The Best Audiobook Narrators Who Bring Novels to Life

Book Summary

When looking at one of the most famous paintings in the world, it’s easy to miss the three tiny figures in the corner at the far end of the pier. You might even think they’re just part of the sea. But 18-year-old Louisa, an artist herself, noticed them. The painting has unexpectedly been bequeathed to her, and she’s determined to find out the story behind the enigmatic figures.

Twenty-five years ago, a group of teenagers spent their days hanging out and laughing on the pier to escape their difficult lives at home. Joar never backs down from a fight. Bookish Ted is mourning his father. Ali’s dad never stays in place for long. And then there is the boy who hoards sleeping pills and doesn’t want too much attention, but who has an extraordinary talent for art.

Louisa sets out on a cross-country journey to learn more about the work of art. The closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more she feels compelled to unleash her own artistic spirit.

Book Summary

In 1977, Nina lived in Rochester, New York, with her husband and her teenage daughter, Clara. When a recently divorced friend gives her a copy of The Joy of Sex, it becomes impossible for Nina to ignore the lack of intimacy in her marriage. She finds herself craving more, and finds it via an intoxicating fling with a neighbor. But in doing so, she risks the reputations of both families and ends up unraveling her daughter’s world just as Clara is on the cusp of adulthood.

Years later, Clara works as a food stylist in New York City. She has never quite been able to move past the long-ago scandal of her mom’s affair. When she returns home for a family wedding while still wrestling with her own demons, she makes a decision that turns her life upside down.

Book Summary

In this charming debut novel, Widower Tova works at the Sowell Bay Aquarium to occupy her mind and time. She takes pride in cleaning perfectly every night, even though she doesn’t need the money. She loves all the aquarium life but forms a special bond with the intelligent (and curmudgeonly) octopus named Marcellus.

He’s just as surprised to feel friendly toward this human who visits him nightly. Soon, he connects the sadness he sees in her with something he saw in the ocean long ago. Can he help her solve the mystery of her son’s disappearance 30 years ago?

Book Summary

India Allwood always wanted to be an actress and her dreams came true with success on Broadway and on TV. Now she’s making a movie about adoption, but she’s disheartened that the storyline doesn’t sit right with her.

India is an adoptive mom herself to twin 10-year-olds, and she’s tired of only seeing adoption stories in movies that are filled with pain and regret. So when she’s asked by a journalist, she tells the truth – she thinks the movie she’s making is a bad one. Soon, she’s caught in the middle of a media storm.

When her twins turn to family for help, things just get messier. One thing is for certain – no matter how families are formed, they are always complicated.

Book Summary

JoJo has never been great at love, but she’s ready to change her fate. After some self-analysis and pop psychology, she determines that her issues stem from a lack of closure with her first kiss. Since he’s newly divorced and will be at her sister’s destination wedding on a cruise ship, it’s the perfect opportunity for her to set things right.

Since her sister is busy being a bride, she recruits her childhood best friend, Cooper, as her wingman to help her win over her first kiss. She’s still a bit heartbroken that he left the country four years ago without saying goodbye, so their reunion is bittersweet. But as they work together on Project Conquest, old feelings resurface. JoJo starts to wonder if the love she’s been searching for has been right in front of her all along.

Book Summary

Sophie Drear heads to coastal Maine for the summer, taking a temporary job revitalizing the gardens at the storied Lilymoor House. The grounds of the estate have seen better days, but Lily quickly falls in love with the fragrant flowers, towering hedge mazes, the enigmatic owner, and the quirky staff.

It doesn’t take long, however, for Sophie to realize that Lilymoor is more complicated than a simple horticultural project. The gardens themselves seem to resist Sophie’s care. And then Sophie discovers a door that never appears in the same place twice, leading to a hidden, unfinished garden where a mysterious man is trapped.

As Lilymoor’s vines grow wilder and its future feels increasingly uncertain, Sophie finds herself drawn to the people and place she came only temporarily to help. With the help of one man outside the garden and one inside, she may be the only person who can figure out how to make Lilymoor bloom again.

Book Summary

This thought-provoking novel transports you back to 1840s Missouri, the land of Huckleberry Finn. However, in James, you’ll find the story reimaged from the point of view of the enslaved man, Jim, who prefers to be called James.

James overhears that he’s about to be sold to a man in New Orleans. If this happens, he’ll never see his wife and daughter again. That thought is too much for him to bear, so he decides to hide on Jackson Island until he comes up with a long-term plan. The island is also the temporary home of Huck Finn, who is running from his abusive father.

Together, the unlikely duo is determined to make it down the Mississippi River to the elusive Free States. Along the way, they encounter the same trials Mark Twain included, but they feel different through the eyes of James.

Book Summary

This multi-generation epic follows the divergent paths of two half-sisters born in 18th-century Ghana and their descendants over 300 years. Effia marries a wealthy Englishman and lives in a castle, but she doesn’t know Esi is imprisoned in the dungeon below. Esi is sold in the slave trade and shipped to America, where she, her children, and her grandchildren are raised in slavery. 

The book continues to follow each generation of both Effia and Esi all the way to the present day and includes a range of historical time periods, including the American Civil War and the Jazz Age.

Book Summary

As a teenager, Laurel escaped to her childhood treehouse during a party on the family farm. From this vantage point, she sees a stranger come up the road and speak to her mom. Later that afternoon, she witnesses a shocking crime that changes everything she knows about her family – especially the mother she idolizes.

Fifty years later, Laurel is now a successful actress living in London. When the family gathers for her mother’s 90th birthday, she realizes it may be one of her last chances to get answers to the questions that still haunt her from that day. Those answers will take readers into Dorothy’s past, spanning pre-WWII England through the Blitz, to the 1960s, and beyond.

Book Summary

Aboard a short flight from Hobart to Sydney, Australia, a passenger (who will come to be known as “The Death Lady”) walks up and down the aisles telling each person the age at which they will die and the cause of death.

Some passengers learn that they have many, many years ahead of them, like one who will live to be 103. But for six passengers, their predicted deaths are less than a year away.

A few months after the flight, one passenger dies exactly as predicted. Then, soon after, two more. Now, even those who initially viewed their encounter with “The Death Lady” as an entertaining story to share at cocktail parties are paying close attention.

Book Summary

Ebby Freeman was just 10 years old when her brother was shot. She found him lying on the floor surrounded by shattered pieces of a centuries-old jar. The crime was never solved, but people still talk about it. The Freemans were one of only Black families in their well-to-do corner of New England, causing the case to have an enduring, voyeuristic pull for the public.

Now, eighteen years later, Ebby’s high-profile romance has fallen apart, leading to yet another media frenzy. Ebby flees to France to try to get away from it all, but her past follows her. She begins thinking back on the other loss her family suffered the day her brother died – a stoneware jar that had been in their family for generations. She knows the jar was brought North by an enslaved ancestor. What she doesn’t know, however, is that the pottery holds more than her family’s history – it might also hold the key to her future.

Book Summary

The Great Depression is deepening across the country, including in Oxford, Mississippi, where both rich and poor families have fallen on hard times. But the old social order remains, which makes things even harder for women without status.

In this tough environment, the lives of Meg, Birdie, and Charlie collide into an unlikely sisterhood as they try to take control of their lives. Meg is an eleven-year-old at the Orphan Asylum who is determined to keep her spirit despite being deemed unadoptable. Birdie is unmarried and has come to town to ask her social-climbing sister for help. And Charlie is running from her past and out of luck, but still full of grit.

You’ll laugh, cry, and cheer as you read this epic story of resilience and friendship.

Book Summary

Beverly is on the local schoolboard and her archrival Lula has turned into a local celebrity as she’s been on a mission to rid the public libraries of all inappropriate books—none of which she’s actually read.

To counteract the “pornographic” books housed in the local library, Lula starts a little library in her front yard, full of “worthy literature”.

At night, Beverly’s adult daughter Lindsay sneaks over to Lula’s little library and replaces the books, but swaps the dust covers. Suddenly, Our Confederate Heroes actually contains Beloved, and The Southern Belle’s Guide to Etiquette turns into The Girl’s Guide to the Revolution.

As Beverly and Lula’s rivalry intensifies when they run against each other to replace the mayor, the townspeople who have been changed by borrowing the books from Lula’s begin to reveal themselves. Everyone from the postman to the prom queen have something to say, eventually forcing Lindsay to confess.

Book Summary

Albert Entwistle is a 64-year-old postal worker in the UK. He has no plans of retiring, but receives a letter informing him that his mandatory retirement is just around the corner on his 65th birthday.

Albert’s only friend is his cat, and although he isn’t chatty with others at work or on his routes, he still dreads being home alone without a job. When he’s reminded of his only romantic relationship, which happened 50 years prior, something begins to stir in Albert. Perhaps it’s not too late to find happiness after all?

With the help of some unexpected new friends, Albert sets off to find George, the man he hasn’t seen since they were teenagers.

Book Summary

When the teenager from one of Sweden’s wealthiest families disappears in 1966, her uncle is determined to find out what happened to her. For forty years, he wondered what really happened. Nearing the end of his life, he hires a down-on-his-luck investigative journalist and his angry and tattooed punk hacker prodigy to help him uncover the truth. The chilly Swedish backdrop sets the scene for this Nordic Noir novel that combines murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue.

WARNING: This novel includes some very graphic scenes, including sexual assault.

Book Summary

When the patriarch of the O’Connell family died in a workplace accident within months of the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Grace’s family lost nearly everything. But she was at least making money as a dancer while her twin brother had a well-paying, but dangerous, job on the beams of the Empire State Building.

Life threw them another twist when Grace’s club closed, leaving her without income, and her brother was injured on the job. If he couldn’t work, his entire four-person crew would be out of a job.

But Patrick has an idea. Could Grace use her time in the circus to take his role on the beams? She’ll have to pretend to be him, but they are twins…Could it work?

Book Summary

This novel centers around Hollis, a popular food blogger who loses her husband to a car accident. The fight she had with him right before he drove away drives an even deeper wedge between her and her teenage daughter, Caroline.

After learning about a trend called a “Five-Star Weekend,” where one woman organizes a trip for her best friends from each phase of life, Hollis decides to host her own. But gathering her best friend from each decade from childhood through midlife doesn’t turn out to be the joyful Hallmark movie she’d envisioned. But it will definitely be a weekend she’ll never forget.

Book Summary

Adunni is a 14-year-old girl living in poverty in a Nigerian village. She loves school and knows that learning all she can is the key to achieving a better life. But, despite promising to allow Adunni’s schooling to continue after her mother’s death, Adunni’s father makes a decision that ends her education in the village and changes the trajectory of her life.

You’ll be moved to both tears and cheers as Adunni endures and overcomes heartbreaking challenges while remaining focused on her dream of an education.

Book Summary

The book has alternating narration between two twin sisters, Fern and Rose, 28-Years-Old. Fern thrives on routine and must avoid crowds and noise. She does all she can to avoid getting upset because that has led to tragedy in the past. 

Rose is her rock, so when Fern finds out Rose can’t have a baby, she decides to get pregnant and give Rose her baby to pay her back for always taking care of her. In her mind, this is a straightforward plan. But the plan ends up revealing layers of dark secrets along the way.

Book Summary

Set in New York at the dawn of the twentieth century, It Girl tells the story of Evelyn Nesbit, a young woman who rises from hardship and becomes one of America’s first self-made celebrities.

After her father’s death, Evelyn helps support her widowed mother and younger brother, working as a shopgirl before being discovered as a studio model. Her beauty and charisma soon make her a favorite subject of prominent artists, and Broadway offers an even brighter spotlight.

As Evelyn becomes known as a Gibson Girl and a symbol of a changing age, she is drawn into the orbit of wealthy, powerful men who offer glamour, security, and influence, but also danger.

Ultimately, Evelyn must navigate scandal, judgment, and the expectations placed on women in the media spotlight while trying to reclaim control of her own story.

Book Summary

Junie has spent all of her 16 years enslaved n the Bellereine Plantation in Alabama. She cooks, cleans, and tends to the white master’s daughter, Violet. While she works, she dreams of poetry and a world outside her own, but at night, she’s overcome by grief due to the loss of her older sister, Minnie.

When the family has wealthy guests in town who hint at a marriage for Violet, which would upend Junie’s life, she does something to rouse Minnie’s spirit from the grave. When she needs help, she enlists the guest’s coachman, Caleb, who becomes a friend…then more. As the Civil War approaches, she realizes the dark truths and horrifying secrets about the Bellereine Plantation, and she begins to push back against her old life.

Book Summary

After a teenage heartbreak, Beth marries a kind, gentle farmer named Frank, and they build a beautiful life together. Years later, Beth’s brother-in-law shoots a dog that is attacking sheep on the farm, and then they learn that the dog belonged to Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager, who has just returned to town. From that moment forward, nothing will ever be the same again.

Gabriel, now a famous author, has returned to his hometown with his young son. A son who reminds Beth very much of her own son, who died in a tragic accident.

As Beth is pulled back into Gabriel’s orbit, the past is no longer in the past. Secrets and jealousies resurface, and tensions rise throughout the village. Beth will have to decide between the life she has and the life she once wanted.

Book Summary

For many actors and actresses, winning an Oscar is the pinnacle of success that sets them up for an even better future. But for Hattie McDaniel, her best supporting actress win after playing the role of Mammy in the controversial movie Gone With the Wind was life-changing in a different way.

After winning, Hattie was trapped between two worlds, neither of which appreciated her. White Hollywood saw her only as her character, Mammy. The Black community, led by the NAACP, detested the demeaning portrayal of their community and waged war against her.

Through it all, Hattie struggled but also continued her fight to pave a path for other Negro actors, focused on war efforts, fought housing discrimination, and navigated four failed marriages. Along the way, she was supported by a core group of friends, including Clark Gable, Louise Beavers, Ruby Berkley Goodwin, and Dorothy Dandridge.

Book Summary

Harry Potter was orphaned as a baby and sent to live with his abusive aunt and uncle. On his eleventh birthday, he receives an invitation to attend the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and learns for the first time that he possesses magical powers and that his parents did not die in a car accident but were, in fact, powerful wizards who were murdered.

At Hogwarts, Harry befriends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Throughout each book, Harry and his best friends learn about their magic and overcome dangerous obstacles at every turn. The main story arc of the series involves Harry struggling to defeat Lord Voldemort, the powerful dark wizard who seeks to take over the wizarding world.

While these best sellers were originally written as middle-grade books, it’s important to keep in mind that the characters age 7 years over the course of the series. Kids who began reading the series when the first book was released were older teen readers by the time the final book was published. As a result, the series was written to grow with them, with later installments being young adult books rather than middle-grade.

Book Summary

This YA thriller, written by a Native American author, is about a biracial teen who is an unenrolled member of the Ojibwe tribe. Daunis has never quite fit in at home or on the reservation. She dreams of heading to college, but after a tragedy, she must remain home to care for her mom.

Life takes another big turn when she witnesses a murder and then reluctantly goes undercover in the criminal investigation to infiltrate a drug ring in her community.

Book Summary

When family tragedy strikes, Uncle Patrick needs to take custody of his niece and nephew for the summer. Forty-three-year-old GUP (Gay Uncle Patrick) loves the kids, but he’s used to them going home after a weekend.

Once a famous sitcom star, Patrick’s career is stalled. His Palm Springs lifestyle of cocktails at brunch isn’t exactly ideal for a 6 and 9-year-old. He quickly realizes that having the kids longer than a few days means he needs to be more of a parent figure. But in order to help the kids, Patrick will also have to figure out how to help himself. This means facing some difficult memories from his past and deciding what he wants for his future.

Book Summary

Born with ocular albinism, Sam Hill’s red eyes cause him problems from the moment that he enrolled at Our Lady of Mercy. Labeled “Hell Boy,” he is bullied by not only his classmates but also by the nun who is the principal of the elementary school. Eventually, Sam finds the friend he desperately needs in Ernie Cantwell, the only African American boy in his class, and eventually also in a fiercely individual girl named Mickie.

Decades later, Sam is a respected ophthalmologist still moving through life with Ernie and Mickie by his side, but his world is about to be upturned when he’s unexpectedly reunited with the biggest school-yard bully from his past.