Audiobooks narrated by Rebecca Lowman

A Bright and Borrowed Light: Poems Audiobook

"A gorgeous collection of poems exploring womanhood, sisterhood, love, loss, and longing, for people who find catharsis in poems, or people who have always wanted to read poetry, but don’t know where to start. “How little / love is. How worth everything.” Such is the central theme of Courtney Kampa’s sharp yet tender “Skin and Other Weapons,” one in a collection of beautiful, intimate poems examining the little shared experiences that make us human. Courtney herself was the kind of person who made life better just for knowing her, and though she tragically passed in 2022, her work carries her brilliance and light forward. While Courtney is no longer here, her husband Will Anderson notes that converting readers to poetry was one of her greatest joys, and this collection will make a convert of any reader. Courtney wrote for the girls she was raised with and the women she was raised by. She wrote for herself—which is to say, she wrote for so many of us. In “Cartography,” a group of friends dissects the end of a relationship with a woman who, through the telling, becomes “meaner now, and / more beautiful.” In “The Rules” she writes “I don’t believe in girlhood. I don’t believe / we are ever small, or ever don’t know what it is / we shouldn’t know,” challenging the sweetness and innocence constantly attributed to little girls who live in a world that is neither sweet nor innocent. In “The Cool Kids,” the speaker, desperate to belong but horrified by what her peers require of her, wonders “if this is what it feels like / to be pinned down by the sky.” Individually, each of these poems feels like advice from a friend who knows you deeply and provides a sense of comfort and validation. Taken as a whole, the collection tells a larger story of growth—of the love and loss involved—and learning how to exist in the world. As accessible as they are transcendent, these poems will leave readers feeling as if they have been “anointed with a bright and borrowed light.”"

Courtney Kampa (Author), Rebecca Lowman (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Best Short Stories 2025: The O. Henry Prize Winners

"The prestigious annual story anthology, featuring prize-winning stories by a diverse and exciting array of writers, including Wendell Berry, Alice Hoffman, Dave Eggers, Ling Ma, Lori Ostlund, and Anthony Marra. Continuing a century-long tradition of cutting-edge literary excellence, this year's edition contains twenty prizewinning stories chosen from the thousands published in magazines over the previous year. Guest editor Edward P. Jones has brought his own refreshing perspective to the prize, selecting stories by an engaging mix of celebrated names and emerging voices. The winning stories are accompanied by an introduction by Jones, observations from the winning writers on what inspired them, and an extensive resource list of magazines that publish short fiction. THE WINNING STORIES "The Stackpole Legend," Wendell Berry "The Arrow," Gina Chung "That Girl," Addie Citchens "The Pleasure of a Working Life," Michael Deagler "Blackbirds," Lindsey Drager "Hearing Aids," Clyde Edgerton "Sanrevelle," Dave Eggers "Stump of the World," Madeline ffitch "Shotgun Calypso," Indya Finch "City Girl," Alice Hoffman "Sickled," Jane Kalu "The Spit of Him," Thomas Korsgaard, translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken "Winner," Ling Ma "Countdown," Anthony Marra "Just Another Family," Lori Ostlund "Mornings at the Ministry," Ehsaneh Sadr "Rosaura at Dawn," Daniel Saldaña París, translated from the Spanish by Christina MacSweeney "Three Niles," Zak Salih "Strange Fruit," Yah Yah Scholfield "Miracle in Lagos Traffic," Chika Unigwe"

Edward P. Jones (Author), Abigail Reno, Angel Pean, Ari Fliakos, Chandler Gregoire, Chris Andrew Ciulla, Heni Zoutomou, JD Jackson, Kaleo Griffith, Michelle H. Lee, Nkeki Obi-Melekwe, Philip Hernandez, Rebecca Lowman (Narrator)

Audiobook

Ruth

"Brought to you by Penguin. Ruth is raised in a snow globe of Christian communism, a world without private property, television, or tolerance for idle questions. Every morning she braids her hair and wears the same costume, sings the same breakfast song in a family room identical to every other family room in the community; every one of these moments is meant to be a prayer, but to Ruth they remain puzzles. Her life is seen in glimpses through childhood, marriage, and motherhood, as she tries to manage her own perilous curiosity in a community built on holy mystery. Is she happy? Might this in fact be happiness? Ruth immerses us in an experience that challenges our most fervent beliefs. © Kate Riley 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025"

Kate Riley (Author), Rebecca Lowman (Narrator)

Audiobook

Shred Sisters

"It is said that when one person in a family is unstable, the whole family is destabilized. Meet the Shreds. Olivia is the sister in the spotlight until her stunning confidence becomes erratic and unpredictable, a hurricane leaving people wrecked in her wake. Younger sister Amy, cautious and studious to the core, believes in facts, proof, and the empirical world. None of that explains what's happening to Ollie, whose physical beauty and charisma mask the mental illness that will shatter Amy's carefully constructed life. As Amy comes of age and seeks to find her place--first in academics, then New York publishing, and through a series of troubled relationships--every step brings collisions with Ollie, who slips in and out of the Shred family without warning. Yet for all that threatens their sibling bond, Amy and Ollie cannot escape or deny the inextricable sister knot that binds them."

Betsy Lerner (Author), Rebecca Lowman (Narrator)

Audiobook

Among Friends: Perfect lives hide terrible secrets

"'Every sentence keeps you hanging in the air, waiting for the next punch to the gut' - Miranda Cowley Heller, author of The Paper Palace 'Packs a huge emotional punch. I couldn't put it down' - Daily Mail 'A writer of lavish talents . . . properly page-turning' - Daily Telegraph Four friends. A betrayal that should shatter their seemingly perfect lives. But will they let it? Amos and Emerson have been friends for more than thirty years. Despite vastly different backgrounds, the two now form an enviable portrait of middle age: their wives are close, their teenage daughters have grown up together, their days are passed in the comfortable languor of New York City wealth. They share an unbreakable bond, or so they think. This weekend, however, something is different. After gathering for Emerson's birthday at his country home, celebration gives way to old rivalries and resentments which erupt in a shocking act of violence, one that threatens to shatter their finely made world. In its wake, each must choose: between whom and what they love most. Hal Ebbott's Among Friends explores themes of class, marriage, friendship, and power, as well as the things we tell ourselves to preserve our finely made worlds. 'A powerful, elegant novel that offers unsparing insight into the lives of others' - Claire Lombardo, author of The Most Fun We Ever Had 'An exquisitely crafted family tragedy' - John Irving 'Masterly . . . Ranges from the most exquisite, Jamesian discriminations to the graspable, all-American solidities of Updike and Richard Yates. This is a writer to watch, with excitement and the highest expectations' - John Banville, author of The Sea 'In the way that a forceful intelligence or an infectious voice or a fresh vision can alter how we observe and answer the world, Among Friends brought me into its cool environs and made me engage my days differently. It's no small accomplishment for a first novel, or for any novel' - Richard Ford"

Hal Ebbott (Author), Rebecca Lowman (Narrator)

Audiobook

Fox

"'Chilling' FINANCIAL TIMES ‘Impressive and unsettling' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW 'Eerie, shocking, provoking' GILLIAN FLYNN 'Rich in suspense, diabolical secrets and psychological insight’ ECONOMIST 'Engrossing even as it horrifies' BIG ISSUE A spellbinding novel of literary and psychological suspense about the dark secrets that surface after the shocking disappearance of a charismatic, mercurial teacher at an elite boarding school. Who is Francis Fox? A charming English teacher new to the idyllic Langhorne Academy, Fox beguiles many of his students, their parents, and his colleagues at the elite boarding school, while leaving others wondering where he came from and why his biography is so enigmatic. When two brothers discover Fox’s car half-submerged in a pond in a local nature preserve and parts of an unidentified body strewn about the nearby woods, the entire community, including Detective Horace Zwender and his deputy, begins to ask disturbing questions about Francis Fox and who he might really be. A hypnotic, galloping tale of crime and complicity, revenge and restitution, victim vs. predator, Joyce Carol Oates’s Fox illuminates the darkest corners of the human psyche while asking profound moral questions about justice and the response evil demands. A character as magnetically diabolical as Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley and Vladimir Nabokov’s Humbert Humbert, Francis Fox enchants and manipulates nearly everyone around him, until at last he meets someone he can’t outfox. Written in Oates’s trademark intimate, sweeping style, and interweaving multiple points of view, Fox is a triumph of craftsmanship and artistry, a novel as profound as it is propulsive, as moving as it is full of mystery. 'Hauntingly explores the way that beguiling figures can inspire, create and shape art’ LOS ANGELES TIMES 'Mesmerizing' MICHAEL CONNELLY 'Oates is a genius' REBECCA MAKKAI 'Oates views the US through a gothic prism, forming images as striking as they are disturbing' FINANCIAL TIMES 'Absolutely chilling … this is Oates at her most disturbing and masterful’ SEATTLE TIMES 'Inescapably abhorrent yet enthralling … Oates understands, as always, how to keep us on the hook’ LOS ANGELES TIMES 'Engrossing even as it horrifies and reminds us that we cannot nor should not look away’ BIG ISSUE ‘A tautly wound procedural, elegantly written … Oates once again masterfully limns the worse angels of our nature’ KIRKUS REVIEWS ‘Menacing, mesmerizing, and thoroughly provocative’ BOOKLIST"

Joyce Carol Oates (Author), Chris Andrew Ciulla, Eunice Wong, Fred Berman, Gail Shalan, Ina Barron, Kirsten Potter, Matt Godfrey, Max Meyers, Rachel L. Jacobs, Rebecca Lowman (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Aetherion Code: Book One: The Spark

"SOMETIMES, ONLY THE YOUTH CAN SEE THE TRUTH. In 2053, whether you live in Zimbabwe, South Korea, or America, the clouds all look the same. You are living in the world of Atlas Hawkins. After a catastrophic world war, he controls how most people think and act. And yes, he even controls the weather. If you're a teenager, wherever you are, your every move is monitored, and you must not step out of line. Even the smallest transgression will get you sent to the new juvenile penal colony on Mars: Camp Constellation. But nineteen-year-old Hester is not your average teenager. She is on a secret mission that she's willing to risk everything for - and believes the newest AI being used as therapy bots at the camp on Mars might just hold the key. Life at Constellation is a far cry from what Hester imagined it would be, though. She's thrown together with a group of juvies who are forced to confront not only their sins, but also their strengths. They realize this place might just turn out to be everything they wish Earth could be. That is, if they can get out alive. Serving time on Mars is one thing- but this just got WAY more complicated."

Bellamy Young, Fay Masterson (Author), Rebecca Lowman (Narrator)

Audiobook

Sleep

"‘Beautiful … incredibly moving’ ANN PATCHETT 'Deeply satisfying … beautifully written’ POLLY SAMSON 'Exceptionally moving' NEW YORK TIMES 'Magnetic, breathtaking’ CHERIE JONES ‘Beautiful … I adored it’ CHRIS WHITAKER A must-read novel of the summer in Sunday Times Style, Elle and Good Housekeeping. A dazzling debut following a newly divorced young mother reckoning with a long-buried secret as she returns home one summer. A family secret. A new love. The chance to start again. Ten-year-old Margaret hides beneath a blackberry bush in her family’s lush backyard while her brother hunts for her in a game of tag. Hers is a childhood of sunlit swimming pools and Saturday morning pancakes but her family life requires careful prudence. Then one fateful summer, everything changes. A line is crossed and the simple pleasures of girlhood slip away. Twenty-five years later, Margaret hides under her parents’ bed, waiting for her young daughters to find her. She’s newly divorced and navigating life as a co-parent, while discovering the pleasures of a new boyfriend. But some part of her is still under the blackberry bush from all those summers ago, punched out of time. She must now reckon with the echoes between the past and the present, what it means to keep a child truly safe, and the family she carries inside herself as she builds a family of her own. Beautiful, wry, humane and life-affirming, Sleep is about the burden of love and what lies on the other side of silence: the world, rich in possibility. A most anticipated book of 2025 in New York Times, Elle, People, Oprah Daily and SheerLuxe. 'Jones takes her cues from writers like John Cheever, Richard Yates and Virginia Woolf' NEW YORK TIMES ‘A masterpiece of carefully crafted perspective and tone … heroic, even hopeful' WASHINGTON POST ‘A compelling debut about motherhood, buried trauma and how we learn to set ourselves free … Shattering, but also witty, arch, probing and hopeful’ SUNDAY TIMES STYLE ‘A melancholic, moving read that explores how we carry trauma within us, written in beautiful, sun-saturated prose’ GOOD HOUSEKEEPING ‘Jones’s prose is spare but effervescent' ELLE 'Profoundly beautiful' NPR ‘Sleep has a real heart, beating with courage and rage. I loved it’ ABIGAIL DEAN, author of The Death of Us 'Thrillingly virtuosic – beguiling, unsettling and stylish’ JESSICA STANLEY, author of Consider Yourself Kissed"

Honor Jones (Author), Rebecca Lowman (Narrator)

Audiobook

A Gorgeous Excitement: A Novel

"One young woman's summer of infinite possibility takes a turn she never saw coming in "this 1980s coming-of-age tale [that's] chillingly compelling. Get ready to be transported."-People (Best Books of the Month) AN OPRAH DAILY BEST NEW THRILLER • A TOWN & COUNTRY AND CRIMEREADS MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK "I haven't felt this kind of excitement reading a story set in the '80s since I first discovered Jay McInerney, Tama Janowitz, and Bret Easton Ellis."-Margarita Montimore, bestselling author of Oona Out of Order There are two things Nina Jacobs is determined to do over the summer of 1986: avoid her mother's depression-fueled rages, and lose her virginity before she starts college in the fall. Both are seemingly impossible-when her mother isn't lying in bed for days, she's lashing out at Nina over any perceived slight. And after a blowjob gone spectacularly wrong, Nina is the talk of Flanagan's, the Upper East Side bar where young Manhattan society congregates. It doesn't help that she's Jewish, an outsider among the blue-eyed blondes who populate this rarified world. She can fit in, kind of, with enough alcohol and prescription drugs stolen from her parents' medicine cabinet. Flanagan's is where she pines for the handsome, preppy, and charismatic Gardner Reed. Every girl wants to sleep with him and every guy wants to be him. After she's introduced to cocaine, Nina plunges headlong into her pursuit of Gardner, oblivious to the warning signs. When a new medication seemingly frees her mother from darkness, and Nina and Gardner grow closer, it seems like Nina might finally get what she wants. But at what cost? Freud called cocaine "a gorgeous excitement," but a gorgeous excitement for the wrong guy can be lethal."

Cynthia Weiner (Author), Rebecca Lowman (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Memory Palace: True Short Stories of the Past

"Incredible true stories reveal strange new magic in American history in this wondrous first book from the creator of the award-winning podcast The Memory Palace. "One doesn't often find the words imagination and history in the same sentence. Nate DiMeo has forever woven them together. The Memory Palace wants you to linger, to stay awhile, and find a deeper meaning both in the stories of the past and perhaps in your own life as well."-Ken Burns The Memory Palace is a collection of crystalline historical tales that read like luminous short fiction and, like Nate DiMeo's acclaimed podcast of the same name, conjure lost moments and forgotten figures who are calling out across time to be remembered. Space capsules filled with fruit flies and future senators. A socialite scientist who gives up her glamorous life to follow love and the elusive prairie chicken. A boy genius on a path to change the world who gets lost in the theoretical possibilities of streetcar transfers. An enslaved man who steals a boat and charts a course that leads him to freedom, war, and Congress. A farmer's wife who puts down her butter churn, picks up the butter, and becomes an international art star. An amusement park glowing at the water's edge when electric lights are a brand-new thing. This cabinet of curiosities teems with wonder. For fifteen years, Nate DiMeo has turned to the past to make sense of the way we live today, finding beauty and meaning in history's dustier corners, holding things up to the light and weaving facts, keen insight, wit, and poignant observation into unforgettable tales. With new stories and treasured favorites from the beloved podcast, enchantment awaits you."

Nate Dimeo (Author), Betsy Brandt, Carrie Coon, Daniel Alarcón, Dominic Hoffman, Hrishikesh Hirway, Jad Abumrad, Kai Ryssdal, Lili Taylor, Nate DiMeo, Rebecca Lowman, Robin Miles, Roman Mars, Ryan Reynolds (Narrator)

Audiobook

Shred Sisters: A Novel

"From Betsy Lerner, celebrated author of The Bridge Ladies, comes a wry and riveting debut novel about family, mental illness, and a hard-won path between two sisters. It is said that when one person in a family is unstable, the whole family is destabilized. Meet the Shreds. Olivia is the sister in the spotlight until her stunning confidence becomes erratic and unpredictable, a hurricane leaving people wrecked in her wake. Younger sister Amy, cautious and studious to the core, believes in facts, proof, and the empirical world. None of that explains what's happening to Ollie, whose physical beauty and charisma mask the mental illness that will shatter Amy's carefully constructed life. As Amy comes of age and seeks to find her place—first in academics, then New York publishing, and through a series of troubled relationships—every step brings collisions with Ollie, who slips in and out of the Shred family without warning. Yet for all that threatens their sibling bond, Amy and Ollie cannot escape or deny the inextricable sister knot that binds them. Spanning two decades, Shred Sisters is an intimate and bittersweet story exploring the fierce complexities of sisterhood, mental health, loss, and love. If anything is true it's what Amy learns on her to self-acceptance: No one will love you more or hurt you more than a sister."

Betsy Lerner (Author), Rebecca Lowman (Narrator)

Audiobook

Liars

"A searing novel about being a wife, a mother, and an artist, and how marriage makes liars of us all. 'An unflinchingly true and honest depiction of a marriage turning from gold to dust ' - Miranda Cowley Heller, author of The Paper Palace 'A white-hot dissection of the power imbalances in a marriage, and as gripping as you want fiction to be.' - Nick Hornby, author of High Fidelity A nuclear family can destroy a woman artist. I'd always known that. But I'd never suspected how easily I'd fall into one anyway. When Jane, an aspiring writer, meets filmmaker John Bridges, they both want the same things: to be in love, to live a successful, creative life, and to be happy. When they marry, Jane believes she has found everything she was looking for, including - a few years later - all the attendant joys and labors of motherhood. But it's not long until Jane finds herself subsumed by John's ambitions, whims, and ego; in short, she becomes a wife. As Jane's career flourishes, their marriage starts to falter. Throughout the upheavals of family life, Jane tries to hold it all together. That is, until John leaves her. Sarah Manguso's Liars is a tour de force of wit and rage, telling the blistering story of a marriage as it burns to the ground, and of a woman rising inexorably from its ashes. 'Painful and brilliant - I loved it' - Elif Batuman, author of The Idiot and Either/Or"

Sarah Manguso (Author), Rebecca Lowman (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks Narrated by Rebecca Lowman