Abraham Verghese is a rarity among authors—a gifted writer who is also a dramatic narrator. The novel is a monumental work of fiction that benefits from the author’s fine ear, medical knowledge, and remarkable ability to make complex medical procedures and diagnoses central to this multigenerational story, set in the watery environs of India’s southern coast. A long and immersive listen, this audiobook is a tour de force.

AudioFile Earphones Award

Listeners will be fascinated by professor and journalist Ava Chin's extensive examination of her Chinese American family's history. Chin inserts herself into the narrative, detailing her visits to archives throughout the U.S. and her ancestral home in China. In an impassioned and insistent tone, Chin investigates the prejudices and marginalization her relatives endured once they arrived in the U.S. in the nineteenth century. This winning history, which is both personal and expansive, is expertly told and narrated. 

AudioFile Earphones Award

Claire Foy gives listeners a remarkable performance of Kate Morton’s sweeping new novel about family, love, and secrets. On Christmas Day, 1959, a bizarre tragedy strikes the Turner family of South Australia. In 2018, Jess Turner, a London-based journalist, is summoned back to Sydney, where her grandmother lies gravely ill. There, she stumbles across the decades-old mystery. As she digs into the story, Jess wrestles with the stunning truth and what has been done in the name of love and family. Foy heightens the verisimilitude, pulling us in as the truth is uncovered. 

AudioFile Earphones Award

Kevin R. Free offers a nuanced and heartfelt narration of this story about small-town politics, identity, and true friendship. Sixteen-year-old Barclay Elliot, captain of a small-town Georgia basketball team, always regretted not telling his grandfather, Scratch, that he is gay. Now, a month after Scratch’s death, Barclay comes out to his entire community during the season’s first pep rally. Free captures the ups and downs of Barclay’s journey in this sensitively narrated story that charms, outrages, and ultimately inspires.