Audiobooks narrated by Edoardo Ballerini

There Was a Time for Such a Word: A Novel

"For fans of The Reader and inspired by historical events in 1940s Italy, a poignant and hopeful novel in which a young, illiterate herdsman learns to read with the help of his two friends— rewriting his destiny in the process September 1942. Young Davide is no stranger to hunger or cruelty. Uneducated but curious, he endures a life of quiet hardship caring for his father’s pigs with only the fiery Teresa for a friend. That is, until a group of Jewish families are relocated to their small Italian town. Among them is the mysterious Nicolas, who sparks within Davide a desire for knowledge and deep connection. When Nicolas’ father sets up an underground school, Davide begins to attend classes and, as he learns to read, words begin to reshape his world. As Davide, Teresa, and Nicolas grow closer, they find themselves navigating the perilous and emotional terrain of adolescence. But when Davide’s choices lead to betrayal and guilt, he is forced to flee the village, leaving his friends behind. In Naples, amid bombed-out rubble, back-alley theaters, and fleeting moments of human kindness, Davide will eventually reclaim his voice through the power of storytelling as a performer. Each word penned carries the weight of his struggle, and every performance strikes back at the cruelty of his world. Resolving at last to find his lost friends, Davide sets off in search of redemption. Rich with history, heartbreak, and the fragile glow of resilience, There Was a Time for Such a Word captures the transformative power of words and the strength needed to decide your fate. Translated from the Italian by Richard Dixon"

Gianni Solla (Author), Edoardo Ballerini (Narrator)

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Welcome to Cottonmouth

"“Jay S. Bell has arrived and he’s firing on all cylinders. This book is so original and well written that it had to be penned by a legend in the making.”—Joshua Hood, bestselling author of Robert Ludlum’s Treadstone series What does the US government do with spies and special operators when they pass their expiration date? They retire them to a small town deep in the Piney Woods of East Texas, where they’re certain to cause no trouble. A collection of broken spies, former double agents, and retired operators lives in secrecy, under the watchful eye of the government in the small, deep-woods town of Cottonmouth, Texas. Devlin Mahoney is the de facto mayor of these special citizens, charged with keeping them in seclusion, hidden from the world, which he does from the office of the town’s only motel. But the peace of this sleepy village is shattered when a pair of women, on the run from a vicious criminal, drops into Mahoney’s lap and he’s forced to choose between doing what’s right and doing what he’s told."

Jay S. Bell (Author), Edoardo Ballerini (Narrator)

Audiobook

Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare’s Greatest Rival, Christopher

"Brought to you by Penguin. Poor boy. Dark star. Spy. Transgressor. Genius. From one of the greatest writers on the Elizabethan era, Dark Renaissance is the thrilling and subversive life story of Christopher Marlowe – Shakespeare’s inspiration and rival, who helped to bring England out of the cultural darkness and into the light. In brutally repressive Elizabethan England, artists are frightened; foreigners are suspect; popular entertainment largely consists of coarse spectacles, animal fights, and hangings. Into this crude world comes an ambitious cobbler’s son from Canterbury with an uncanny ear for Latin poetry – which to him is a secret portal to beauty, visionary imagination, transgressive desire, and dangerous scepticism. What Christopher Marlowe finds on the other side of that door, and what he does with it, brings about a spectacular explosion of English literature, language, and culture, enabling the success of many others, including his youthful collaborator William Shakespeare. By the time of his murder in a Deptford tavern in 1593, the 29-year-old Marlowe will be the most celebrated dramatist of his time. Stephen Greenblatt grippingly reconstructs the involvement with the queen’s spy service that shaped Marlowe’s brief, troubling life and gave us his masterpieces about power and its costs. And he explores how the people Marlowe knew, and the transformations they wrought, gave birth to the economic, scientific, and cultural power of the modern world – involving Faustian bargains with which we reckon still. Dark Renaissance is a scintillating combination of narrative flair, historical insight and literary criticism about a writer whose blazing talent catapulted England from cultural backwater to crucible of creativity. ’A rigorous and sparkling exploration of what makes an artist …. Essential and addictive reading’ MAGGIE O'FARRELL © Stephen Greenblatt 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025"

Stephen Greenblatt (Author), Edoardo Ballerini (Narrator)

Audiobook

Odds On

"The very first novel by Michael Crichton, the legendary creator of Jurassic Park and ER Steven Jencks has planned the perfect crime. Working with two skilled associates, he will hit the Reina, a super-luxury hotel off the coast of Spain, and then walk away with the haul of a lifetime. As the ultimate pro, Jencks has even run his plan through a complex computer simulation to account for every possible variable … Except three. Their names are Annette, Cynthia, and Jenny. And no computer could ever simulate what these three femmes fatales have up their sleeves. With a new introduction by Sherri Crichton"

Michael Crichton Writing As John Lange™ (Author), Edoardo Ballerini (Narrator)

Audiobook

An Inside Job

"AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES NO.1 BESTSELLER Art restorer and legendary spy Gabriel Allon must solve the perfect crime in the dazzling new tale of murder, greed, and corruption from #1 New York Times bestselling novelist Daniel Silva. Sometimes the only way to recover a stolen masterpiece is to steal it back … Gabriel Allon has been awarded a commission to restore one of the most important paintings in Venice. But when he discovers the body of a mysterious woman floating in the waters of the Venetian Lagoon, he finds himself in a desperate race to recover a lost masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci. The painting, a portrait of a beautiful young girl, has been gathering dust in a storeroom at the Vatican Museums for more than a century, misattributed and hidden beneath a worthless picture by an unknown artist. Because no one knows that the Leonardo is there, no one notices when it disappears one night during a suspicious power outage. No one but the ruthless mobsters and moneymen behind the theft – and the mysterious woman whom Gabriel found in a watery grave in Venice. A woman without a name. A woman without a face. Readers love Daniel Silva: 'An author who is master of his craft' Reader Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Silva gets better with each book' Reader Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Superbly current, believable, and cutting to the bone' Reader Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐"

Daniel Silva (Author), Edoardo Ballerini (Narrator)

Audiobook

2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America

"Brought to you by Penguin. Three award-winning reporters offer the definitive, inside story of the most tumultuous and consequential presidential campaign in US history. “The whole world was against me, and I won,” said Donald Trump in an exclusive interview, ten days before his second inauguration. Nearly four years after Trump’s turbulent presidency concluded in a violent attempt to overturn the election, he made a political comeback on a scale that stunned the nation. How did the first US president to become a convicted felon regain control of the White House? And at what cost? In 2024, award-winning reporters Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, and Isaac Arnsdorf bring us the definitive and explosive account of how Trump and his advisers overcame a dozen primary challengers, four indictments, two assassination attempts, and his own past mistakes to defeat the Democrats, and pave the way for a second term that would be far more aggressive and ruthless than the first. Drawing on extraordinary access to the Trump, Biden, and Harris teams, 2024 takes readers beyond the speeches, rallies, and debates and reveals the innermost workings of the Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns. Beginning in August 2022 with the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago for classified documents and Trump’s subsequent decision to run once more for president, Dawsey, Pager, and Arnsdorf chart how Trump stifled the rise of Republican opponents, including Ron DeSantis, and how his campaign, led by Susie Wiles, landed on a winning strategy. They reveal in unrivaled detail how Joe Biden and his team brushed off concerns about his age, ignored polling numbers, and held off the next generation of eager Democratic hopefuls - even as Biden was dealing with his own special counsel investigation and the trial of his son, Hunter. After his disastrous debate performance forced him to withdraw, Biden anointed vice president Kamala Harris as the candidate and tasked her with running the shortest presidential campaign in modern U.S. history. With only 107 days to distinguish herself from the past four years, Harris lacked the time or space to outrun Biden’s shadow - a challenge in and of itself, but one which Biden would make even more difficult. On November 5th, 2024, Trump was elected the nation’s 47th president, and would return to power vindicated, emboldened, unrestrained, and burning for revenge. Gripping, revelatory, and deeply reported, 2024 is the shocking inside story of one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime, the result of which will test American democracy and shape the future of the free world. © Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager and Isaac Arnsdorf 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025"

Isaac Arnsdorf, Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager (Author), Edoardo Ballerini (Narrator)

Audiobook

The 5x CEO: Learn the Strategies and Tactics of Top Private Equity CEOs to Accelerate Value and Max

"If you're a CEO in a private equity-backed company, the clock is ticking and expectations are sky-high. Your mission is clear: create extraordinary value, move fast, and deliver results that justify the investment. But how do the top-performing CEOs deliver outstanding returns while others fall short? The 5x CEO is your answer. Based on a two-year research study of over 50 private equity-backed CEOs who achieved exceptional outcomes, averaging a 6.2x Multiple on Invested Capital (MOIC), this book pulls back the curtain on what actually drives success. Co-authors Samantha Allison and Taavo Godtfredsen, experienced coaches and strategic advisors, go beyond theory to give you the playbook elite leaders use to win. At the heart of this book is the 5x Model, a practical framework that reveals what highly successful private equity CEOs do to accelerate execution and maximize value creation. Built around five critical disciplines—Strategic Clarity, Scalable Talent, Relentless Focus, Disciplined Execution, and Energized Culture—the model defines the essential responsibilities CEOs and their leadership teams must master to outperform in today’s high-pressure, high-stakes environment. Packed with insights from both CEOs and private equity sponsors, The 5x CEO gives you a proven blueprint for creating value faster, avoiding costly mistakes, and building a legacy of repeatable success."

Samantha Allison, Taavo Godtfredsen (Author), Edoardo Ballerini (Narrator)

Audiobook

So Far Gone: A Novel

"National Bestseller ''A warm, funny, loving novel. . . . It's an American original.''—Ann Patchett, New York Times bestselling author of Tom Lake ''Searing and sublime … Walter is a slyly adept social critic, and has clearly invested his protagonist with all of the outrage and heartbreak he himself feels about the dark course our world has taken ... What gets us all through … are novels like this one.” Leigh Haber, Los Angeles Times. From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins—and in the propulsive spirit of Charles Portis’ True Grit—comes a hilarious, empathetic, and brilliantly provocative adventure through life in modern America, about a reclusive journalist forced back into the world to rescue his kidnapped grandchildren. Rhys Kinnick has gone off the grid. At Thanksgiving a few years back, a fed-up Rhys punched his conspiracy-theorist son-in-law in the mouth, chucked his smartphone out a car window and fled for a cabin in the woods, with no one around except a pack of hungry raccoons. Now Kinnick’s old life is about to land right back on his crumbling doorstep. Can this failed husband and father, a man with no internet and a car that barely runs, reemerge into a broken world to track down his missing daughter and save his sweet, precocious grandchildren from the members of a dangerous militia? With the help of his caustic ex-girlfriend, a bipolar retired detective, and his only friend (who happens to be furious with him), Kinnick heads off on a wild journey through cultural lunacy and the rubble of a life he thought he’d left behind. So Far Gone is a rollicking, razor-sharp, and moving road trip through a fractured nation, from a writer who has been called “a genius of the modern American moment” (Philadelphia Inquirer)."

Jess Walter (Author), Edoardo Ballerini (Narrator)

Audiobook

Pioneer Summer: A Novel

"This star-crossed gay romance is a #1 bestselling TikTok sensation that took readers by storm, made international news, and catalyzed one of Russia’s largest-ever crackdowns on LGBTQ representation. Cowritten by a Ukrainian–Russian duo, Pioneer Summer reached such heights of popularity that Putin stepped in to ban it. Now this swoony romance will transport American readers to another place and time and introduce them to one of the most memorable relationships of their lives. The year is 1986, and Yurka Konev, 16, has been sent off for another summer at Pioneer Camp. Impulsive, forthright, and unfairly branded as a troublemaker, he anticipates the weeks ahead of him with boredom and dread. But when he’s pushed into working on the camp’s theater production, he meets serious, thoughtful troop leader Volodya. Yurka finds himself drawn to the slightly older boy, and, surprisingly, Volodya seems to like him, too. The two boys grow closer and closer, and though both fear the consequences of their illegal attraction, its gravity pulls them together. Now, 20 years later, Yury returns to the abandoned camp to reminisce on the relationship that changed his life forever—and discovers that not all history is destined to remain in the past. “[Pioneer Summer] sensitively charts the process of falling in love for the first time. The relationship between Yury and Volodya, blossoming in difficult circumstances, is tenderly described. It is, at heart, a classic story of young love triumphing, however briefly, against the odds. … The book is more than a breakout hit. It is also the catalyst for the latest legislative assault on L.G.B.T.Q. rights in Russia.”—NEW YORK TIMES"

Elena Malisova, Katerina Silvanova (Author), Edoardo Ballerini (Narrator)

Audiobook

Martian Time-Slip

"FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE AND DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? Mars is a desolate world. Largely forgotten by Earth, the planet remains helpless in the stranglehold of Arnie Kott, who as boss of the plumber's union has a monopoly over the vital water supply. Arnie Kott is obsessed by the past; the native Bleekmen, poverty-stricken wanderers, can see into the future; while to Manfred, an autistic boy, time apparently stops. When one of the colonists, Norbert Steiner, commits suicide, startling and bizarre things begin to happen…"

Philip K. Dick (Author), Edoardo Ballerini (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Housemaid's Wedding: A Short Story

"Today is supposed to be the happiest day of my life. I'm engaged to the man of my dreams, and in a few short hours, I'm going to stand before a judge, who will declare us husband and wife, till death does us part. Despite some bumps in the road, this day is everything I dreamed it would be. There's only one problem: Someone out there doesn't want me to live long enough to say my vows. And if I'm not careful, they may very well get their wish. Note: The Housemaid’s Wedding is a short story meant to fill in the long gap between Book 2 of the Housemaid series (The Housemaid’s Secret) and Book 3 (The Housemaid is Watching). It can be read either between Book 2 and Book 3, or after Book 3."

Freida McFadden (Author), Edoardo Ballerini, Lauryn Allman (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Man Who Japed

"FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE AND DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? Following a devastating nuclear war, the Moral Reclamation government took over the world and forced its citizens to live by strictly puritanical rules - no premarital sex, drunkenness, or displaying of neon signs - all of which are reinforced through a constant barrage of public messages. The chief purveyor of these messages is Alan Purcell, next in line to become head of the propaganda bureau. But there is just one problem: a statue of the government’s founder has been vandalized and the head is hidden in Purcell’s closet. In this buttoned-up society, maybe all a revolution needs is one really great prank...."

Philip K. Dick (Author), Edoardo Ballerini (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks Narrated by Edoardo Ballerini