Literary Fiction Audiobooks | Literature

"In She's Not Home, a mother and daughter find that a goodbye may be what reunites them in a poignant story of family ties, shared grief, and the love between mother and child. Sheryl already lost one daughter by being the fun parent. She's determined to do it right with her other daughter, no matter how much Mariana whines about one chance for a normal night. No misbehavior, no stoner friends, and absolutely no parties. As if missing homecoming amounts to tragedy. Sheryl knows real tragedy—and she's not about to make the same mistake twice. But all Mariana wants is to escape the shadow of her sister Sheena. She's tired of being seen as the daughter that survived and missing out on experiences she shouldn't have to fight for—like senior homecoming. So when Mariana discovers the truth about how Sheena died, she runs away. For the first time, Mariana is faced with the reality of making her own choices, while Sheryl is left to contend with losing another daughter. Told with lyrical prose and unerring honesty, She's Not Home is a heartfelt exploration of the power of family to destroy, but also to heal."

Lena George (Author), Devon Sorvari (Narrator)

Audiobook

Poor Folk

"Poor Folk, Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s first novel, is almost forgotten now, living as it does under the long shadow of Crime and Punishment, Anna Karenina, The Brothers Karamazov and much more. Yet when it was published in 1846, it brought him instant fame. It is an epistolary novel, presenting the relationship between neighbours, who happen to be distant cousins. An older man and a much younger woman, they are both living in straightened circumstances in rented accommodation and, though their letters, reveal their thoughts, their hopes, their anxieties and their daily struggles at the lower end of social and economic life of mid-19th century St Petersburg. Yet it was exactly this situation that was a revelation to the readers of the time who were more accustomed to encountering tailored emotions in a less challenged class. For the first time, ordinary life, challenging life and the effect on the individual was presented to readers, many of which could identify with the protagonists: Makar Devushkin, an impoverished clerk, and Varvara Dobroselova who hopes to work as a governess, but earns money as a seamstress. Yet this was no ordinary portrait of emotion enmeshed in common hardships, but a writer in full command of his medium. After he left the manuscript with the publisher Nikolay Nekrasov he told himself, ‘They will poke fun at my Poor Folk.’ In fact, Nekrasov read it at one sitting at burst into Dostoyevsky’s room at 4am to shower him with kisses. ‘A new Gogol has been born,’ he declared. It sold widely, and was dubbed ‘Russia’s first social novel’. Poor Folk is fascinating as the first important step in the career of one of the greatest novelists of all time. Both Jonathan Keeble and Julie Teal do a splendid job of narrating this production of Dostoyevsky's first novel. - AUDIOFILE MAGAZINE"

Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Author), Jonathan Keeble, Julie Teal (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Child Between Us

"When I first met you, darling Marina, you were just five years old. You took my breath away, with your long, dark waves and pink cheeks. You needed me, and I instantly knew I’d do anything to protect you. When six years ago, my heart was shattered, I was left utterly broken – but I didn’t know just how lost I was until you filled that hole in my heart. You quickly became the centre of my world, your sweet laugh my favourite sound. But then things started to change... I put my pain down to work stress, but when the diagnosis came through it was worse than I could ever have imagined. Our world is about to come crashing down around us, little one, and I don’t know how to stop it. I’ve finally discovered the truth behind the betrayal that rocked me to my core all those years ago. The pain of my past could be the one thing that saves us – or tears us apart. We’re just becoming a family, Marina, should I risk everything to trust the one person who hurt me? They could be your only hope. We only have each other... But if I don’t make it, what will happen to you? ´The Child Between Us´ is a heart-wrenching story about an impossible choice and what it really means to be a mother. Readers who love Kate Hewitt, Jodi Picoult and Diane Chamberlain will be utterly gripped. What people are saying about ´The Child Between Us´: 'A beautifully crafted story. Tissues are mandatory.' - Goodreads reviewer 'This author never disappoints! I was on the edge of my seat with every page! You will be hooked from the beginning!' - Goodreads reviewer '´The Child Between Us´ by Alison Ragsdale is a heart-wrenching and beautiful story of grief, love, family and forgiveness that held me captive from beginning to end.' - Goodreads reviewer. - Originally from Edinburgh, Alison was educated in England, holding an MBA from Leicester University. She now lives in the US with her husband and dog. She has written many bestsellers, including ´The Father-Daughter Club´, which won the 2016 IPPY Bronze Medal in Best Regional Fiction, and ´A Life Unexpected´, which won the 2018 IPPY Bronze Medal in the Popular Fiction Category."

Alison Ragsdale (Author), Paula Masterton (Narrator)

Audiobook

[German] - Der heutige Tag - Ein Stundenbuch der Liebe (Ungekürzte Lesung)

"Über 50 Jahre lang lieben sie sich, teilen ihr Leben. Doch nun ist der Mann schwer krank. Seit Jahren palliativ umsorgt, wird sein Radius immer eingeschränkter, der Besuch weniger, die Abhängigkeit größer. Entlang der Stunden eines Tages erzählt Helga Schubert davon, wie man selbst den Verstand und der andere die Würde behält, wie es ist, mit einem todkranken Menschen durch dessen Zwischenwelten zu wandeln. Und davon, wie Liebe zu Erbarmen wird. Die Erzählungen mäandern in der gemeinsamen und der eigenen Vergangenheit, sind von zartem Humor und frei von Pathos. Eine rührende Liebeserklärung an den Mann an ihrer Seite und all die kleinen und großen Dinge, die das Leben inmitten der Widrigkeiten des Alters lebenswert machen."

Helga Schubert (Author), Ruth Reinecke (Narrator)

Audiobook

[Spanish] - Lituma en los Andes

"Con un virtuoso manejo de la trama, la psicología y los géneros, Mario Vargas Llosa ofrece una profunda meditación sobre la sociedad peruana y sus males históricos. Ambientada en un remoto pueblo de montaña, Lituma en los Andes comienza como una novela policíaca sobre la desaparición de tres lugareños. El cabo Lituma y su ayudante Tomás sospechan de Sendero Luminoso, la organización guerrillera que viene sembrando el terror en el Perú. Pero la intriga adquiere visos inesperados cuando se descubren crueles prácticas ancestrales en la zona, y la narración va ganando dimensiones conforme las pesquisas se alternan con los recuerdos íntimos de los protagonistas. La crítica ha dicho: «Una novela que penetra en el corazón de Latinoamérica». The Washington Post"

Mario Vargas Llosa (Author), Johan Gamarra (Narrator)

Audiobook

Northanger Abbey

"Northanger Abbey is the earliest of Jane Austen’s mature novels. Although scholarly opinion is that the book was actually completed in the late 1790s, it was not published until after the author’s death in 1817. The plot follows the usual trajectory of a young girl falling in love and the relationship becoming compromised by unforeseen circumstances. In this case, Austen’s heroine is a naïve country girl, Catherine Morland, who has an addiction to reading the Gothic horror novels which were so popular in the Regency period. When she is invited to stay at the family seat of her love interest and discovers it to be a vast and ancient castle, her romantic imagination runs riot. What secrets lie hidden in this vast pile over which the widowed head of the house exercises an iron control?"

Jane Austen (Author), Catherine Bilson, Denis Daly, Graham Scott, Linda Barrans, Terah Tucker (Narrator)

Audiobook

[Spanish] - El hombre duplicado

"2022: AÑO SARAMAGO Una novela que se lee con la avidez de un relato de intriga pero que nos sumerge en las cuestiones esenciales de la vida. «El caos es un orden por descifrar». Libro de los Contrarios ¿Qué sucede cuando Tertuliano Máximo Afonso descubre a los treinta y ocho años que en su ciudad vive un individuo que es su copia exacta y con el que no le une ningún vínculo de sangre? Ése es el interrogante que Saramago, explorando de nuevo las profundidades del alma, plantea en El hombre duplicado. ¿Cómo saber quiénes somos? ¿En qué consiste la identidad? ¿Qué nos define como personas individuales y únicas? ¿Podemos asumir que nuestra voz, nuestros rasgos, hasta la mínima marca distintiva, se repitan en otra persona? ¿Podríamos intercambiarnos con nuestro doble sin que nuestros allegados lo percibiesen? Innovando frente a las convenciones de la novela, Saramago convierte la voz narradora en sujeto activo, en un juego metaliterario que pone al servicio de la historia y que va mucho más allá de las rupturas estrictamente formales. Una novela que se lee con la avidez de un relato de intriga pero que nos sumerge en las cuestiones esenciales de la vida. La crítica ha dicho: «Un discurso novelístico estructurado con rara maestría, donde el lector queda inmerso desde la primera página. Saramago nos sorprende hasta el último momento». Darío Villanueva, El Cultural «Una novela que se lee con la pasión de desvelar un enigma». José María Pozuelo Yvancos, ABCultural «Saramago vuelve comprensible una realidad huidiza, con parábolas sostenidas por la imaginación, la compasión y la ironía». Comité Nobel «Un hombre con una sensibilidad y una capacidad de ver y de entender que están muy por encima de lo que en general vemos y entendemos los comunes mortales». Héctor Abad Faciolince «Saramago es un ejemplo, un estilo dignísimo de vida y literatura, que demuestra la posibilidad de navegar a contracorriente [...]. Su palabra tiene el valor de un anticongelante, de un remedio personal contra los vendavales de cinismo que nos envuelven». Luis García Montero «Yo no sé, ni quiero saberlo, de dónde ha sacado Saramago ese diabólico tono narrativo, duro y piadoso a un tiempo, [...] que le permite contar tan cerca del corazón y a la vez tan cerca de la historia». Luis Landero «Saramago escribe novelas sobre los mitos para desmitificarlos, [...] siempre para abordar la realidad que le rodea, para tratar de los problemas actuales que son de todos, y para que todo quede claro desde el principio». Rafael Conte, Babelia «Como Günter Grass o Cees Nooteboom, Saramago aspira a enlazar con un público que desborde límites nacionales». El País"

José Saramago (Author), Víctor Velasco (Narrator)

Audiobook

[Spanish] - Ruter el Rojo

"«Ruter el Rojo» es la historia de un personaje fascinante. Nacido en Alemania y, al parecer, emparentado con Rubens, la suya fue una vida marcada por el viaje, el engaño y los cambios de identidad. Llevado por el desarrollo de los acontecimientos de la época, se casó en dos ocasiones (en Italia y en España), engañó a nobles, traficó con caballos, escapó de la prisión y recurrió a todo tipo de artimañas para sobrevivir en los tiempos de las luchas entre los Austrias y los Borbones. A partir del escaso material escrito sobre el personaje y, fundamentalmente, de sus cartas y de la transcripción de los interrogatorios a los que fue sometido durante el proceso inquisitorial al que fue sometido, Pedro García Martín reconstruye la trayectoria de este extraordinario personaje y lo sitúa con precisión y colorismo en su época. Este audiolibro está narrado en castellano. - Pedro García Martín es un escritor español, catedrático de Historia Moderna por la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Es escritor de ensayo y de narrativa histórica. En 2008 recibió el Premio Ciudad de Salamanca por su novela «El químico de los Lumière»."

Pedro García Martín (Author), Carlos Moreno (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Ghost Writer

"Brought to you by Penguin. When talented young writer Nathan Zuckerman makes his pilgrimage to sit at the feet of his hero, the reclusive master of American Literature, E. I. Lonoff, he soon finds himself enmeshed in the great Jewish writer's domestic life, with all its complexity, artifice and drive for artistic truth. As Nathan sits in breathlessly awkward conversation with his idol, a glimpse of a dark-haired beauty through a closing doorway leaves him reeling. He soon learns that the entrancing vision is Amy Bellette, but her position in the Lonoff household - student? mistress? - remains tantalisingly unclear. Over a disturbed and confusing dinner, Nathan gleans snippets of Amy's haunting Jewish background, and begins to draw his own fantastical conclusions... ©2016 Philip Roth (P)2023 Penguin Audio"

Philip Roth (Author), Malcolm Hillgartner (Narrator)

Audiobook

[German] - Ein Sommer mit Esel (Ungekürzt)

"Das hatte Pierrette sich nur so gedacht: Eselwandern mit Enkelin Leonie in der Provence - ohne die Schwiegertochter. Doch Leonies Mutter Natalie hat nach dem Tod ihres Mannes große Verlustängste, ihre Tochter soll also auf gar keinen Fall allein mit der exzentrischen Großmutter und dem störrischen Esel Pistou durch Südfrankreich ziehen! Und so bucht auch Natalie eine Eselwanderung auf den Spuren der beiden. In der Sommerhitze der Provence tun sich ihr an der Seite der sanften Eselstute Salomé ungeahnte neue Horizonte auf. Doch dann kommt es zu einem dramatischen Unfall, bei dem sich der attraktive Gerome nicht nur als Retter in der Not erweist... Ein farbenfroher und gefühlvoller Sommerroman, durchweht vom Duft des Lavendels. Auf Eselsrücken in ein neues Leben: Sabrina Naus Geschichte entführt in die flirrende Atmosphäre der Provence und wird sommerlich-leicht von Julia Meier gelesen."

Sabrina Nau (Author), Julia Meier (Narrator)

Audiobook

Chrysalis

"She is noticed by Elliot as he trains in in the gym. He sees her dedication to building her body and taking up space, and he is drawn to her strength. She is observed by her mother, as she grows from a taciturn, tremulous child into a determined and distant woman, who severs all familial ties. She is watched by her former colleague Susie, who offers her sanctuary and support as she leaves her partner and rebuilds her life, transforming her body and reinventing herself online. Each of these three witnesses desires closeness. Each is left with only the husk of the person they thought they knew, before she became someone else: a woman on a singular and solitary path with the power to inspire and to influence her followers, for good and ill. Chrysalis a story about solitude and selfhood, and about the blurred line between self-care and narcissism. It is about controlling the body and the mind, about the place of the individual within society and what it means when someone chooses to leave society behind. It is a strikingly contemporary story about the search for answers and those we trust to give them to us."

Anna Metcalfe (Author), Elizabeth Chan, Jenny Funnell, Luke R Francis (Narrator)

Audiobook

[Spanish] - El hotel de los corazones solitarios: Prólogo de Rulo

"'José Agustín es una de las más notables manifestaciones del rock mexicano, probablemente mucho más potente y más significativa que buena parte de las bandas que han surgido en este país' RULO. José Agustín capturó en sus letras la voz de una época marcada por el rock, la psicodelia y el relajo, pero además de un excelente narrador es también un melómano incansable que durante años compartió con sus lectores diversas anécdotas, ensayos y reseñas musicales que hoy se recuperan en este volumen. Del blues del Misisipi a las tornamesas de Tijuana, de la melancolía de José Alfredo al cine de Orson Welles, de las caderas de Elvis a la poesía de Bob Dylan, José Agustín explora con su desparpajo y jovialidad característicos los derroteros de la música, las letras y el cine."

José Agustín (Author), Raúl Boxer (Narrator)

Audiobook

Literary Fiction Audiobooks in Literature