• The Most Anticipated Audiobooks of August

    The Literature to Listen to This Month

    Each month, our friends at AudioFile Magazine share a curated list of the best audiobooks for your literary listening pleasure.

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    AUGUST FICTION

    Bug Hollow by Michelle Huneven | Read by Emily Rankin
    AudioFile Earphones Award
    [Penguin Audio | 7.75 hrs.]

    Emily Rankin’s performance is so subtle that she disappears completely into this novel. Michelle Huneven’s family saga combines tenderness, sadness, joy, and grief with exquisite prose and psychological insights. The story begins in the 1970s and spans decades.

    Rankin handles each passing year, each surprising revelation, and each family member’s responses with touching sincerity.

    Pioneer Summer by Kateryna Sylvanova, Elena Malisova, Anne O. Fisher [Trans.] | Read by Edoardo Ballerini
    AudioFile Earphones Award
    [Recorded Books | 16.5 hrs.]

    Edoardo Ballerini’s moving narration takes listeners to a 1980s Russian patriotic children’s camp to meet sweet-natured sixteen-year-old counselor Yury and novice nineteen-year-old theater director Volodya. When Volodya and Yury bury a time capsule filled with camp memories—hoping to meet again—Ballerini expertly alternates their younger and older voices.

    Audio beautifully conveys an exceptional portrayal of Yury’s and Volodya’s evolving self-perceptions amid the homophobia of their surroundings.

    The Names by Florence Knapp | Read by Dervia Kirwan
    AudioFile Earphones Award
    [Penguin Audio | 9.75 hrs.]

    Dervla Kirwan delivers a stunning performance of Knapp’s powerful novel about the weight of choice, the search for identity, and the complexities of family. Kirwan masterfully conveys the depth of Cora’s love for her son and daughter throughout the years, feelings that are sharply contrasted with the strained, even fearful, affection she feels for her husband.

    Kirwan’s stirring narration will linger in the mind long after it ends.

    The Turn by Christopher Ransom | Read by Robert Petkoff
    AudioFile Earphones Award
    [Blackstone Audio | 11 hrs.]

    Golden Voice Robert Petkoff hits the comedic highs and lows in this audiobook so well that listeners may be surprised by the emotional impact he delivers. Casey is struggling to find meaning in his boring job, his divorce, and the death of his stoic father.

    Discovering his father’s coveted bag of golf clubs, Casey takes a sabbatical and hits the course, where he finds a spark of meaning, an unexpected mentor, and, maybe, the son he didn’t know he had.

    Hot Girls with Balls by Benedict Nguyen | Read by Nicky Endres
    AudioFile Earphones Award
    [Random House Audio | 8 hrs.]

    Narrator Nicky Endres shows impressive vocal versatility in this queer sports romance. Professional indoor volleyball players Six and Green, both Asian American trans women, are dating. To avoid any flak, they’ve decided to play on rival men’s teams.

    Endres narrates hundreds of social media comments from haters and fans alike, impressively adopting a myriad of accents, pitches, and cadences to give each writer a unique voice. Endres’ multifaceted voice is perfect for this thoughtful, hilarious audiobook.

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    AUGUST NONFICTION

    The Spinach King: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by John Seabrook | Read by Dion Graham
    AudioFile Earphones Award
    [HighBridge Audio | 11 hrs. ]

    This poignant audio memoir recounts the tragedy of the past three generations of the New Jersey Seabrooks, WASP agriculture kings brought low by family feuds, self-dealing, and racism. Golden Voice Dion Graham gives a bravura performance of the fraught relationships between three generations of fathers and sons.

    Graham’s delivery shapes this American tragedy as he narrates in a thoughtful style with an intimate tone and phrasing that reflects the author’s eloquent prose.

    Mother Emanuel: Two Centuries of Race, Resistance, and Forgiveness in One Charleston Church by Kevin Sack | Read by William DeMeritt
    AudioFile Earphones Award
    [Random House Audio | 15 hrs.]

    William DeMeritt’s commanding performance is the perfect complement to Kevin Sack’s tenth anniversary tribute to the nine slaughtered members of Charleston’s Mother Emanuel AME Church. This work is also a tribute to the rich and inspiring story of the Black church in America—a story laden with hope and hardship.

    DeMeritt narrates with somber resonance and emotional intensity.

    Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane | Read by Robert Macfarlane
    [HighBridge Audio | 10.75 hrs.]

    British nature writer Macfarlane travels to Ecuador, India, and Quebec, Canada, as he explores, explains, and experiences the dark fate of some urban rivers, as well as the grandeur of unspoiled waterways. He narrates in a poetic enrapt style, sounding awed by and in tune with cloud forest and Indian coast. His pace is thoughtful and unhurried until his dramatic ride down a river in Canada.

    A well-narrated, pertinent, and pointed audiobook.

    The Invisible Spy: Churchill’s Rockefeller Center Spy Ring and America’s First Secret Agent of World War II by Thomas Maier | Read by Stephen Graybill
    AudioFile Earphones Award
    [Harlequin Audio | 12.75 hrs.]

    Anyone who believes the American entrance into WWII was easy and inevitable will be shocked to hear that the path was difficult and paved with spies, lies, and coercion. Stephen Graybill performs this audiobook with the skill of a newscaster who’s recounting revelation upon revelation about the spies on both sides of the war (and the Atlantic) who were using their skills to urge Americans to join the desperate struggle against fascism, or not.

    Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War by Edda L. Fields-Black | Read by Machelle Williams
    AudioFile Earphones Award
    [HighBridge Audio | 25.5 hrs.]

    Machelle Williams delivers this sweeping, detailed history of Harriet Tubman’s work with a consistent, engaging voice that doesn’t waver. While Tubman’s name is widely associated with the Underground Railroad, Fields-Black’s Pulitzer Prize-winner provides a vivid account of Tubman as an embedded spy who collected information for the Union Army.

    Williams’ performance matches the intent of this historical work: to be clear, balanced, yet moving.


    Audiofile Magazine
    AudioFile Magazine
    Find your next great audiobook on our podcast, Behind the Mic with AudioFile Magazine. Every Monday through Friday, AudioFile Editors recommend the best in audiobook listening. All in 6 minutes or less. It’s short, sweet, and just what your ears need. Got a bit more time? Listen to the bonus episode featuring conversations with the best voices in the audiobook industry.





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