny Greek village: Irini, Tasso and their daughter, lovely, sweet Chara, whose name means joy. Their life goes up in flames in a single day when one man starts a fire out of greed and indifference. Many are killed, homes are destroyed, and the region's natural beauty wiped out. In the wake of the fire, Chara bears deep scars across her back and arms. Tasso is frozen in trauma, devastated that he wasn't there when his family most needed him. And Irini is crippled by guilt at her part in the fate of the man who started the fire. But this family has survived, and slowly green shoots of hope and renewal will grow from the smouldering ruins of devastation. Once again, Christy Lefteri has crafted a novel which is intimate and epic, sweeping and delicate. The Book of Fire explores not only the damage wrought by human folly, and the costs of survival in our changing world, but also - and ultimately - our powers of redemption and renewal."

Christy Lefteri (Author), Alix Dunmore (Narrator)

Audiobook

The President's Wife

"The incredible story of the First Lady who clandestinely assumed the presidency Socialite Edith Bolling has been in no hurry to find a new husband since she was widowed, preferring to fill her days with good friends and travel. But the enchanting courting of President Woodrow Wilson wins Edith over, and she becomes the First Lady of the United States. The position is uncomfortable for the fiercely independent Edith, but she’s determined to rise to the challenges of her new marriage—from the bloodthirsty press to the shadows of the First World War. Warming to her new role, Edith is soon indispensable to her husband’s presidency. She replaces the staff that Woodrow finds distracting and discusses policy with him daily. Throughout the war, she encrypts top-secret messages and, despite lacking formal education, becomes an important adviser. When peace talks begin in Europe, she attends at Woodrow’s side. But just as the critical fight to ratify the treaty to end the war and create a League of Nations in order to prevent another is underway, Woodrow’s alwaysdelicate health takes a dramatic turn for the worse. In her determination to preserve both his progress and his reputation, Edith all but assumes the presidency herself. Now, Edith must contend with the demands of a tumultuous country, the secrets of Woodrow’s true condition, and the potentially devastating consequences of her failure. At once sweeping and intimate, The President’s Wife is an astonishing portrait of a courageous First Lady and the sacrifices she made to protect her husband and her country at all costs."

Tracey Enerson Wood (Author), Libby Mcknight (Narrator)

Audiobook

Nobody's Pilgrims

"No Country for Old Men meets Contagion in this story of three teens on the run, carrying a great menace, and chased by a greater evil. Three teenagers are traveling northeast in a navy blue Ford pickup. Turi fled his abusive family at the border to see the beautiful New England landscape he’s always dreamed about. Arnulfo is undocumented and wants only to find someplace safe and quiet. Molly seeks a new life far away from her nowhere Missouri town. Turi and Arnulfo are best friends. Molly and Turi are falling in love. But for all their innocence, violence follows the trio at every turn. The mean viejito who owns the truck wants it back. The narco who hid a deadly shipment in the truck really, really wants it back. And the imperturbable hitman the narco sends after the trio will kill anyone who stands in his way. Turi, Arnulfo, and Molly might outrun the carnage that’s stalking them … but they can’t elude the chaos they’re carrying, no matter how far they go. A literary novel with the propulsion of a thriller, a genre joyride written in the prose of a master, Nobody’s Pilgrims both offers and questions the possibility of escape—a great American road trip with a gritty frontera twist."

Sergio Troncoso (Author), Johnny Rey Diaz (Narrator)

Audiobook

Lilly and Her Slave

"It was the turning point before he became a bestselling author: Hans Fallada handed himself in to the police in September 1925, following repeated cases of embezzlement to finance his alcohol and morphine addiction. At the time, a court-appointed doctor was assigned to assess the extent to which Fallada could be made accountable. This expert opinion, thought to have been lost, was only recently rediscovered. It is an extraordinary find, because it includes unpublished and rewritten stories by Fallada that focus on hitherto taboo topics such as abortion. The title character, Lilly, sets out to 'play' with a young man, but ends up losing control of the situation. Barely able to hide her questionable actions, she ends up in a sanatorium, where she engages in a bizarre duel of reciprocal manipulation with another patient. Marie and Thilde, the protagonists of two other stories, are strong women who rebel against the pre-established patterns imposed on them by society, while two male outsiders, Pogg and Robinson, seek refuge and hope in a prison cell. These stories reveal to a new generation Fallada's immense gifts and his intense battles with the dynamics of human relationships."

Hans Fallada (Author), Christine Rendel (Narrator)

Audiobook

[Spanish] - La mujer que quería más

"Una historia entrañable para aprender la mejor lección que la vida te puede dar: nunca debe darte vergüenza pedir más… Kate rompe con su novio justo cuando estaban a punto de irse a vivir juntos y, después de pasarse algunos días comiendo ganchitos debajo del edredón, decide volver a casa de su madre, al filo de los cuarenta. Para despejar su mente empieza a colaborar con la Residencia Lauderdale para damas excepcionales. Allí conoce a Cecily Finn, una mujer de noventa y seis años, punzante como una aguja y con una vida fascinante. Cecily le recomienda un manual de autoayuda diferente, un libro de recetas de 1957, con menús para cualquier situación y que promete respuestas a preguntas esenciales. ¿Podrá encontrar Kate el menú ideal para su corazón roto? Así comienza una entrañable relación entre dos almas solitarias y obstinadas, que deben demostrarse la una a la otra que la comida es un placer al que no debemos renunciar, que la vida es para vivirla y que el camino al corazón de un hombre resulta… irrelevante."

Vicky Zimmerman (Author), Maribel Pomar (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Life Swap

"Tess is feeling burnt out from her uninspiring job and her busy city lifestyle. Even her personal relationships make her feel as if she's simply drifting through life rather than living it to the full. Having tragically lost her mother a few years earlier, she knows she owes it to herself to make so much more of the precious opportunities life offers. Her godmother Luna, who leads a very simple existence in a rustic cottage in the North Queensland rainforest, is also at something of a crossroads. Keen to expand her jewellery-making business, she needs the new connections that a bustling city offers. When she suggests to Tess that the two of them might swap homes for an extended period, it seems the perfect solution. Tess soon finds herself in a new world, adapting to life off-grid, dodging cassowaries, working in a charity bookstore and falling for the gorgeous but unavailable guy next door. Meanwhile, Luna gets far more than she bargained for, with police on her doorstep, old lovers turning up out of the blue, and the possibility of having her biggest secret exposed. Are they about to discover that taking great risks can bring even greater rewards? A moving and heart-warming story by the bestselling Australian author of The Garden of Hopes and Dreams and The Happiest Little Town."

Barbara Hannay (Author), Cassandra Sorrell, Taylor Owynns (Narrator)

Audiobook

Human Sacrifices

"A groundbreaking voice in contemporary Latin American literature, María Fernanda Ampuero's writing is 'raw and savage' as she confronts machismo, inequity, and violence in this acclaimed short story collection (Vistazo). An undocumented woman answers a job posting only to find herself held hostage, a group of outcasts obsess over boys drowned while surfing, and an unhappy couple finds themselves trapped in a terrifying maze. With scalpel-like precision, Ampuero considers the price paid by those on the margins so that the elite might lounge comfortably, considering themselves safe in their homes. Simultaneously terrifying and exquisite, Human Sacrifices is 'tropical gothic' at its finest—decay and oppression underlie our humid and hostile world, where working-class women and children are consistently the weakest links in a capitalist economy. Against this backdrop of corrosion and rot, these twelve stories contemplate the nature of exploitation and abuse, illuminating the realities of those society consumes for its own pitiless ends. Contains mature themes."

María Fernanda Ampuero (Author), Raquel Beattie (Narrator)

Audiobook

Becoming Liz Taylor

"Val, a widow living in Weston-super-Mare, spends lonely evenings dressing up as the movie star Elizabeth Taylor. It seems to be a way of coping with the loss and sadness she has experienced in her life. One day, when Val sees a pram left unattended on the seafront, on a whim she kicks off the brake and walks away with it... Set in the present and the 1970s, BECOMING LIZ TAYLOR is a vivid and touching depiction of love, loss and bereavement - thought-provoking, moving fiction for fans of Rachel Joyce, Emma Healey and Ruth Hogan."

Elizabeth Delo (Author), Deirdra Whelan (Narrator)

Audiobook

Before We Were Innocent

"The truth depends on who you ask... Ten years ago, after a sun-soaked summer spent in Greece, Bess and Joni were cleared of having any involvement in their best friend Evangeline's death. But that didn't stop the media from calling them everything under the sun. Now Joni is tangled up in a crime in LA eerily similar to that one fateful night, and when she turns up at her old friend's doorstep asking for an alibi, Bess has no choice. She still owes her. They say the truth will set you free but can Bess face up to what happened that night? She should know by now. you can't be an innocent woman when everyone wants you to be guilty."

Ella Berman (Author), Kate Handford (Narrator)

Audiobook

[Spanish] - Las madres (Spanish Edition)

"De la galardonada autora bestseller de Cuando era puertorriqueña, nos llega una poderosa novela sobre la familia, la raza, la fe, el sexo y el desastre que transita entre Puerto Rico y el Bronx, revelando las vidas y los amores de cinco mujeres, y el secreto que las une. Se hacen llamar "Las Madres", un grupo muy cercano de mujeres que, junto con sus hijas, han creado una familia basada en la amistad y los lazos de sangre. Su historia comienza en Puerto Rico, en 1975, cuando Luz, de quince años, la niña más alta en su academia de baile y la única negra en un mar de cisnes de piel clara, pequeños y delicados, se lastima de gravedad en un accidente de auto. Trágicamente, sus padres, ambos científicos multilingües brillantes, también mueren en el accidente. Huérfana ahora, Luz sortea las presiones de la adolescencia mientras lidia con las secuelas de una lesión cerebral, cuando dos nuevas amigas entran a su vida, Ada y Shirley. Los días de Luz quedan consumidos por dolores y molestias, y su memoria después del accidente queda por completo en blanco, pero sufre episodios que envían su mente a otros lugares y momentos que no puede compartir con nadie más. En 2017, en el Bronx, la hija adulta de Luz, Marysol, desearía que su madre la comprendiera mejor. Pero, ¿cómo, si Luz apenas recuerda su propia vida? Para ayudar, la hija de Ada y Shirley, Graciela, sugiere que el grupo entero se vaya de vacaciones a Puerto Rico como una oportunidad para que Luz desentierre recuerdos largo tiempo enterrados y Marysol aprenda más sobre los primeros años de su madre. Pero a pesar de toda su cuidadosa planeación, dos huracanes, uno tras otro, alteran su bienvenida y sacan a la luz un secreto que hace estallar sus vidas. En una voz que canta con calidez, humor, amistad y orgullo, la celebrada autora Esmeralda Santiago desarrolla una historia sobre la sexualidad, la vergüenza, la discapacidad y el amor de las mujeres dentro de una comunidad sacudida por el desastre. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION From the award-winning, best-selling author of When I Was Puerto Rican, a powerful novel of family, race, faith, sex, and disaster that moves between Puerto Rico and the Bronx, revealing the lives and loves of five women and the secret that binds them together. In Puerto Rico in 1975, fifteen-year-old Luz is the tallest in her dance academy and the only Black girl in a sea of petite, light-skinned, delicate swans. Tragically, she is seriously injured in a car accident and her brilliant, multilingual scientist parents are both killed in the crash. Now orphaned, Luz navigates the pressures of adolescence and copes with the aftershock of a brain injury, when two new friends enter her life: Ada and Shirley. Luz's days are consumed with aches and pains, and her memory of the accident is wiped clean, but she suffers spells that send her mind to times and places she can't share with others. In 2017, the Bronx, Luz's adult daughter, Marysol, wishes she better understood her. But how can she, when her mother barely remembers her own life? To help, Ada and Shirley's daughter, Graciela, suggests a vacation in Puerto Rico for the extended group, as an opportunity for Luz to unearth long-buried memories and for Marysol to learn more about her mother's early life. But despite all their careful planning, two hurricanes, back-to-back, disrupt their homecoming, and a secret is revealed that blows their lives wide open. In a voice that sings with warmth, humor, friendship, and pride, Esmeralda Santiago unspools a story of women's sexuality, shame, disability, and love within a community rocked by disaster."

Esmeralda Santiago (Author), Esmeralda Santiago (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Half-White Album

"This powerful debut collection explores lives lived between worlds. Sylvester masterfully weaves together fiction, poetry, and nonfiction to give listeners a poignant though fractured view of her characters' lives, their loves, and their struggles. Told from the perspective of an urban Native, the work details a journey led by the nomadic band, the Covers. It is an experience meant to heal generational trauma and bring back into the light people who may otherwise be forgotten. At its heart, The Half-White Album is a healing ceremony of the author's own creation, a process grounded in music that celebrates what it is to be human and imperfect and to love imperfectly."

Cynthia J. Sylvester (Author), Cynthia Sylvester (Narrator)

Audiobook

Literary Fiction Audiobooks in Literature