Anya Kamenetz’s narration enlightens nonfiction elements and hard-hitting stories of school closures’s impact on children. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss her reporting on the school closings that started in America at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic that she narrates with the directness and intensity of a radio reporter (which she is). For many children, school is a critical social safety net, and Kamenetz shares her perspective on education struggles before, during, and after COVID closures. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Hachette Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fifth season of Audiobook Break, featuring Bram Stoker’s DRACULA, read by Gildart Jackson. Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE AUDIO, dedicated to producing top-quality fiction and nonfiction audiobooks written and read by the best in the business. Visit penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/audiofile now to start listening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vivienne Leheny’s steady delivery and warm tone welcome listeners into Laurie R. King’s contemporary mystery set in California. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss the fun of listening to another mystery from Laurie R. King. Raquel Laing, who works on cold cases for the police department, investigates a corpse found on the grounds of the Gardener Estate Museum. When the action explodes, Leheny delivers a satisfying burst of frenzy. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Recorded Books. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fifth season of Audiobook Break, featuring Bram Stoker’s DRACULA, read by Gildart Jackson. Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE AUDIO, dedicated to producing top-quality fiction and nonfiction audiobooks written and read by the best in the business. Visit penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/audiofile now to start listening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Golden Voice narrator George Guidall compellingly narrates Craig Johnson’s latest Longmire mystery. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss this long-running series, which Guidall has voiced from the very beginning. Walt Longmire awakens in the street in the middle of a blizzard, remembering nothing of his past. Now he has to piece together who he is, and why he’s in Fort Pratt, Montana, site of an infamous Native residential school that had devastating impacts. Guidall’s grizzled voice fully embodies Longmire’s struggle to make sense of his situation. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Recorded Books. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fifth season of Audiobook Break, featuring Bram Stoker’s DRACULA, read by Gildart Jackson. Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE AUDIO, dedicated to producing top-quality fiction and nonfiction audiobooks written and read by the best in the business. Visit penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/audiofile now to start listening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lydia Wilson and Tamsin Greig deliver complimentary performances to tell the story of Lia, a British woman whose cancer has just come out of remission. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss Maddie Mortimer’s novel, which follows Lia as she faces what could be her final months of life. Wilson captures Lia’s perspective with a reflective performance, while Greig voices Lia’s cancer, perfectly capturing the disease’s wry narrative voice as it remarks on the changes in Lia’s body. Their performances work in harmony, giving listeners an emotionally intimate listening experience. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Simon & Schuster. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fifth season of Audiobook Break, featuring Bram Stoker’s DRACULA, read by Gildart Jackson. Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE AUDIO, dedicated to producing top-quality fiction and nonfiction audiobooks written and read by the best in the business. Visit penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/audiofile now to start listening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Angel Pean delivers a thrilling performance of a story set in a dystopian alternative future. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss this suspenseful story, where unmarried women must register with the government at age 28 and are assumed to be witches until they marry. Protagonist Jo is faced with even more suspicion as a Black woman, and as her 28th birthday looms, she learns that her mother left her something in her will — but she must travel far to claim it. Pean skillfully captures the suspenseful story and creates the perfect chilling mood. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Harper Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fifth season of Audiobook Break, featuring Bram Stoker’s DRACULA, read by Gildart Jackson. Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE AUDIO, dedicated to producing top-quality fiction and nonfiction audiobooks written and read by the best in the business. Visit penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/audiofile now to start listening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nicole Lewis performs a chorus of voices in this multiperspective story that centers around Circus, a middle-aged jazz musician who has just left his pregnant girlfriend. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss Lewis’s skill at creating emotional intimacy for each of the characters. The novel jumps between perspectives, from Circus himself to the many women in his life, including his ex-wife, his daughter, and a seemingly endless string of hookups. With her heartfelt narration, Lewis ensures that listeners will remember these characters long after their story ends. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Random House Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fifth season of Audiobook Break, featuring Bram Stoker’s DRACULA, read by Gildart Jackson. Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE AUDIO, dedicated to producing top-quality fiction and nonfiction audiobooks written and read by the best in the business. Visit penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/audiofile now to start listening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nancy Wu performs this memoir from disability rights activist Alice Wong. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss Wu’s narration, which includes descriptions of photos and illustrations, making the audiobook all the more accessible for listeners. Born with spinal muscular atrophy, Wong has spent her life advocating for equal access, for herself and for other disabled people. Wong describes life before and after the Americans with Disabilities Act, and how far we still have to go. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Random House Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fifth season of Audiobook Break, featuring Bram Stoker’s DRACULA, read by Gildart Jackson. Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE AUDIO, dedicated to producing top-quality fiction and nonfiction audiobooks written and read by the best in the business. Visit penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/audiofile now to start listening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Danielle Vitalis delivers a stunning performance in this family drama set in London that will have listeners hanging on every word. AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester tells host Jo Reed about Vitalis’s excellent performance of Candice Carty-Williams’s sophomore novel. Cyril Pennington’s five children barely know each other, but when Dimple seems to have accidentally killed her boyfriend in self defense, all four of her half siblings show up to help. With such an excellent, incredibly funny story and a stellar performance from Vitalis, this audiobook is a definite must-listen. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Simon & Schuster Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fifth season of Audiobook Break, featuring Bram Stoker’s DRACULA, read by Gildart Jackson. Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE AUDIO, dedicated to producing top-quality fiction and nonfiction audiobooks written and read by the best in the business. Visit penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/audiofile now to start listening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cassandra Campbell’s melodious tone and deliberately paced delivery seem created for the figurative language and poetic lilt of this audiobook. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff talk about catching up with Frances Mayes, who first delighted readers with her tales of making a home in Italy in UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN. Mayes’s memories range from her southern roots to her passion for restoration, and an appreciation of her Italian hill town where her now-famed villa sits. Campbell’s eloquent intonation suits Mayes’s musings on place, home, and family. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Random House Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fourth season of Audiobook Break, featuring the Japanese American Civil Liberties Collection. Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE AUDIO, dedicated to producing top-quality fiction and nonfiction audiobooks written and read by the best in the business. Visit penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/audiofile now to start listening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Narrator Edoardo Ballerini immerses listeners in a lost world with André Aciman’s 1996 memoir. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss how Ballerini brings this memoir of Aciman’s boyhood to life. The author longs for his home in cosmopolitan Alexandria, Egypt, and Ballerini masterfully portrays the characters, especially his quirky grandmothers, and ensures the other members of his lively Sephardic Jewish family come through vividly. A classic story of a family who lost everything in the fraught years after 1956, when President Nasser expelled English and French nationals and Jews from their homes in Egypt. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Macmillan Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fourth season of Audiobook Break, featuring the Japanese American Civil Liberties Collection. Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE AUDIO, dedicated to producing top-quality fiction and nonfiction audiobooks written and read by the best in the business. Visit penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/audiofile now to start listening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This audiobook read by the author and eleven other narrators offer a cornucopia of T.C. Boyle’s vivid imaginings. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss the stories in the collection, including dark fantasies and a haunting story of a couple quarantining on a luxury cruise ship in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Boyle’s poignant stories and the skilled narrations create a satisfying listening experience. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Harper Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fourth season of Audiobook Break, featuring the Japanese American Civil Liberties Collection. Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE AUDIO, dedicated to producing top-quality fiction and nonfiction audiobooks written and read by the best in the business. Visit penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/audiofile now to start listening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

British actor and narrator George Weightman gives Tom Bradby’s tale of espionage the gravitas and polish it deserves. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss the thriller set in 1953 Iran, poised on the CIA backed overthrow of Mossadegh by the Shah’s henchmen, with flashbacks to pre-WWII Germany and post-war England and Yugoslavia. Harry Tower, the anti-hero of the novel, has to travel to Tehran to search for his journalist son, who has gone missing. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Recorded Books. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fourth season of Audiobook Break, featuring the Japanese American Civil Liberties Collection. Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE AUDIO, dedicated to producing top-quality fiction and nonfiction audiobooks written and read by the best in the business. Visit penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/audiofile now to start listening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gabra Zackman’s intelligent performance of Annie Proulx’s eloquent nonfiction audiobook encourages listeners to absorb its powerful message. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss this audiobook that blends memoir, speculation, and a warning about impacts on the environment. Listeners learn much from Proulx’s longtime focus on the wetter world. Her prose sparkles and is enlivened by stories, quotations, and memories, and Zackman narrates with exquisite timing and thoughtful pacing. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Simon & Schuster Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fourth season of Audiobook Break, featuring the Japanese American Civil Liberties Collection. Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE AUDIO, dedicated to producing top-quality fiction and nonfiction audiobooks written and read by the best in the business. Visit penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/audiofile now to start listening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Narrator Cyrina Fiallo shines as the voice of the brave little witch Seven Salazar in Claribel A. Ortega’s charming children’s fantasy. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly talk about this adventurous series opener full of bravery and magic for kids. Turning 12 makes Seven Salazar eligible to join a coven during her town’s Black Moon Ceremony, but she’s shocked when she isn’t sorted into one of the five covens. To keep their magic, Seven and her fellow Spares, Thorn and Valley, must perform an impossible task and defeat the deadly Nightbeast—but if they fail, they will be turned into toads forever. Young listeners will be thrilled to explore this new magical world full of witches, toad racing, cucos, and wild adventures. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Scholastic Audiobooks. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fourth season of Audiobook Break, featuring the Japanese American Civil Liberties Collection. Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE AUDIO, dedicated to producing top-quality fiction and nonfiction audiobooks written and read by the best in the business. Visit penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/audiofile now to start listening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss Kelly Robson’s fantastical take on Brexit. Narrator Amy Scanlon’s British intonations and wry tone suit the delightfully charming, lazy, and witty scribe Lana Baker, who finds herself stuck among the fairies and monotony of life in the Low Parliament. There she’s made to transcribe endless angry debates that inevitably end up in hung votes—despite the threat of death by fairy-induced flood if members can’t come to agreement. Scanlon’s breathy delivery adds to Robson’s wonderful world-building in this utterly fun political satire. Scanlon delights listeners as Lana works to save the humans—while also wooing a beautiful Deputy, getting high, and endlessly teasing her cantankerous fairy friend, Bugbite. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Recorded Books. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fourth season of Audiobook Break, featuring the Japanese American Civil Liberties Collection. Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE AUDIO, dedicated to producing top-quality fiction and nonfiction audiobooks written and read by the best in the business. Visit penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/audiofile now to start listening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Narrators Michael Gallagher and Rachanee Lumayno bring life to a whimsical fantasy romance between a demigod zombie-hunting marshal and the beautiful undertaker who infuriates him. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss an audiobook full of alarming magic that also makes for excellent cozy listening. Lumayno’s compassionate narration of Mercy helps listeners understand her growing appreciation for her solemn task of preparing the dead and her determination to keep her family business afloat. Gallagher’s steady pace and gravelly voice convey the loneliness of Hart, in the wilderness and on the hunt for dangerous drudges. When Hart and Mercy strike up an anonymous correspondence by magical post, listeners will grin as the characters deliver increasingly heartfelt letters to one another. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Hachette Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fourth season of Audiobook Break, featuring the Japanese American Civil Liberties Collection. Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE AUDIO, dedicated to producing top-quality fiction and nonfiction audiobooks written and read by the best in the business. Visit penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/audiofile now to start listening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Narrator Dara Rosenberg gives a magnificent performance of this hilarious and heartwarming rom-com. Host Jo Reed and and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly talk about Jean Meltzer’s romance set during the whirlwind months from the High Holidays all the way to Hanukkah. Dara Rabinowitz, a 30-something developer of a Jewish matchmaking app, appears on a television show hosted by her favorite anchor, Christopher Steadfast. Dara’s matchmaking grandmother, Bubbe Miriam, joins the show and shares Dara’s tongue-in-cheek list of qualities in her perfect Jewish husband-to-be. Dara reluctantly agrees to be filmed on a series of dates, each more disastrous than the next, while she struggles with anxiety — and her growing feelings for Chris. Rosenberg expresses the wit, charm, and sensibility of every character beautifully. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Harlequin Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fourth season of Audiobook Break, featuring the Japanese American Civil Liberties Collection. Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE AUDIO, dedicated to producing top-quality fiction and nonfiction audiobooks written and read by the best in the business. Visit penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/audiofile now to start listening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Narrator Robert Petkoff clearly enjoys himself in recounting the insightful and humorous misadventures of hapless gay minor novelist Arthur Less, first encountered in Andrew Sean Greer’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, LESS. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly talk about the fun of getting back on the road with Arthur, this time traveling across the United States on a literary tour to earn desperately needed cash. Arthur’s partner, Freddy, tells Arthur’s tale with wry amusement. Petkoff creates a host of vocally distinct characters with accents and personalities as broad as the country. Through his adventures, the listener begins to understand the kindhearted Arthur and his quest for certainty. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Hachette Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fourth season of Audiobook Break, featuring the Japanese American Civil Liberties Collection. Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE AUDIO, dedicated to producing top-quality fiction and nonfiction audiobooks written and read by the best in the business. Visit penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/audiofile now to start listening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Versatile narrators convey interwoven characters’ perspectives in Tiffany D. Jackson’s YA retelling of CARRIE, made more horrific by its themes of racism. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss this story of a biracial teen, Maddy, who has been forced by her father to hide her identity. Karen Malina White narrates her perspective with full angry verve as she is bullied at school—and her secret psychic powers explode on prom night. Christopher Salazar and Sarah Mollo-Christensen portray two television reporters tracking what happened on prom night, while JD Jackson and Joy Nash convey the conflicting personalities of classmates. Collectively, the narrators ensure the story is clear and captivating. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Harper Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fourth season of Audiobook Break, featuring the Japanese American Civil Liberties Collection. Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from Naxos AudioBooks. The first volume of Little Women was published on this day in 1868. Closely based on Louisa May Alcott’s own experience of family life, Little Women has never lost its extraordinary power to move and delight: from the heartrending story of gentle Beth to the humorous adventures of tomboyish Jo, and Meg’s vain attempts to cut a fashionable figure in ‘society’. Liza Ross narrates this enduringly popular tale. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Paul Tremblay’s psychological thriller gives its narrators the perfect opportunity to exercise their considerable dramatic skills. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss this horror story that opens in 1980s New England. Graham Halstead portrays Art Barbara, founder of the Pallbearers Club, while his sultry friend Mercy is portrayed by Xe Sands. Mercy’s creepy penchant for taking photos of the dead in their caskets foreshadows possible vampirism to come. The narrators create a crescendo of horror, humor, and decadence. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Harper Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fourth season of Audiobook Break, featuring the Japanese American Civil Liberties Collection. Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from Naxos AudioBooks. Dramatic, fast-moving and brutal, George Gissing’s highly regarded early novel The Nether World lays bare the reality of urban poverty in 1870s London. Old Michael Snowdon returns to the city with an inheritance that he determines should go towards helping the poor – but goodness and charity are not to play a part here. Everyone has an agenda, and scheming spreads through the story like a disease. Nicholas Boulton reads this enthralling story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Robert Petkoff is especially effective narrating Paul Pringle’s scathing takedown of the Los Angeles Times and the University of Southern California. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss this investigation into the overdose death of Sarah Warren, who was entangled with the Dean of the Keck School of Medicine, Carmen Puliafito. His own editors at the Times didn’t want him to run afoul of the University, and with Petkoff at the helm this no-holds-barred account makes for dramatic listening. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Macmillan Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fourth season of Audiobook Break, featuring the Japanese American Civil Liberties Collection. Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from Naxos AudioBooks. Lucy Scott narrates Vera by Elizabeth von Arnim. Lucy Entwhistle and Everard Wemyss, both recovering from recent unhappiness, meet and quickly fall in love. However, over their new-found bliss is the spectre of Vera, Wemyss’s first wife who died in mysterious circumstances. After their wedding the couple return home and Lucy really does begin to be troubled by what happened to Vera... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss Jeannette McCurdy’s best-selling new memoir about her childhood acting and her abusive mother. McCurdy uses a dynamic voice for her mother’s parts and a flat one for much of her own dialogue. Known for her slapstick comedy on Nickelodeon, McCurdy shares her dark adolescence out of the limelight. Years after her mother’s death, she is now coming to terms with the abuse she endured. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Simon & Schutser Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fourth season of Audiobook Break, featuring the Japanese American Civil Liberties Collection. Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from Naxos AudioBooks. Russell Bentley and Ben Onwukwe read The Letters of Pliny the Younger. Written between AD 97 and 112, the extant letters give us a unique insight into Imperial Rome under the early Antonine emperors. Organised into 10 books, the letters reflect a wide range of topics, mirroring Pliny’s own public and private interests. Among many other subjects, the letters also include an eye-witness account of the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Seth Numrich’s narration of this latest Stephen King novel is moving and frightening in equal measure. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss this fantasy novel involving a portal to a dying world and a mission to save it. Seventeen-year-old Charlie Reade befriends a reclusive curmudgeon, Howard Bowdich, walking his dog and being a good neighbor. When Bowdich dies, Charlie inherits his house and dog—and a cassette tape voiced by King with surprising information for Charlie. Listeners will be drawn into this audiobook by Numrich’s intimate narration, which is like hearing Charlie himself. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Simon & Schuster Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fourth season of Audiobook Break, featuring the Japanese American Civil Liberties Collection. Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from Naxos AudioBooks. Nicholas Boulton brings us The White Guard by Mikhail Bulgakov. In the Ukrainian capital Kiev, during the harsh and chaotic winter of 1918–19, life has become frightening and fragile. But the bleakness is offset by the resilience of the human spirit, and of the qualities of loyalty and principle – all embodied by the Turbin family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oglala Lakota and Mohawk actress Charley Flyte performs this supernatural mystery novel with the perfect balance of intrigue and suspense. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s contributor Kendra Winchester discuss author Ramona Emerson’s debut novel that makes for perfect creepy fall listening. Rita Todacheene is one of the best forensic photographers working for the Albuquerque police department. But she has a secret: She can see ghosts, giving her unique insights into the cases. Flyte perfectly captures Rita’s horror as she is terrorized by ghosts, and her narration creates an emotional intimacy between characters. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Recorded Books. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fourth season of Audiobook Break, featuring the Japanese American Civil Liberties Collection. Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from Naxos AudioBooks. This week is Banned Books Week. Maxine Peake narrates D.H. Lawrence’s famous story about Lady Chatterley and her love-affair with the gamekeeper, Mellors. Banned for over 30 years for the explicit nature of its language and descriptions of sex, Lady Chatterley’s Lover also exposes the dehumanisation of the mechanical age, and underlines the profound power of tenderness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With its stellar ensemble of narrators, this surreal short story collection creates an immersive listening experience. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s contributor Kendra Winchester discuss K-Ming Chang’s collection of short stories, narrated by Catherine Ho, Natalie Naudus, Elaine Wang, Nancy Wu, and Annie Q. The narrators make each story shine, performing works featuring a chorus of dead cousins, a woman trying to survive a catastrophic flood, and the delight of two girls falling in love. The stories revel in the unexpected, delightfully surprising listeners at every turn. Together, the narrators make the perfect cast for the audiobook. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Random House Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fourth season of Audiobook Break, featuring the Japanese American Civil Liberties Collection. Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from Naxos AudioBooks. This week is Banned Books Week. Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis is an extraordinary tale of imagination. A disturbing allegory about a young man who wakes up one morning to find himself transformed into a giant insect, The Metamorphosis was banned by the Soviet Union for being decadent and despairing. AudioFile said: ‘This unforgettable audio movie is vivid and disturbing, shot through with black humour.’ Listen to Martin Jarvis’s Earphones Award-winning performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the audiobook’s opening line, Joniece Abbott-Pratt’s narration creates an immersive listening experience. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile contributor Kendra Winchester discuss this impressive debut novel from Leila Mottley. Abbott-Pratt perfectly embodies the first-person perspective of Kiara, a high school dropout living with her older brother. Their father is dead, and their mother is gone, so they only have each other. With Abbott-Pratt’s empathetic understanding of the characters, she creates one of the most moving and emotionally intimate audiobooks of the year. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Random House Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fourth season of Audiobook Break, featuring the Japanese American Civil Liberties Collection. Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from Naxos AudioBooks. This week is Banned Books Week. Banned for challenging the orthodoxies of the day with humour and sly wit, Voltaire’s Candide traces the fortunes of its titular character, a staunch optimist who experiences a series of hardships. Candide was Voltaire’s riposte to the philosophy of Rousseau and others, which opines that all that happens in the world is for the best. Neville Jason reads this razor-sharp satire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

E.R. Fightmaster’s performance is an example of the unique magic that happens when a great narrator is paired with the perfect book. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile contributor Kendra Winchester discuss Cory McCarthy’s young adult novel chronicling a nonbinary athlete’s coming of age. River McIntyre spends every spare moment practicing for the swim team as a means to escape their internal struggle with gender identity — but when they meet and fall in love with another nonbinary teen, they begin to imagine a better future for themself. Fightmaster expertly captures River’s intense internal conflict with their gender and queer identity, voicing the complex emotional depth of River’s experience. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Listening Library. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fourth season of Audiobook Break, featuring the Japanese American Civil Liberties Collection. Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from Naxos AudioBooks. This week is Banned Books Week. Controversial for its depiction of adultery and redemption, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter has been challenged as recently as 1977. It is one of the great classics of American literature. Set in the harsh Puritan environment of 17th-century Boston, it describes the plight of Hester Prynne, an independent-minded woman who stands alone against society. Having given birth to a child after an illicit affair, she refuses to name the father and is forced to wear the letter ‘A’, for Adulteress, embroidered on her dress. Listen to Adam Sims’s Earphones Award-winning performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s new contributor Kendra Winchester discuss a story of survival in 7th-century Ireland by Emma Donoghue. Aidan Kelly’s performance expresses the complex emotional experiences of three monks who are seeking solitude on a deserted island. This historical fiction follows their story as they feel called by God to make a spiritual haven apart from the temptations of the world. Kelly’s rich Irish accent takes listeners to another place and time, and his narration perfectly captures the rising tension. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Hachette Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fourth season of Audiobook Break, featuring the Japanese American Civil Liberties Collection. Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from Naxos AudioBooks. This week is Banned Books Week. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley’s poignant exploration of the true depths of human ambition has had a profound effect on readers since its conception in 1816, and has been banned on many occasions for its macabre subject matter. Daniel Philpott, Roger May and Jonathan Oliver read the tale of scientist Victor Frankenstein, who forms a creature from the body parts of corpses, thus shattering the perceived limits of scientific understanding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Narrator Edoardo Ballerini returns to perform the 22nd addition to the Gabriel Allon series. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss Daniel Silva’s newest mystery novel. Former Israeli spymaster Gabriel Allon is now retired in Venice, but when his friend needs his help, his newest escapade begins. Ballerini demonstrates his skill with multiple accents and languages, including Italian, and draws listeners into a globe-trotting tale of art forgery. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Harper Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fourth season of Audiobook Break, featuring the Japanese American Civil Liberties Collection. Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from Naxos AudioBooks. Between 1821 and 1826, the prolific writer and journalist William Cobbett travelled the countryside of the South of England on foot and horseback. Rural Rides is a fascinating account of his journeys, and depicts a way of life in transition, juxtaposing lyrical descriptions of the countryside with criticism of the poverty of agricultural workers. Above all, Rural Rides celebrates agrarian England. It is read by Peter Wickham. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gerard Doyle narrates this latest installment in the Slough House series as the group of screw-up spies attempt to prevent a scandal. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss Doyle’s narration of this 8th installment in Herron’s series. The disappearance of a think-tank specialist has MI5 racing to find her. Doyle’s narration matches Herron’s satirical spy thriller with aplomb. Ideal for fans and newcomers alike—and those who enjoy the Slow Horses television series. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Recorded Books. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fourth season of Audiobook Break, featuring the Japanese American Civil Liberties Collection. Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from Naxos AudioBooks. Georgina Sutton gives a vivid and captivating reading of Uncle Silas by Sheridan Le Fanu. The sinister Madame de Rougierre is employed as governess to the young Maud Ruthven, bringing with her a dark cloud of impending doom that hangs over the whole household. The governess eventually leaves, in possession of a dark secret, but that is not the end of her, much to Maud’s dismay… Occupying the world of spirits, kidnapping and old secrets, Le Fanu’s sensation novel is a chilling and ground-breaking psychological thriller. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss the fun of listening to Jason Culp narrating this tale of an unusual journey. Flatboats were once the most common craft on America’s rivers, but when Rinker Buck took his down the Monongahela, Ohio, and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans in 2016—as he recounts in this audiobook—it was an object of considerable curiosity. Culp narrates smoothly as Buck follows the boat downriver, and capably narrates the author’s meditations on history, navigation, and human nature. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Simon & Schuster. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fourth season of Audiobook Break, featuring the Japanese American Civil Liberties Collection. Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from Naxos AudioBooks. Dating from the third century AD, Artemidorus’ The Interpretation of Dreams is the only dream-book from Graeco-Roman antiquity that has survived intact. It represents the most influential pre-Freudian treatment of dreams and the theory of their interpretation. It presents a rich picture of the Graeco-Roman mind, social and moral values, sexual norms, and the hopes and fears of ordinary people in a busy Greek city. David Timson reads Martin Hammond’s recent translation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Janine Birkett’s captivating narration does justice to Ann Cleeves’s masterful storytelling in this latest installment of her Vera Stanhope mystery series. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss the surprises to be found in this series, much loved by readers and television viewers alike. Detective Inspector Stanhope and her team arrive at Northumberland’s Holy Island in response to an apparent suicide. When the death proves to be a murder, Vera must unravel the stories of the victim’s friends, who are all hiding secrets and sins from the past. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Macmillan Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fourth season of Audiobook Break, featuring the Japanese American Civil Liberties Collection. Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from Naxos AudioBooks. The much-loved Bill Homewood brings us The Song of Roland, a magnificent tale of faith, honour, courage and treachery. It is the year 778. The mighty French army confronts Saracen forces in the bloody Battle of Roncevaux Pass. We follow the emperor’s hot-headed nephew Roland into battle. We see both armour and bodies split by the blows of lances and swords, horses fall, and the heroic brotherhood of soldiery tested to its limit. The story builds to a nail-biting climax – when a single trumpeting blast on an elephant’s horn changes the course of history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss this engrossing and majestic historical fiction audiobook set in California during WWII, when Japanese Americans were forcefully interred by the U.S. Government. It is an ambitious saga of family, romance, and grief poignantly narrated by Gabra Zackman and Stephen Graybill. It is a story of drought and water rights, a love story that revolves around food, and an examination of the devastating impact of the building of the Manzanar internment camp. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Simon & Schuster. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Listen to AudioFile’s fourth season of Audiobook Break, featuring the Japanese American Civil Liberties Collection. Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from Naxos AudioBooks. Stendhal’s The Charterhouse of Parma is a twisting tale of passion and intrigue following the adventures of Fabrizio del Dongo, a young Italian nobleman who dreams of glory on the battlefields of Europe and finds himself fighting alongside Napoleon at Waterloo. After returning home, Fabrizio becomes entangled in Machiavellian scheming, an ill-advised romance, and a fatal duel that lands him in prison, where he begins a star-crossed love affair with the ethereal Clelia, the commandant’s daughter. Nicholas Boulton gives a powerful reading. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we’re reairing episodes featuring some of our favorite audiobooks we’ve covered on Behind the Mic. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss Nita Prose’s zinger of a mystery with many possible suspects. Narrator Lauren Ambrose performs this creatively crafted mystery featuring Molly, a maid at the Regency Grand Hotel who discovers the body of a regular guest in his suite. Lauren Ambrose is exceptional at capturing this propulsive story, giving listeners a sense of all the details as well as the emotional cues that Molly doesn’t necessarily pick up on. All the clues in this murder point toward Molly — can she save herself by solving the case? Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Random House Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from Naxos AudioBooks. Appearing in 1852, Basil was Wilkie Collins’s second published novel. Anticipating Collins’s later sensation novels, the plot involves betrayal, insanity and death, with a thrilling conclusion set among the cliffs and whirlpools near Land’s End. Basil is read by the prolific and popular narrator Nicholas Boulton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we’re reairing episodes featuring some of our favorite audiobooks we’ve covered on Behind the Mic. Hear host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss Cynthia Erivo’s spectacular narration that gets the emotional tone of this story exactly right. She is nothing short of amazing as she narrates Patti Callahan’s historical novella about Florence Nightingale. Callahan examines a few years of the famous nurse’s life as she struggled with shedding Victorian expectations and fulfilling her calling to reform health care. The storytelling makes every detail and emotional point shine. Whether it’s the color of a dress or the disapproval from a royal minister, Erivo connects listeners to each scene. An exceptional listening experience. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Audible, Inc. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from Naxos AudioBooks. Andrew Wincott narrates News from Nowhere. William Morris’s best-known prose work, News from Nowhere describes a humane socialist future as experienced by William Guest, who is transplanted there from the 19th century. Set in London and Oxfordshire, the novel takes place in 2090, over a century after a revolutionary upheaval. It remains a distinctive literary contribution to the concept of the utopian ideal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we’re reairing episodes featuring some of our favorite audiobooks we’ve covered on Behind the Mic. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss this audiobook from Jason Reynolds, whose funny, smart, and empathetic writing meets kids where they are. With endless energy, verve, and style, Guy Lockard is a total superstar narrating this middle-grade novel about Portico Reeves, aka Stuntboy, supported by a full cast and a dynamic production. Portico, voiced by Nile Bullock, loves living in his apartment building, but every time he catches his parents arguing, he feels “the frets.” So, he and his best friend Zola, voiced by Angel Pean, come up with his superhero alter ego who can help save his parents AND defeat their bully neighbor. A unique audio experience that made AudioFile’s list of 2021 Best Audiobooks! Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Simon & Schuster Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from Naxos AudioBooks. Gertrude Stein’s pioneering triptych Three Lives portrays the lives of three working-class women in the fictional American town of Bridgepoint. A progenitor of the ‘stream of consciousness’ technique later adopted by Joyce and Woolf, Stein takes us into the minds of three distinct women, who are each trapped in their societal positions. Laurel Lefkow and Trei Taylor narrate their stories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we’re reairing episodes featuring some of our favorite audiobooks we’ve covered on Behind the Mic. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile contributor Alan Minskoff discuss this unusual and absorbing audiobook full of interwoven stories from Jennifer Egan. Each performance is exceptional. Michael Boatman narrates the opening chapter, capturing the interior life of the enigmatic Bix Boughton, who invents a world-altering technology central to the plot. The time-traveling chapters reprise some of the characters from Egan’s award-winning A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD, but this novel has a wider timeframe, a greater trajectory, and a more complex plot. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Simon & Schuster Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from Naxos AudioBooks. Read by Andrew Wincott, Flaubert’s Three Tales is a collection of three compelling short stories about faith, loneliness and love. Elegant and bracing, it is a rich, stylistic showcase from the writer best known for the perennial favourite Madame Bovary. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we’re reairing episodes featuring some of our favorite audiobooks we’ve covered on Behind the Mic. AudioFile’s Michele Cobb tells host Jo Reed about the National Book Award finalist performed by one of her favorite narrators. Marin Ireland narrates Rumaan Alam’s stunning audiobook that explores race, class, family, and global catastrophe. A married couple and their children head to Long Island for a family vacation. However, the owners of their rental house arrive unexpectedly after fleeing a blackout, and the two families—one white and middle class, the other Black and wealthy—cohabitate and try to figure out what’s happened. Whether Ireland is focused on the character dynamics or omnisciently describing the terrifying events of the world at large, she delivers an unforgettable powerhouse of a performance. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Harper Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from Naxos AudioBooks. Peter Wickham reads Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant’s hugely influential treatise on the nature of human reason. In this engaging recording, the ideas and arguments in the Critique are put forward with great clarity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss how narrator Gabra Zackman has the rare ability to get inside the soul of her authors. She narrates Alice Feiring’s memoir with an understanding of its combination of confessional dips into the past and its compelling journeys into the wine world. The merging of the elaborately talented narrator with the irreverent but essential wine writer creates a remarkable listening experience. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Simon & Schuster Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from Naxos AudioBooks. Laurel Lefkow narrates The Custom of the Country, Edith Wharton’s dazzling novel about a determined social climber. Wharton contrasts the pecuniary motivation of the nouveau riche in America with European ideals of tradition, and through her array of characters and subtle insights into society, she delivers a novel every bit as immersive and entertaining as The Age of Innocence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss Fred Sanders’s narration of the under appreciated history of Bernard and Avis DeVoto. He delivers the story crisply and thoughtfully, and his clear tone and eloquent delivery give the audiobook authority. Author Schweber unearths the story of the courageous journalist/historian who fought for Western lands and freedom of speech. He adds the companion biographical history of DeVoto’s talented wife Avis, an editor. Together they fought the land grab of 200 million acres led by NV Senator Leo McCarran, and when Bernard worked to defeat the Echo Park Dam in Colorado, he ran afoul of Senator Joe McCarthy, who attacked him mercilessly. Both DeVotos left an indelible mark on our history. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Mariner Books. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from Naxos AudioBooks. Published in 1867, Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola is a gritty and thought-provoking novel of sexual compulsion and its consequences on the lives of four people and a tabby cat. AudioFile said: ‘Juliet Stevenson’s nuanced performance of this classic tale of obsession lures listeners into a nineteenth-century Parisian storefront, where lust and shadows lurk… Her vibrant alto pitch, crystalline enunciation, and expressive reading enliven Zola’s descriptive writing, sending listeners deep into Paris’s underworld.’ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author Mohsin Hamid’s voice is pleasing and clear as he narrates this novel that functions both as a reflection and as a warning. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss this Kafkaesque story. The plot is straightforward: A white man named Anders wakes one morning with brown skin. Hamid’s uninflected voice lets the story unfold without melodrama. When Anders’s transformation is repeated by more and more people, they become unrecognized objects of prejudice. This allegorical fiction is invigorated by Anders’s close relationship with his lover Ooma and their families. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Penguin Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from BOLINDA. A world-leading audiobook and technology company, Bolinda publishes the greatest books you’ll ever hear and inspire people to live their best lives through the power of storytelling. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Narrator Raghad Chaar’s performance of this audiobook is mesmerizing. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss the music in Chaar’s voice as she narrates Jokha Alharthi’s nonlinear novel. Her delivery of the many Arabic words and passages intensifies it, and her deft pacing and cadence give form to the memories and experiences that create the plot. The novel ties together the past life of the solitary narrator, a student named Zuhoor, and the vivid remembrances of her grandmother, Beit Amin. The author, winner of the Man Booker Prize, writes lyrically about the lives of women and girls in traditional societies. The listener comes away bathed in the poetry. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Tantor Media. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from BOLINDA. A world-leading audiobook and technology company, Bolinda publishes the greatest books you’ll ever hear and inspire people to live their best lives through the power of storytelling. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shaun Taylor-Corbett’s decision to narrate these personal stories in a straightforward, thoughtful yet intimate manner enhances the testimonies of Native American attitudes on the climate crisis. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss this collection edited by Dahr Jamail and Stan Rushworth, which includes both criticism of the historical treatment of First Nations, and some optimism that our hyperactive, consumer-driven culture of the West can learn from tribal environmental knowledge (TEK) and the ways of earth stewardship from Indigenous peoples. Taylor-Corbett’s calm, conversational tone is attuned to the nuanced calls for action that the audiobook’s many contributors spell out. This audiobook provides hope and deserves a broad listening audience. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Blackstone Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from BOLINDA. A world-leading audiobook and technology company, Bolinda publishes the greatest books you’ll ever hear and inspire people to live their best lives through the power of storytelling. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Narrator Heath Miller is entrancing in Catherynne M. Valente’s adventurous middle-grade fantasy. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss the lively and engaging story of 13-year-old Osmo, who longs for an interesting life out of Littlebridge, and finds it in unfortunate circumstances. Osmo now must enter the woods with unwilling companions—Bonk the Cross, a skadgebat (skunk-badger-wombat), and Nevermore, the pangirlin. Miller creates a fantastical array of character voices for each and every being, human and otherwise. Osmo’s voice is fittingly kind and soft-spoken as he ventures on his quest, while Bonk’s Scottish brogue and melodramatic crustiness is improbably endearing. Miller’s droll English accent expresses authority yet invites trust; the listener is willingly carried off to the fabled Eightpenny Woods. Excellent family listening. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Simon & Schuster Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from BOLINDA. A world-leading audiobook and technology company, Bolinda publishes the greatest books you’ll ever hear and inspire people to live their best lives through the power of storytelling. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With poignant grace, Keiko Agena, June Angela, and Suzy Nakamura lead a stellar cast playing three Japanese American sisters finding hope, heartache, and hard-won humor. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss this story of a family’s return to their farm in California after four long years in a Japanese internment camp during WWII. Hoping to pick up where they left off, they discover that the farm is in shambles. Listeners hear the pressures of politics and the impacts of racism and violence and the ways the family moves forward. The performance is followed by an excellent panel discussion on the internment camps with actor George Takei, playwright Philip Kan Gotanda, and director Tim Dang. Hear SISTERS MATSUMOTO and three more audio plays in the Japanese American Civil Liberties collection on AudioFile’s Audiobook Break podcast, starting on September 13th. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by L.A. Theatre Works. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from BOLINDA. A world-leading audiobook and technology company, Bolinda publishes the greatest books you’ll ever hear and inspire people to live their best lives through the power of storytelling. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chelsea Stephens and Natalie Naudus share the narration of Ruby Barrett’s captivating listen for romance fans and foodies alike. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss this romance set in the cutthroat restaurant world. Stephens narrates as Sophie, a former reality show chef who wants to be appreciated for her cooking skills, not her 10 minutes of fame, and is hoping to explore her newly realized bisexuality after a devastating breakup. Naudus narrates as Amy, who is desperate to keep her struggling restaurant open and prove to herself—and her father—that she isn’t a failure. She also has a majorly inconvenient attraction to Sophie. There is a quiet intensity in both performances that helps listeners understand all that is at stake for both women, personally and professionally, and listeners will be thrilled to hear their journeys to happiness. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Harlequin Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from BOLINDA. A world-leading audiobook and technology company, Bolinda publishes the greatest books you’ll ever hear and inspire people to live their best lives through the power of storytelling. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mary Jane Wells charms and delights as she narrates Sarah MacLean’s latest adventurous historical romance. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss this fun and romantic story that has listeners racing along the countryside with the bold Adelaide Frampton and the staid Duke of Clayborn. Adelaide grew up among London’s most dangerous criminals, until she was rescued and drawn into the secretive world of the Hell’s Belles. Now she uses her unassuming demeanor, quick fingers, and fighting skills to right society’s wrongs. But she hasn’t escaped the notice of Clayborn, and when the two meet, sparks fly. Wells is excellent at narrating this romantic and thrilling listen, capturing the lively spirit of the unlikely pair. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by HarperAudio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from BOLINDA. A world-leading audiobook and technology company, Bolinda publishes the greatest books you’ll ever hear and inspire people to live their best lives through the power of storytelling. https://www.bolinda.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gisela Chìpe’s performance of Silva Moreno-Garcia’s audiobook is exceptionally touching. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss this theatrical, action-filled retelling of H.G. Wells’s ISLAND OF DOCTOR MOREAU, this time set in the Yucatán peninsula in the late 1800s. Dr. Moreau’s daughter Carlota grows up alongside his mysterious human-animal hybrids in their remote hacienda among lush jungles. She’s curious and intelligent, but hasn’t been told the whole story about her father’s work and intentions for the hybrids. Listeners hear the perspective of Carlota, along with the hacienda’s British overseer Montgomery, and Chìpe differentiates between the characters beautifully, along with the many others, both human and not. It’s an intense and engaging tale that combines science fiction with a coming-of-age story in a unique and captivating setting. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Random House Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from BOLINDA. A world-leading audiobook and technology company, Bolinda publishes the greatest books you’ll ever hear and inspire people to live their best lives through the power of storytelling. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices