Literary Fiction Audiobooks | Literature

"An audio original novella from the bestselling author of Ordinary Grace and This Tender Land, The Levee is a powerful, captivating story of a family, a storm, a complicated rescue, and the true cost of survival. It’s 1927, and the most devastating flood in American history has swelled the Mississippi River to a width of eighty miles. In an attempt to save a family trapped by the rising water, four men in a tiny rowboat battle the treacherous flow: three are convicts, on loan from the local prison and pressed into service; the fourth, the leader of the team, is driven by his own hidden motives. But to their surprise upon arrival at Ballymore, an ancestral home protected by a high, circular levee, not everyone in the family feels the need to be saved. Pride, greed, loyalty, and even love create their own complex currents behind the massive wall. As the threat from the flood increases and time ticks away, the crew and the family must decide on a course of action, and a desperate plan is hatched to save the weakening levee and all it was built to protect. The Levee is a propulsive, heartfelt tale of courage, cowardice, and sacrifice in a historic moment when the indomitable human spirit is pitted against the awesome and destructive power of nature. “As a native Mississippian, The Levee rang very true to me. The voices were all speaking in a moment my father remembered. Thank you, William Kent Krueger, for taking me back to a time that was part of my own prehistory. I'm really glad I had that experience. As usual, the writing was brilliant." – New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris “A masterwork, riveting and unputdownable with richly drawn characters set against the unforgiving backdrop of a raging river and the wrath of nature. Full of heart and a spellbinding plot, Krueger packs a powerful punch in this audio novella, delivering grand scale storytelling at its finest.” - Kim Michele Richardson, New York Times bestselling author of The Book Woman’s Daughter “A masterful mythic-scale story of heroism, love, evil, and folly clashing in the midst of a great flood.” - Thomas Perry, author of the Jane Whitefield series "Golden Voice narrator JD Jackson acts out Krueger’s dramatic audio-original novella, which is about the potential breach of a levee… The raging river’s inexorable attacks are reflected in Jackson’s cadence as he adds emotional energy to the exhausting fight between men and the mighty Mississippi." - AudioFile Magazine, Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award “[JD Jackson’s] voice creates a cocoon around the listener like the levee itself, which seems protective but could ultimately mask great danger. This tense and satisfying tale has a historical setting eerily relevant to modern climate fears." – Booklist"

William Kent Krueger (Author), Jd Jackson, William Kent Krueger (Narrator)

Audiobook

Siblings

"Brought to you by Penguin. 1960. The border between East and West Germany has closed. For Elisabeth - a young painter - the GDR is her generation's chance to build a glorious, egalitarian socialist future. For her brother Uli, it is a place of stricture and oppression. Separating them is the ever-wider chasm of the party line; over them loom the twin spectres of opportunity and fear, and the shadow of their defector brother Konrad. In prose as bold as a scarlet paint stroke, Brigitte Reimann battles with the clash of idealism and suppression, familial loyalty and desire. The result is this ground-breaking classic of post-war East German literature. ©2022 Brigitte Reimann (P)2022 Penguin Audio"

Brigitte Reimann (Author), Amy Noble (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Pachinko Parlor

"The days are beginning to draw in. The sky is dark by seven in the evening. I lie on the floor and gaze out of the window. Women's calves, men's shoes, heels trodden down by the weight of bodies borne for too long. It is summer in Tokyo. Claire finds herself dividing her time between tutoring twelve-year-old Mieko, in an apartment in an abandoned hotel, and lying on the floor at her grandparents': daydreaming, playing Tetris, and listening to the sounds from the street above. The heat rises; the days slip by. The plan is for Claire to visit Korea with her grandparents. They fled the civil war there over fifty years ago, along with thousands of others, and haven't been back since. When they first arrived in Japan, they opened Shiny, a pachinko parlor. Shiny is still open, drawing people in with its bright, flashing lights and promises of good fortune. And as Mieko and Claire gradually bond, a tender relationship growing, Mieko's determination to visit the pachinko parlor builds. The Pachinko Parlor is a nuanced and beguiling exploration of identity and otherness, unspoken histories, and the loneliness you can feel among family. Crisp and enigmatic, Shua Dusapin's writing glows with intelligence."

Elisa Shua Dusapin (Author), Hannah Choi (Narrator)

Audiobook

[Spanish] - Historias de mujeres feas

"Historias de mujeres feas es una excelente selección de cuentos de Mercedes Rosende. La autora, con la versatilidad que la caracteriza en toda su literatura, en este caso se regodea en caminar por lo abominable, por la cornisa del desborde de lo humano. Son historias donde hay un pacto con la ficción, donde los mundos, en su mayoría surrealistas, recrean realidades cotidianas, por momentos duras, herméticas o inverosímiles, pero respetan, de modo inquebrantable, los requisitos del difícil arte de contar. '¿Quiénes somos las mujeres feas? ¿Las que no nacimos con un físico agraciado, las que no tenemos determinada actitud, las que no alcanzamos el estándar satinado de las tapas de revista? No hay una manera única de definirnos, porque hay mil versiones de la fealdad. Hubo un tiempo en el que se señalaba a las gordas o a las viejas, incluso a las más pobres, pero la fealdad fue cambiando y se extendió a todas las que no somos modelos, actrices, al 99,99 %, que no somos hermosas de esa manera que nos imponen. Y ya no es necesario tener una edad o un peso o una condición social para ser fea. Las mujeres caímos en la cuenta de que, si nos quedamos con los preconceptos, si aceptamos los cánones poco realistas de belleza, todas somos y seremos feas. Y un día las feas, o sea, todas nosotras, nos cansamos de ser solo eso, tomamos las calles y fuimos contra la corriente, las soñadoras y las deprimidas, las aventureras y las ambiciosas, las enamoradas y las desenamoradas, las criminales y las ladronas, y reclamamos nuestro derecho a ser las protagonistas de todos estos relatos.' Mercedes Rosende"

Mercedes Rosende (Author), Georgina Díaz (Narrator)

Audiobook

[Spanish] - El verano de mi madre

"Verano de 1969. Mientras las protestas contra la guerra de Vietnam toman las calles, Tobias, un niño de once años que vive en la periferia de Colonia, espera con ansia el primer alunizaje tripulado. Entretanto, el armonioso matrimonio de sus padres empieza a experimentar ciertos roces, y los acontecimientos se precipitan cuando una pareja comprometida políticamente se instala en la casa de al lado. A pesar de las diferencias, los padres de Tobias, más bien conservadores, entablan amistad con los nuevos vecinos. La hija de trece años, Rosa, rebelde e inteligente, no solo sabe mucho de música pop y de literatura, sino también de los asuntos del amor."

Ulrich Woelk (Author), Judith Güell (Narrator)

Audiobook

[Spanish] - El tiempo es lo único que no vuelve

"No hay lazo más fuerte que el de la amistad. Los sentimientos y los sueños son la materia prima de nuestras vidas, lo que nos define y hace que todo tenga sentido. Esta es la historia de un secreto inconfesable en la ciudad de Nueva York. Una joven dominada por las pasiones se lanza a vivir una aventura arriesgada nunca antes vivida. Nunca antes permitida. Dos amigas en plena juventud deciden romper las reglas impuestas hasta lograr que estas no controlen sus vidas. Es la historia de la amistad más bonita que conoceréis nunca. La historia de Maggie y Gaba. De sus secretos incontrolables. De su Pura Vida."

Ana Hernández Sarriá (Author), Lidia V. Lord (Narrator)

Audiobook

[Spanish] - El cactus

"La gente no sabe qué hacer con Susan Green. Su familia y amigos la ven irritable y difícil de entender, pero para ella todo tiene sentido. A los cuarenta y cinco años, piensa que su vida es perfecta. Tiene un piso en Londres ideal para una persona, un trabajo estable que se adapta a su pasión por la lógica y un 'amigo' que le proporciona beneficios culturales y otros más íntimos. Cuando de repente se enfrenta a la pérdida de su madre e, increíblemente, a la posibilidad de convertirse ella misma en madre, su mayor temor se hace realidad: está perdiendo el control. Y las cosas solo pueden empeorar... o eso le parece. Y entonces entra en escena Rob, el amigo siempre confundido, pero bien intencionado, de su holgazán hermano. A medida que se acerca la fecha de parto y su mundo se desmorona, Susan encuentra un inesperado aliado en Rob. Podría tener la oportunidad de encontrar el amor y aprender a amarse a sí misma… si pudiera descubrir cómo relajarse y, por fin, sentir."

Sarah Haywood (Author), Eva Coll (Narrator)

Audiobook

The World and All That It Holds

"'This life-stuffed novel is Aleksandar Hemon's masterpiece' - David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas The epic, cross-continental tale of a love so strong it conquers the Great War, revolution, and even death itself. As the Archduke Franz Ferdinand arrives in Sarajevo one June day in 1914, Rafael Pinto is busy crushing herbs and grinding tablets behind the counter at the pharmacy he inherited from his father. It's not quite the life he had expected during his poetry-filled student days in libertine Vienna, but it's nothing a dash of laudanum, a summer stroll and idle fantasies can't put in perspective. And then the world explodes. In the trenches in Galicia, fantasies fall flat. Heroism gets a man killed quickly. War devours all that they have known, and the only thing Pinto has to live for are the attentions of Osman, a fellow soldier, a man of action to complement Pinto's introspective, poetic soul; a charismatic storyteller and Pinto's protector and lover. Together, Pinto and Osman will escape the trenches and find themselves entangled with spies and Bolsheviks. As they travel over mountains and across deserts, from one world to another, all the way to Shanghai, it is Pinto's love for Osman that will truly survive."

Aleksandar Hemon (Author), Aleksander Mikic (Narrator)

Audiobook

[Spanish] - Los peinados de los malditos

"Los peinados de los malditos es la historia de Brian, un inadaptado estudiante de escuela católica, y Gretchen, una dura chica punk aficionada tanto a las peleas como a grabar casets para su amigo, a quien considera un tonto. Los sucesos ocurren a principios de los años noventa, cuando el movimiento punk creció en el sur de Chicago. La narración de Brian también es el relato de una amistad y el descubrimiento de su sexualidad, frente a una sociedad hostil, clasista y una familia rota, pero sobre todo es la búsqueda de un joven que persigue resueltamente el significado de ser uno mismo."

Joe Meno (Author), Santiago Padilla (Narrator)

Audiobook

Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm

"Brought to you by Penguin. Love is messy. Love can make us feel alive. It can also bring us down. Sometimes we look for it in all the wrong places. This is a novel about longing, desire and dreams; about passion and risk and all the places in between. Maggie is pregnant with Circus Palmer's child. This may be her last chance, but she craves her freedom. Pia is Circus's ex-wife, still in love with the fantasy of the man who conjured jazz tunes for her into the night, but who left many years before. Koko, Circus's daughter, is lost in the maelstrom of teenage years, the confusion of awakening desire and yearning for the father she barely knows. Peach is a barmaid who just wants someone to see the person she is inside. Odessa is on the run from a mistake that can't be undone. And then there's Circus, Circus Palmer, a jazz trumpeter whose moment of glory is fading. Selfish, damaged, scared, perhaps the only person Circus is fooling is himself. Delivered in a lush orchestration of diverse female voices, Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm is a provocative and gripping novel about the desire to be loved, and the need to belong. ***** 'An exceptional debut...This story is an example of how love, in all of its polyrhythms, can sometimes sound like song, and other times like noise. And this book is an example of how a great story can become a bass drum, kicking and thumping in your belly far after it's over. A modern masterpiece.' Jason Reynolds, author of Look Both Ways 'Soulful... Elegant, unexpected and wrenching as the 'fierce' sounds that emerge from Circus's trumpet . . . Unforgettable' New York Times Book Review '[An] emerging literary superstar . . . This sensual and sensuous debut is a kaleidoscopic character study, a polyphonic riff on the modern-day Casanova from the perspectives of the myriad women in his wake' Oprah Daily 'A sultry and subversive debut. Laura Warrell's prose sparkles, but it's what she's got to say about sex and love and being a woman that will take your breath away. This book is a love song, and Warrell knows how to hold all the right notes.' Rachel Beanland, author of Florence Adler Swims Forever 'Jazz music is to be played sweet, soft, plenty rhythm,' proclaimed Jelly Roll Morton, and Warrell plays her exceptional first novel with plenty of rhythm and tenderness, delivered in brisk, mordantly gorgeous language' Library Journal 'A book about desire and about love, about where these emotions meet and part and sometimes interlace in inescapable ways...a classic in the making.' Brian Castleberry, author of Nine Shiny Objects ©2023 Laura Warrell (P)2023 Penguin Audio"

Laura Warrell (Author), Nicole Lewis (Narrator)

Audiobook

Wake Me Up at Nine in the Morning

"An electrifying story about the explosive power of secrets, from a celebrated Chinese novelist A thrilling journey through China's dark criminal underworld, from a celebrated voice in Chinese literature When Hongyang is found dead after a night of debauched drinking, it looks as if his reign of terror has finally come to an end. Few in this insular community have much reason to mourn his passing: Hongyang is an infamous mob boss, a man with plenty of enemies. But now it seems that his years of crime have also earned him some very dangerous friends. As his funeral draws near, those who knew him come together to look back on a life characterised by corruption, deceit and a flair for violence. Their recollections will keep Hongyang's legacy alive, with terrifying consequences. From the master of Chinese noir fiction comes this explosive new novel about the power of one man, unravelled by a tangled web of secrets."

A Yi, Nicky Harman - Translator (Author), Ewan Chung (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Hole We're In

"With The Hole We're In—a bold, timeless, yet all too timely novel about a troubled American family navigating an even more troubled America—award-winning author and screenwriter, Gabrielle Zevin, delivers a work that places her in the ranks of our shrewdest social observers and top literary talents. Meet the Pomeroys: a church-going family living in a too-red house in a Texas college town. Roger, the patriarch, has impulsively gone back to school, only to find his future ambitions at odds with the temptations of the present. His wife, Georgia, tries to keep things afloat at home, but she's been feeding the bill drawer with unopened envelopes for months and never manages to confront its swelling contents. In an attempt to climb out of the holes they've dug, Roger and Georgia make a series of choices that have catastrophic consequences for their three children—especially for Patsy, the youngest, who will spend most of her life fighting to overcome them. The Hole We're In shines a spotlight on some of the most relevant issues of today: over-reliance on credit, gender and class politics, and the war in Iraq. But it is Zevin's deft exploration of the fragile economy of family life that makes this a book for the ages."

Gabrielle Zevin (Author), Mara Wilson (Narrator)

Audiobook

Literary Fiction Audiobooks in Literature