Listening for Summer’s Last Blast

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Audiobook Reviews & Recommendations

Listening for Summer's Last Blast

Whether your end-of-summer days are spent rushing around or relaxing, our latest audiobook recommendations — in fiction, suspense, family listening, and more — will keep you riveted. Happy listening!

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5 QUESTIONS WITH NARRATOR MARK DEAKINS

AudioFile contributing editor Candace Levy’s personal journey with Mark Deakins’s work started with the dystopian young adult series Maze Runner and then quickly veered off onto other paths, especially literary fiction, nonfiction, and thrillers.

In Candace’s interview with Mark, learn about the range of audiobooks he’s narrated, from Pat Conroy to Peter Heller; his acting work beyond the recording studio; his love of the ocean ... and why you might want to ask him for investment advice.

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NEW NARRATOR VIDEO

Golden Voice narrator Dion Graham gives listeners insights into one of this year’s biggest fantasy novels as he introduces us to the first in Marlon James’s new trilogy, BLACK LEOPARD, RED WOLF. In this African-inspired epic, the protagonist’s powerful sense of smell leads him through dangerous cities and wild lands in pursuit of a child he has been hired to find.

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MORE NEW LISTENING WE LOVE

DEEP RIVER

Bronson Pinchot delivers this sprawling, incandescent historical novel. His performance gives the mostly immigrant Finns’ lives veracity and dignity. The listener encounters the stresses, hardships, and majesty of these struggling new arrivals who live in Washington state near a river that has a strong presence in their lives. Pinchot’s twin gifts — an extraordinary ear for language and an actor’s nuanced delivery — enliven the prose.

Earphones Award Winner

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THE BODY LIES

Imogen Church leads a cast of five gifted narrators in this gripping psychological thriller in which an unnamed Englishwoman — a professor of creative writing — confronts the inner workings of the mind of a male student. First-class suspense will keep listeners on the edge of their seats.

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THIS LAND IS OUR LAND

Narrator Vikas Adam proves to be an excellent partner to author Suketu Mehta in this detailed and absorbing narrative, which finds links between immigration, imperialism, colonialism, climate change, and capitalism's thirst for cheap labor. The power of storytelling to convey truth is demonstrated here.

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EACH TINY SPARK

Author/narrator Pablo Cartaya easily transitions between English and Spanish, authentically representing the bilingual world of Cuban-American Emilia Rosa Torres, who has ADHD. Cartaya reveals the depth of a girl whose intelligence and love are strengthened by an awareness of her heritage, and the economic and social injustices around her.

Earphones Award Winner

Listen to a Sound Clip