‘The engaging narration of the best audiobooks can breathe new life into prose, or with expert acting, add new dimensions to a tale,’ says Vogue. From hot new fiction to a gripping health treatise, we’ve rounded up the best releases of the season here.
The Beasts Of Paris By Stef Penney
Narrated by: Jessica Alade
Stef Penney’s latest novel is a beautifully crafted tale of love and survival set during the Siege of Paris in 1870. The Guardian says: ‘In its balancing of exhilaration and horror, love and terror, despair and resurgence, The Beasts of Paris is a triumph.’
The Trial By Rob Rinder
Narrated by: Josh Dylan
The new whodunnit by criminal barrister and TV personality Rob Rinder promises to intrigue and entertain. It is read perkily here by actor Josh Dylan, who is best known for his charming turn on a boat in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.
Ultra-Processed People By Chris Van Tulleken
Narrated by: Chris Van Tulleken and Dr Xand Van Tulleken
This Sunday Times bestseller will definitely open your eyes to the horrors of ultra-processed food – and it may also change your eating habits for good. Food writer Bee Wilson says: ‘If you only read one diet or nutrition book in your life, make it this one.’
Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life By Anna Funder
Narrated by: Arianwen Parkes-Lockwood and Jane Slavin
Using newly discovered letters from George Orwell’s wife Eileen O’Shaughnessy to her best friend, Australian writer Anna Funder takes a genre-bending look at a famous literary marriage, its unsung heroine and at what it takes to be a wife and a writer in the modern world.
Sh*T Creek To Somewhere Else By Angie Clarke
Narrated by: Angie Clarke
Build resilience and take back control with counsellor and mentor Angie Clarke’s brilliant self-help guide. Through nine powerful personal lessons, Clarke will show you how to move through the quagmire of a life that seems endlessly difficult to a life well lived.
Big Beacon: A Lighthouse Rebuilt, A Broadcaster
Reborn By Alan PartridgeNarrated by: Alan Partridge
Alan Partridge fans will delight in his third memoir, Big Beacon. Here, the inept TV personality from Norwich recounts in his inimitable voice his triumph against the odds – not once but twice. It is laugh-out-loud territory.
Oh Miriam! By Miriam Margolyes
Narrated by: Miriam Margolyes
In her capacity as an award-winning actress and national treasure, Miriam Margolyes has so many stories that she couldn’t contain them all in her bestselling and ‘wickedly honest’ memoir, This Much Is True (2021). The only solution was to write another. Oh Miriam! is similarly brim-full of unforgettable anecdotes. It is, like her, a hoot.
By Becky Ladenburg
July 2023
