Audiobooks narrated by Ami Okumura Jones

How to Hold Someone in your Heart Audiobook

"Brought to you by Penguin. From the multi-million-copy bestselling author of LONELY CASTLE IN THE MIRROR and LOST SOULS MEET UNDER A FULL MOON Ayumi is a young man with special powers to bring back the dead to meet the living. A gift passed down in his family, he is able to arrange meetings according to strict rules and always under a full moon. After years in this role, he begins to question its meaning, and how his powers affect his own desires in the real world. Meanwhile, he helps out five characters: -A young film star finds resolution with the father who abandoned him, but not as he expected; - An amateur historian is obsessed to meet a minor warlord of the sixteenth century; -Ayumi anxiously juggles two meetings on the same evening, both have lost their daughters; -A former cook, whose request to visit an upper-class young woman in the afterlife has been repeatedly rejected, is finally granted his wish. Find out how Ayumi and his clients learn to lose their regrets, open up to the unexpected, and cherish what they already have in this profound and moving novel by Japan's leading storyteller. © Mizuki Tsujimura 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025"

Mizuki Tsujimura (Author), Ami Okumura Jones, Hanako Footman, Kenichiro Thomson (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Healing Hippo Of Hinode Park

"Brought to you Penguin. ‘Kabahiko is an amazing hippo. People say that if you touch the area of his body that you want to make better on yours, he’ll provide a cure' Nestling at the bottom of a five-storey apartment block is the children's playground, Hinode Park. If you look to the side, standing on stubby legs, is a hippo. Its upturned eyes give it a teary look, yet for decades, its quiet power has sustained the hearts of one community. Meet the neighbours who will reach out to kabahiko: -Kanato presses his head to the hippo's cheek, hoping to recover the stellar marks he once scored; - Sawa, a lonely new mother, strokes its mouth, hopes to connect as she once did when she was an award-winning retail assistant; - Chiharu, a wedding-planner, hopes to be able to listen for the happiness of others; - Yuya avoids sports day with a fake injury, only to find he really is in pain. - despite Kazuhiko's fading eyes from too much editorial work, he will learn to see life's everyday wonders. A quietly powerful story of hope, friendship and connection, Michiko Aoyama's beloved bestseller is a celebration of everyday encounters. Its subtle portrayal of the magic of community will lodge itself in every reader's heart. © Michiko Aoyama 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025"

Michiko Aoyama (Author), Ami Okumura Jones, Kenichiro Thomson, Naruto Komatsu, Susan Momoko Hingley, Yuriri Naka (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon

"Brought to you by Penguin. THE UNFORGETTABLE MILLION-COPY JAPANESE BESTSELLER BY THE AUTHOR OF LONELY CASTLE IN THE MIRROR Brimming with suspense and heartbreak, the million-copy Japanese fantasy mystery for fans of BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD and LONELY CASTLE IN THE MIRROR Is there anyone you wish to see? So asks the smart young man, Ayumi, to his clients who have come to him for a reunion with the person who once changed their life. But it is no ordinary reunion The people they ask to see have passed away. Calling himself the go-between, Ayumi lays down strict rules around the meetings between the living and the dead: the deceased cannot have been summoned by anyone else; they may refuse; and they must meet under a full moon. - Anxious Hirase asks to see the celebrity who showed her kindness at a critical moment; - An arrogant family man wants clarity about a will from his beloved mother; - After a bike accident, a school girl has a question for her former best friend; - A salary man wants to ask the only woman he ever loved what caused her to run away. With each reunion, tantalizing clues are scattered for readers to piece together the emotional truth behind the go-between in this mesmeric and unputdownable tale of kindness, compassion and connection. Who would you like to see? Watch out for HOW TO HOLD SOMEONE IN YOUR HEART, the sequel to LOST SOULS MEET UNDER A FULL MOON coming soon. 'Recalls early Murakami. An enchanting read' FT First published in Japan under the title TSUNAGU or GO-BETWEEN ©2025 Mizuki Tsujimura (P)2025 Penguin Audio"

Mizuki Tsujimura (Author), Ami Okumura Jones, Hanako Footman, Kenichiro Thomson (Narrator)

Audiobook

Passiontide

"Brought to you by Penguin. Four women spark a revolution on a Caribbean island – the electrifying new novel from the Costa-winning author of The Mermaid of Black Conch. Early one morning, at the close of St Colibri’s carnival, a young female steel-pan player is found dead beneath a cannonball tree. It is a discovery that will transform the lives of everyone on this small island. As the days pass, this shocking event draws together four women. There’s Sharleen, a journalist with an eye for the real story. Her childhood friend Tara, a pink-haired, straight-talking local activist. Gigi, the ‘notorious’ founder of the Port Isabella Sex Workers Collective. And Daisy, first lady of St Colibri, who is haunted by a disappearance in her own family decades ago. In a community in which women’s voices are often silenced and violence against them is overlooked time after time, the group soon find themselves compelled to speak out – and to act. But even they could never have foreseen the consequences of their courage… ‘Vital, enraging and brilliant. I loved it’ SARAH WINMAN ‘Beautiful and important’ SAFIYA SINCLAIR ‘A vital novel… Fiery, funny and ferociously feminist’ DIANA EVANS ©2024 Monique Roffey (P)2024 Penguin Audio"

Monique Roffey (Author), Ami Okumura Jones, Burt Caesar, Martina Laird (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Martyr and the Red Kimono: A Fearless Priest’s Sacrifice and A New Generation of Hope in Japan

"Brought to you by Penguin. On the 14th of August 1941, a Polish monk named Maximilian Maria Kolbe was murdered in Auschwitz. Kolbe's life had been remarkable. Fiercely intelligent and driven, he founded a movement of Catholicism and spent several years in Nagasaki, ministering to the 'hidden Christians' who had emerged after centuries of oppression. A Polish nationalist as well as a monk, he gave sanctuary to fleeing refugees and ran Poland's largest publishing operation, drawing the wrath of the Nazis. His death was no less remarkable: he volunteered to die, saving the life of a fellow prisoner. It was an act that profoundly transformed the lives of two Japanese men. Tomei Ozaki was just seventeen when the US dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, destroying his home and his family. Masatoshi Asari worked on a farm in Hokkaido during the war and was haunted by the inhumane treatment of prisoners in a nearby camp. Forged in the crucible of an unforgiving war, both men drew inspiration from Kolbe's sacrifice, dedicating their lives to humanity and justice. In The Martyr and the Red Kimono, award-winning author Naoko Abe weaves together a deeply moving and inspirational true story of resistance, sacrifice, guilt and atonement. ©2024 Naoko Abe (P)2024 Penguin Audio"

Naoko Abe (Author), Ami Okumura Jones (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Rainbow

"Brought to you by Penguin. With the Second World War only a few years in the past, and Japan still reeling from its effects, two sisters - born to the same father but different mothers - struggle to make sense of the new world in which they are coming of age. Asako, the younger, has become obsessed with locating a third sibling, while also experiencing love for the first time. While Momoko, their father's first child - haunted by the loss of her kamikaze boyfriend and their final, disturbing days together - seeks comfort in a series of unhealthy romances. And both sisters find themselves unable to outrun the legacies of their late mothers. A thoughtful, probing novel about the enduring traumas of war, the unbreakable bonds of family and the inescapability of the past, The Rainbow is a searing, melancholy work from one of Japan's greatest writers. ©2023 Yasunari Kawabata (P)2023 Penguin Audio"

Yasunari Kawabata (Author), Ami Okumura Jones (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks Narrated by Ami Okumura Jones