Jason Grasl performs Ned Blackhawk’s National Book Award-winning history of the Native peoples of what is now known as the United States. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss this sweeping work that illuminates the histories of Indigenous peoples, from contact with early conquistadors of New Spain to the Indigenous activists of the mid-twentieth century. A must-listen for any history lover. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Tantor...

Shaun Taylor-Corbett seamlessly narrates the majority of this haunted novel with a masterful assist by Charley Flyte. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss a magical addition to Cynthia Leitich Smith’s young adult novels. Hughie Wolfe, an avid actor, is asked to volunteer at a Halloween haunted house near the crossroads of his small Kansas town. Hughie and a group of friends have begun to learn of odd happenings and intimidating ghostly presences at the crossroads, and they...

Maya Saroya gives an expressive performance in Hafsah Faizal’s thrilling YA historical fantasy filled with vampires, action, romance, and tea. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss this compelling story set in a richly built world packed with secrets—performed beautifully. Saroya portrays Arthie Casimir in a smooth, deadly tone that highlights her fierce determination to protect those she loves. Arthie’s an outsider in Etenia, but she’s created a safe haven in her tearoom,...

Hanif Abdurraqib’s latest book is a transcendent feat of poetry, memoir, and—well, magic. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss Abdurraqib’s mesmerizing narration and rich writing. His narration is as breathless and beautiful as his prose, and you can hear the love in his voice as he performs it. It’s an ode to his hometown of Columbus, Ohio; a love letter to basketball; a meditation on home and belonging; and an exploration of faith, Blackness, music, and place. He delivers...

Julia Whelan performs Emily Henry’s funny story, much like a Shakespearean comedy is a funny story, of a woman who falls in love with her ex-fiancé’s new girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss the joy of getting to hear another excellent Emily Henry and Julia Whelan audiobook pairing. When Daphne’s fiance, Peter, realizes he’s in love with his formerly platonic best friend, Petra, just days before their wedding, Daphne’s world falls apart. Desperate for...

Narrators Natalie Beran and Jackson Bliss portray queer Russian-Maori siblings Greta and Valdin in this wise, hilarious novel about a loving and chaotic New Zealand family. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss Rebecca K. Reilly’s novel, now released in the U.S. Beran depicts Greta, a 20-something PhD student in a perky, wry tone that is dripping with millennial angst. Bliss narrates Valdin’s sections with a mix of earnestness and detachment. A year after being dumped by his...

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss a celebrated YA novel that is featured in AudioFile’s new Audiobook Club. Narrator Jesse Nobess establishes a determined voice for high school sophomore Tre Brun. After losing his older brother who was a star on their high school basketball team, he finds his own passion for the game. Nobess captures Tre’s emotions as he pushes himself to reach his maximum potential on the court, where he feels pressure to succeed not only for himself, but...

Narrator Dion Graham, with his ability to tap into a wide variety of voices, is the right pick for Ace Atkins’s blues-heavy novel first published in 1998. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss Dion’s skill at voicing this blues-infused noir mystery. Nick Travers is a former pro football player turned blues historian at Tulane University in Louisiana. He’s sent to find a missing music professor, and the mission gets messy. Graham’s stellar narration helps listeners keep the many...

The privileged world of the spirited Isabella Stewart Gardner is aptly captured by the patrician voice of narrator Maggie-Meg Reed. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss this fascinating biography by Natalie Dykstra. Reed’s careful pacing and expression elicit genuine admiration for the eccentric and sometimes scandalous Isabella. Gardner leaves as her legacy the Fenway Court building, now the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, famous for its interior Venetian palazzo, eclectic...

Roger Clark gives a thrilling performance of Tana French’s newest novel set in a ferociously insular Irish village. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss this sequel to THE SEARCHER, continuing the story of Cal Hooper, a retired Chicago police detective in a town that makes its own law. Clark’s Irish dialogue is so rich and musical it’s addictive, but his American voice for Hooper is flawless as well, and his pacing, attention, and sympathy do splendid justice to this riveting...

An inspiring original story gets a five-star narration from Lynnette R. Freeman. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss how Maurice Carlos Ruffin’s Civil War-era novel shines with Freeman’s narration. Sanite and her daughter, Ady, run from the brutality of John du Marche’s slave labor camp—also known as a plantation. Separated when Sanite is recaptured, Ady endures hardship alone in the woods until she’s eventually befriended by a free woman who runs a secret organization called...

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss Edoardo Ballerini’s narration of Amor Towles’s newest short story collection. By turns nuanced and dramatic, Golden Voice Ballerini uses his full range of techniques always in service of the author’s fine prose. His smart pace and rich tone work particularly well for the noir novella set in late 1930s Hollywood. Ballerini shines in the opening work, “New York: The Line,” about an average Russian, named Pushkin, who has a gift for helping...

Dorje Swallow’s performance of Helen Oyeyemi’s metafiction centers this whirligig of a novel in which story begets story. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss how Swallow’s assured narration—in particular, his ability to do voices and accents and adapt his tone to whatever the scene—makes this audiobook marvelous to listen to. Hero Tojosoa ostensibly comes to Prague to join her friend, Sophie, for a weekend. When Dorothea arrives as well, the plot thickens, spatters, and all...

Aaron Goodson performs Vinson Cunningham’s coming-of-age novel in a conversational manner. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss Goodson’s pleasing narrative style. His pensive tone works for the narrator and protagonist, David Hammons, the well-read but adrift young man who finds himself working as a fundraising assistant in the 2008 presidential election for the unnamed African American senator from Illinois. It’s a finely crafted story that includes smart and nuanced riffs on...

Carlotta Brentan narrates this near-future dystopian novel set in a time of ecological disaster in the mostly underwater community of Island City. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss Téa Obreht’s newest novel. Brentan portrays the cast of characters smartly by subtly shifting tone, cadence, and timbre. The once stately Morningside building is now home to “repopulated” folks who are part of a government program. Mysteries shroud this imaginative work. Read the full review of the...

This audiobook reveals that Tommy Orange is among the most insightful novelists writing today and a poet of pain. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss this immersive novel set in Oakland that makes for a powerful listening experience. Among the segmented novel’s stellar performances, Charley Flyte’s reading of Victoria Bear Shield’s dramatic monologue to her unborn daughter is a tour de force—a haunting performance with an expressive tone and intimate voice. Alma Cuervo portrays...

In today’s bonus edition of Behind the Mic, host Jo Reed welcomes author Cynthia Leitich Smith and narrator Shaun Taylor-Corbett for a lively conversation about making memorable audiobooks for children and young adults. Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee citizen) is a highly acclaimed author for young readers and curator for Heartdrum, a Native American-focused imprint from HarperCollins. Shaun Taylor-Corbett (Blackfeet) is a frequent narrator of audiobooks from Heartdrum, including Cynthia’s...

Shayna Small delivers a variety of accents as a group of New Yorkers gather on their rooftop during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, telling stories to pass the time. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss Small’s skills as she narrates a wide range of characters, emotions, and stories. Her narration shines in this reinterpretation of another plague novel, Boccaccio’s DECAMERON, written in the fourteenth century as bubonic plague raced across Europe. The Author’s Guild brought...

Narrator A.J. Cook utilizes her considerable acting skills in portraying divorce lawyer, single mother, and suicide hotline volunteer Felicia, whose life was forever changed by her sister’s suicide. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss this short but impactful audio thriller. Actress Tess Albertson matches Cook in talent as she portrays Chloe, a teenager who calls Felicia’s helpline. Cook masterfully portrays Felicia’s desperation to save Chloe from suicide and avoid potential...

Grace Hawthorne presents the chapters of her intelligent guide with appealing assertiveness while a Stanford colleague delivers brief segments with equal authority and charm. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss this audiobook on turning your ideas into reality. After convincing listeners that they can train their brains to think expansively, Hawthorne dives into the explicit steps one can take to get projects started and to keep the momentum going when inevitable frustrations...

Lucy Sante narrates her intimate and poignant memoir of her transition, delivering vignettes from her life with authenticity. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss Lucy’s story. Lucy realized early in her life that she was female, but it was not until her sixties in 2021 that she transitioned and shared her news with her friends. Her lifelong success as a writer comes through in her near-poetic storytelling without being saccharine. Listeners will hear her comfort in her identity,...

Pop culture drag star RuPaul’s candid warmth is an invitation to accompany him as he discovers fame, love, and his unvarnished self. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss this origin story from the mother of all drag queens. His soft narration opens with sensory details that evoke the power of memory, and his gentle voice allows listeners to enter early scenes of his life. Listeners learn of his family, discovering his “secret girl” at the age of 12, and his struggles for...

Joniece Abbott-Pratt performs this multigenerational novel set over several decades in the American South. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss this debut novel from poet Phillip B. Williams. In the 1830s, a mysterious woman named Saint frees enslaved people from plantations and brings them to a town they call Ours, where they find a safe haven from the rest of the world. But when Saint tightens her control of the townspeople, they begin to wonder what it means to be a free...

Lyz Lenz narrates her memoir about the end of her marriage and the start of her new life as an “ex-wife.” Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss this audiobook that alternates between Lenz’s own story of divorce and freedom, and her research on women experiencing divorce. While Lenz had been told that the end of her marriage would be the end of her family, she soon discovered that leaving her unhappy marriage gave her more fulfillment and love than she ever had before. Lenz’s...