Fiction is a big category—one that includes everything from modern family dramas to epic historical retellings, from literary hard-hitters to debut authors. But whatever the length, setting, or subject matter, all great works of fiction include unforgettable characters. This is what led us to choose James by Percival Everett as our Audiobook of the Year. We promise you that you will never love a character more than the brilliantly reimagined Jim. And the list goes on from there—2024 is a year full of extraordinary storytelling and breathtaking performances.
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In the wake of Percival Everett's renewed attention for Erasure, the 2001 novel that inspired the Oscar-winning film American Fiction, the author once again swept the literary world off its feet, taking us on a journey down the Mississippi River that just as swiftly subverts racist stereotypes in storytelling today. James, a reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn told from Jim’s perspective, couldn’t help but make a stir in the publishing world, placing a radical spin on what is not only one of the most challenged classics in public libraries but one of the most frequently debated American satires of all time. Narrator Dominic Hoffman, who recently wowed with his melting pot of accents in James McBride’s The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, expands Jim’s narrative with dignity and grace while preserving the character’s signature dialect. —Haley H.
Kristin Hannah has the unique ability to take a well-known historical event and intimately weave it with such a deeply human story that it turns everything you thought you knew on its head. In The Women, Hannah pays tribute to the nurses who served in the Vietnam War, using her heroine Frankie McGrath as a vessel. Frankie begins the story as a naive young woman, full of misplaced optimism, but quickly becomes the sort of steady and focused nurse you’d want in your corner. I love Frankie. I feel like I know Frankie. And as I’ve come to expect with Kristin Hannah, each time Frankie’s heart got broken—whether it was in war, in love, or in homecoming—mine did as well. The incomparable Julia Whelan performs this sweeping and poignant novel that has settled in my chest and refuses to leave. To hear more from Kristin Hannah, listen in to our interview. —Katie O.
With a killer hook and an epic cast, we had high hopes for The Best Man’s Ghostwriter, which is somehow even greater and funnier than the sum of its formidable parts. That ineffable quality is down to the amazing chemistry of its stars, including Twisters’ Glen Powell and Succession’s Nicholas Braun, real-life friends who play a speechwriter and his client, the awkward best man in a popular YouTuber’s high-maintenance wedding. While the premise centers on the all-important best man’s speech, there’s a heartwarming message about vulnerability amid the hijinks, and some actually helpful speechwriting tips too. With hilarious turns from costars Ashley Park, D’Arcey Carden, Lance Bass, and more, this is the disastrous wedding we’d crash again and again. —Emily C.
You know the concept of frequency illusion? Like when you have a friend who gets a Subaru and then all of a sudden you see Subarus everywhere? That’s what’s been happening to me with All Fours. It seems like the world around me knew the moment I started listening to it. I think I’ve had four conversations now with complete strangers about it. I’ve seen a handful of people reading it on the subway. I was even stopped in traffic on my bike the other day and heard Miranda July’s narration coming out of the window from the car stopped next to me. And as someone who is often years late to getting to the “It book” of any given moment, it was easy to be right on time with this one. Within the first five minutes I was fully charmed by how funny and smart July’s writing is. If you see me out in the wild, come talk to me about it. —Aaron S.
Feeling salty about beachfront displays of affection? As am I, along with Phoebe Stone, the spiraling protagonist of Alison Espach’s latest novel, who, newly single and depressed, has hot summer plans to self-sabotage in style at an elegant Newport resort. However, upon her arrival, she unexpectedly befriends a cohort of, you guessed it, wedding people, who would rather count Phoebe as an extra head for the caterers than have her potentially ruin the ceremony by being left unattended while erratically heartbroken. It doesn’t take long for Phoebe and the bride to bond over their underlying anxieties, and narrator Helen Laser’s spot-on delivery of all the witty insights embedded in this novel certainly makes it easy to fall for the vibrant cast of characters. So, if you too are in need of a pick-me-up, take a page out of Phoebe’s book and vicariously masquerade as a posh, pearl-clad sophisticate while opening up to this cynical yet ultimately heartfelt listen. —HH
Martyr! follows the story of Cyrus Shams, a recovering addict trying to shake his demons, find his voice, and make sense of his parents’ deaths. Although this is the author’s debut, Kaveh Akbar has an already established career as a poet, which becomes immediately evident when listening to his prose. The novel teems with inventive language that mixes the humorous and profound in a way that only a poet can. Succession star Arian Moayed’s versatile narration is a perfect match for Cyrus and the other characters in this story (including Lisa Simpson). —AS
O.O. Sangoyomi’s debut is a beautiful, richly appointed reimagining of a story as old as time: a girl from humble roots swept away by a besotted man and thrown into a new world out of her depth. Set in a vividly rendered 15th century pre-colonial Africa, Òdòdó is a young blacksmith from Timbuktu. While her trade is critical to the functioning of the empire, it is a role almost exclusively filled by women, and Òdòdó and her sisters are persecuted as witches (another tale as old as time). That is until the king of Yarubaland falls in love with her and she is kidnapped, ripped away from her family, and set on a pedestal as a queen-to-be. Ariel Blake’s voice immerses you in this lush world of power and privilege that is also rife with rivalry and ambition. Masquerade is billed as a retelling of the Persephone and Hades myth, but I think there’s a different Greek epic happening here, for the king has no idea what he’s done in bringing Òdòdó to his land. She is a political Trojan horse that is going to upend his entire kingdom. —EC
Between character, setting, and plot, I’m pretty much always a character person. And while the characters in Here One Moment are each fascinating and complex in their own right, I was blown away by Liane Moriarty’s plotting. Our central character, Cherry, is on a flight when she stands up and proceeds to predict when and how each passenger will die. What unfolds from there is a riveting and chaotic meditation on free will versus fate as the passengers deal with the predictions in different ways once back in their real lives. It’s a compulsive listen, performed by Moriarty’s longtime collaborator Caroline Lee as Cherry and Geraldine Hakewill as the other passengers, and one I have been recommending to everyone. —KO
Have you ever noticed how life’s highs and lows always tend to go hand-in-hand? Colman Domingo’s Wild with Happy explores that very concept through the bizarre comedy, love, and heartfelt moments of humanity found amid grief and healing. Starring Tyler James Williams (Abbott Elementary), Alex Newell (Glee), Sharon Washington (Feeding the Dragon), and the one and only Oprah, alongside Domingo himself, the casting alone makes this a can’t-miss listening experience. It’s a hard-hitting comedy about family, our own expectations, and love, but it’s also a moving reminder that good things often come out of horrible situations, and that fairy tale endings always seem to happen when we’re least expecting them. To hear more from Colman Domingo, listen in to our interview. —Michael C.
Tommy Orange made a huge splash with his debut novel, There There, an intense, polyphonic chronicle of intersecting Native Americans in Oakland that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Five years later, he returns with a follow-up that’s every bit as lyrical and even more ambitious than its predecessor. Building off the tragic climax of There There, Wandering Stars serves as both prequel and sequel, tracing shooting victim Orvil Red Feather’s bloodline back to the family’s instigating trauma, the brutal Sand Creek Massacre of 1864, followed by the forced assimilation of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School and several characters’ struggles with addiction (alcohol, laudanum, opiates) that echo through generations. With rich historical detail and a multi-cast performance, Wandering Stars challenges listeners while rewarding them again and again with beautiful prose and heartbreaking truths that give texture and immediacy to the ongoing repercussions of America’s brutal history. To hear more from Tommy Orange, listen in to our interview. —Kat J.
We may not be getting bucket hats this time, but a new Sally Rooney novel is still an EVENT. And Intermezzo is much more than a must-have accessory, though you’ll see it everywhere this fall. If you’ve been pining for Sally’s liquid sentences and diamond insights, here they are, this time in a tale of two brothers: Peter, a dashing early-thirty-something who “goes along the surface of life very smoothly” according to Ivan, younger by a decade, a neurodiverse chess prodigy a bit past his prime—both of them navigating romances while facing the recent death of their father. I’m inhaling the vivid scenes and blasé bombshells—“Plain, unappealing people are by no means exempt from the experience of strong passions,” muses Ivan, for one. This is also a first-time departure from Rooney’s signature narrator Aoife McMahon. I will always love Aoife, but man, Éanna Hardwicke, who you know as Rob from TV’s Normal People, is the perfect voice for this novel: intelligent, charismatic, and (yes!) demurely sexy as only Irish men know how. Well played, all around. —KJ
By Any Other Name is a must-listen for history buffs and theater lovers. This dual-timeline story alternates between two women: Melina Green, a contemporary playwright struggling to break into New York’s male-dominated theater world, and Emilia Bassano, an overlooked woman of Elizabethan England who may—or may not—have written many of the plays attributed to none other than William Shakespeare. Author Jodi Picoult has done her research, combining historical fact with her signature storytelling. Narrators Laura Benanti and Billie Fulford-Brown take on the leading roles of Melina and Emilia, and a stellar supporting cast is peppered in for some very entertaining theatrical interludes. —Tricia F.
Kate Quinn takes on a new-to-her era in The Briar Club, where she creates a haunting and powerful story of female friendships and secrets set in a Washington, DC, boardinghouse in the 1950s. At the center is Grace March, a mysterious widow who moves into the attic of Briarwood House. She’s joined by the poised English lady whose perfect-wife façade covers gaping inner wounds, the police officer’s daughter who’s involved with a shadowy gangster, the former baseball star whose career has ended along with the women’s baseball league of WWII, and a McCarthy sympathizer whose swept up in the drama of the Red Scare. This cast of unforgettable characters is performed brilliantly by narrator Saskia Maarleveld—she nails every accent and gives each woman the distinct voice they deserve. —TF
After a personally tumultuous 2023, I decided to embrace a “new year, new me” mentality for 2024. Wrapping my head around entering a new chapter in my life has been made easier alongside Holly Gramazio’s debut novel. Day in and day out, Lauren grapples with the sudden enchantment of her attic, which swaps out one new husband for another on a seemingly endless loop. And while, yes, some of the men manage to woo her in the little time they spend together, The Husbands is about so much more than finding romance. The rapid changes to Lauren’s life that propel her narrative forward, from sudden adjustments to her class status to changes in her own profession, offer an endless stream of fascinating insights and undeniable humor. To hear more from Holly Gramazio, listen in to our interview. —HH
My skin is brown, the color of almonds (I did a side-by-side.) Every day, from morning to evening, that is how the world sees me. There is no doubt of my race, I can effortlessly check the Black box. In Danzy Senna’s must-listen audiobook, Colored Television, by the time you finish you will understand just about everything you need to know about mulattos. That’s what people who have a white parent and a Black parent are called, a word that in some circles is controversial. Mulattos often have to announce themselves, or as Senna, a mulatto, once said in an interview, she’s had to become comfortable making people uncomfortable because they don’t see her Blackness. In Colored Television, Senna exposes, explores, tickles, and excites the listener with life, through Jane, a mulatto writer’s eyes. She’s just completed a major book on race. Jane’s husband, Lenny, refers to it as the “mulatto War and Peace.” It’s a hard sell. Rejection sends her to Hollywood, where she’s considered and respected by one producer as a “real writer.” Senna is a great writer. She seasons the story generously with laughter, clever word plays, and cold hard facts that don’t seem so bad when the writing is so good. Kristen Ariza narrates effortlessly as if she wrote the book. What it is, I think, is that she got the message. To hear more from Danzy Senna, listen in to our interview. —Yvonne D.
