![Editors Select: November 2019](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/G/01/Audible/en_US/images/creative/amazon/CO-996_EditorsSelect_Nov_LandingPageDT_1600x250.jpg)
Comedy
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64th Man
- Starring John Cena and Anna Chlumsky
- By: Bryan Tucker, Zack Phillips
- Narrated by: John Cena, Anna Chlumsky, Jane Curtin, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 12 mins
- Original Recording
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Story
In sports, everybody loves redemption stories, the underdog who no one believes in but through sheer hard work wins it all. But no one tells the stories of the players who work hard and don’t make it. In pro football, 53 guys get on the roster. Ten make it to the practice squad. And then there’s the 64th Man - that’s Billy Logan (Cena), who seems to always be one spot from glory.
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I LOVE YOU JOHN CENA!
- By Victoria on 11-15-19
John Cena's takeover continues
John Cena’s jump from champion wrestler to all around megastar has been one of the more exciting career transformations to watch over the past few years, mostly because he seems to go be good at everything—including narration. And the high-profile cast of this Audible Original about a could’ve been, should’ve been football star forced to move back home doesn’t start and end there. Anna Chlumsky, Jane Curtin, Will Forte, Leslie Jones, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Jay Pharaoh, and more all play a part in making 64th Man one of the funniest things I’ve listened to this year.
Suspense
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The Family Upstairs
- A Novel
- By: Lisa Jewell
- Narrated by: Tamaryn Payne, Bea Holland, Dom Thornburn
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
Gifted musician Clemency Thompson is playing for tourists on the streets of Southern France when she receives an urgent text message. Her childhood friend, Lucy, is demanding her immediate return to London. It’s happening, says the message. The baby is back. Libby Jones was only six months old when she became an orphan. Now 25, she’s astounded to learn of an inheritance that will change her life. A gorgeous, dilapidated townhouse in one of London’s poshest neighborhoods has been held in a trust for her all these years. Now, it’s hers.
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Did Not Disappoint... I LOVE LISA JEWELL
- By Tawny on 11-06-19
Agatha Christie would be proud
On the heels of her haunting thriller, Watching You, Lisa Jewell unveils another engrossing listen, set in London and France, about a mysterious trio of deaths in a once-posh townhouse and devastating family secrets that have lasting consequences. The Family Upstairs is told from the perspectives of three integral characters, performed brilliantly by Tamaryn Payne, Bea Holland, and Dom Thornburn, whose lives are connected in ways that are slowly unraveled. The shocking twists in this story had me gasping IRL more than once, and the themes—particularly the fragility and resilience of children who’ve experienced trauma, for better or worse—stayed with me for days after.
![Valerie B.](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/G/01/Audible/en_US/images/creative/TM-178_WildGame_Porthole_Valerie-Berrios_360x360._CB1568228262_.png)
Performance
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Latin History for Morons
- By: John Leguizamo
- Narrated by: John Leguizamo
- Length: 1 hr and 19 mins
- Original Recording
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When his son gets a school assignment on heroes, John seizes the chance to teach him all about the great figures of the Latino world. But once he sets out on his irreverent crash course across three continents and 3,000 years of history - from conquistadores to cumbia, Montezuma to Menudo, and taking on the characters in all of it - he uncovers provocative truths that shock even him.
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Well
- By Amy Cueto on 11-25-19
School is in session!
Education is at the heart of John Leguizamo’s latest solo show Latin History for Morons, which has him hitting the history books in order to awaken his son’s pride in their Latino heritage. In 80 hilarious minutes, Leguizamo covers 3,000 years of history, starting with the Aztec and Incan empires all the way to Columbus’s discovery of the New World, and beyond. I was moved with how Leguizamo uses his parental urgency to teach his son and us listeners the oft overlooked history and contributions of Latin America to the United States. Funny, heartwarming, and blunt, Leguizamo makes his case by referencing facts culled from some major history books that prove that Latinos have shed blood in every war fought on American soil. Leguizamo himself deserves a medal of honor for taking on this topical subject.
Fantasy
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The Starless Sea
- A Novel
- By: Erin Morgenstern
- Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman, full cast
- Length: 18 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student in Vermont when he discovers a mysterious book hidden in the stacks. As he turns the pages, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, key collectors, and nameless acolytes, he reads something strange: a story from his own childhood. Bewildered by this inexplicable book and desperate to make sense of how his own life came to be recorded, Zachary uncovers a series of clues - a bee, a key, and a sword.
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Just couldn't make it
- By Richard E. on 11-23-19
A dream cast
Embarrassing literary confession: I never listened to The Night Circus. I know, I know. I judge myself. But when I first heard about The Starless Sea, Erin Morgenstern’s first novel since her 2011 debut, I knew I had to listen. Review after review hails this fantasy as a love letter to bibliophiles—and the critics aren’t wrong. Morgenstern has created an intricate world of stories within a story that is sweeping, romantic, and…shockingly appealing to gamers. Come get lost in the craziest library you have ever encountered with our hero Zachary, and let the multi-cast narration (helmed by Dominic Hoffman and featuring Dion Graham, Bahni Turpin, and more) make you want to stay lost for good.
Nonfiction
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The Witches Are Coming
- By: Lindy West
- Narrated by: Lindy West
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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From the moment powerful men started falling to the #MeToo movement, the lamentations began: This is feminism gone too far, this is injustice, this is a witch hunt. In The Witches Are Coming, firebrand author of the New York Times best-selling memoir and now critically acclaimed Hulu TV series Shrill Lindy West turns that refrain on its head. You think this is a witch hunt? Fine. You've got one.
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Starts strong then wanders
- By Dawn on 01-09-20
Hallelujah, the witches are here
When you take one of the funniest and smartest human beings of all time and then give her a book title about witches, how could it be anything but amazing?? I’m Lindy West’s #1 Stan, and when I heard this book was coming out, I very nearly came into work on my day off to try to get a copy. (If you must know: editor Courtney, i.e. an angel, texted to tell me the copies weren’t ready yet, saving me a two-hour round trip on the train.) Fast forward to early last month, when I finally got my hands on The Witches are Coming and drank it down in huge gulps by the pool. Lindy West’s essays are as sharp as ever, mining juicy tidbits from her life, such as why she finally quit Twitter, how a local Facebook swap group went awry, and her unexpected obsession with Guy Fieri. Whether you’ve been following Lindy West since her Gawker days, became an admirer after watching Shrill, or are new to the fan club, welcome. The witches have arrived, and I am here for it.
Humor
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The Zeta Family
- By: Gretchen Enders
- Narrated by: Kevin Nealon, Natasha Lyonne, Amy Goodmurphy
- Length: 3 hrs and 17 mins
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Set on a large ranch in rural upstate New York, it’s early days for the eccentric group of people who call themselves "The Zeta Family" - quite possibly the next big cult phenomenon. Our protagonist, Katie, is an aspiring reporter who has decided to infiltrate the compound, and her future success as a journalist depends entirely on her ability to win the confidence of Zeta Doug, the likable spiritual leader of the group. He’s like a cross between Hunter S. Thompson and George R. R. Martin, with a little too much sci-fi in his head and acid in his blood stream.
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Really enjoyable
- By [Redacted] on 01-18-20
Cults are back, baby
On the Venn diagram of my listening preferences, The Zeta Family occupies several circles: It’s got the pacing of a thriller along with plenty of jokes, a storyline about cults, and the vocal talents of (*dies*) Natasha Lyonne. Kevin Nealon and Amy Goodmurphy round out the truly awesome cast of narrators, and the sound design is next-level. As Editor Aaron attests, "Referring to The Zeta Family as anything less than a truly original audio experience would be an understatement." I can’t wait to join the cult when this weird and wild listening adventure debuts this month!
Fiction
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The Revisioners
- A Novel
- By: Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
- Narrated by: Myra Lucretia Taylor, Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
In 1925, Josephine is the proud owner of a thriving farm. As a child, she channeled otherworldly power to free herself from slavery. Now, her new neighbor, a white woman named Charlotte, seeks her company, and an uneasy friendship grows between them. But Charlotte has also sought solace in the Ku Klux Klan, a relationship that jeopardizes Josephine's family. Nearly 100 years later, Josephine's descendant, Ava, is a single mother who has just lost her job. She moves in with her white grandmother, Martha, a wealthy but lonely woman who pays her grandchild to be her companion.
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Ending was odd
- By juice24 on 07-21-21
Family magic
I must admit, what first drew me to this title is that the author and I share a first name. Then when I learned that Margaret Wilkerson Sexton’s first novel, A Kind of Freedom, was longlisted for the 2017 National Book Award, I was curious to see how she would follow up such a dazzling debut. Moving back and forth in time, The Revisioners tells the haunting story of Josephine’s conjured escape from slavery as a child, her life as a widow and farm-owner, and the dangerous friendship she forms with her white neighbor as the Ku Klux Klan takes root in post-Reconstruction South. Fast-forward 100 years, and Josephine’s great-great-great-granddaughter, Ava, has reluctantly moved in with her white grandmother who’s spiraling into dementia—or is it something more? What happens in between is the heart of this sweeping, multigenerational saga that's beautifully performed by Myra Lucretia Taylor and Adenrele Ojo.
![Margaret H.](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/G/01/Audible/en_US/images/creative//margaret-ID-pic1._CB1572983249_.jpg)
Drama
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Accidentally Brave
- By: Maddie Corman
- Narrated by: Maddie Corman
- Length: 1 hr and 30 mins
- Original Recording
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The unimaginable hits the home of Maddie Corman. She’s left wondering, now what? Maddie candidly shares her deeply personal story of growth and healing through turmoil that could have easily destroyed her marriage and family. Maddie explains what happens when her husband’s long kept secret is revealed.
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Touches the Heart of Humanity
- By C. Hughes on 11-07-19
Judge not (lest ye find yourself in a similarly unthinkable situation)
The first time I heard about Accidentally Brave, I was viscerally appalled. How could a person be okay with the knowledge that her supposedly upstanding husband and father to their three children had secretly downloaded child pornography? Then I actually dug into her memoir-slash-one-woman-play, in which she very deliberately notes that while she is most certainly not okay with her husband’s crime, she does find it necessary to tell her truth (spoiler: didn’t divorce him). Even without the utterly unputdownable pace and plot of this listen, what propels the narrative is the question: what if this happened to me? How would I react if the father of my two wonderful kids—to whom he’s heretofore only been a wonderful parent—was revealed to have a very, very dark side? Would I burn it all down? It’s these questions, paired with Maddie Corman’s urgent, honest storytelling, that will keep you glued to your earphones from the moment you hit "play."
YA
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The Gentleman's Guide to Getting Lucky
- Montague Siblings, Book 1.5
- By: Mackenzi Lee
- Narrated by: Christian Coulson
- Length: 2 hrs
- Unabridged
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Monty’s epic grand tour may be over, but now that he and Percy are finally a couple, he realizes there is something more nerve-wracking than being chased across Europe: getting together with the person you love. Will the romantic allure of Santorini make his first time with Percy magical, or will all the anticipation and build-up completely spoil the mood?
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Beautifully Written and Performed, BUT...
- By Laura on 07-27-20
This Gentleman’s Guide to Repeat Listening
When I first started working at Audible, The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue was the very first story that a colleague recommend. (Big shout out to editor Katie for that one!) In addition to being one of my favorite love stories, it also happens to feature one of my favorite performances. Christian Coulson (a.k.a. a young Tom Riddle from your other favorite series) swept me off my feet with his portrayal of a young, but still very rakish, Lord Monty and his best-friend-turned-lover, Percy. While we manage to catch a glimpse of their life together in Felicity’s story, The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy, that cameo still left me wanting more from this dynamic duo. And it’s finally here! I can already tell that this will be an adventure I’ll be listening to over and over again.
Memoir
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Atlas
- From the Streets to the Ring: A Son's Struggle to Become a Man
- By: Teddy Atlas, Peter Alson
- Narrated by: Teddy Atlas
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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In sharing his stories, Atlas reveals the philosophy by which he lives. Like Teddy Atlas - inimitable, tough, honest, and wise - this book inspires. It is about so much more than boxing. It is a story of overcoming hardships, of compassion for those in need, of tremendous personal integrity, and of personal and professional triumph.
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Great story
- By Jonathan on 06-23-23
A fighter-philosopher
Teddy Atlas has earned his reputation as a soothsayer, troublemaker, and generally controversial boxing mainstay. From training to commentating, Teddy’s done it his way, all the way. What I love most about this listen is his unflinchingly honest criticism of boxing promoters and their ruling bodies. He’s an ardent advocate for the fighters as well as the purity of the sport—even when that loyalty has come at great personal cost. There’s tons of appeal for self development fans, too, in Teddy’s hard-won life philosophies stemming from his troubled youth and stellar career.
Romantic Comedy
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The Bromance Book Club
- By: Lyssa Kay Adams
- Narrated by: Andrew Eiden, Maxwell Caulfield
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Nashville Legends second baseman Gavin Scott's marriage is in major league trouble. He’s recently discovered a humiliating secret: His wife, Thea, has always faked the Big O. When he loses his cool at the revelation, it’s the final straw on their already strained relationship. Thea asks for a divorce, and Gavin realizes he’s let his pride and fear get the better of him. Welcome to the Bromance Book Club. Distraught and desperate, Gavin finds help from an unlikely source: a secret romance book club made up of Nashville's top alpha men.
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3.5 Stars
- By Trosado on 12-21-19
Dude bros read romance, hilarity ensues
In denial about summer being over? So am I, and that's why The Bromance Book Club was just what I needed—the perfect dose of light and fluffy escapism to get over the fact that it's not even 4:30 yet and it's dark outside. The characters are refreshingly self-aware, the dialogue is consistently hilarious, and the clever callbacks to genre tropes through the titular book club are sure to make romance fans proud. Both narrators do a brilliant job of bringing the irony of the premise to life with their performances. I typically choose standalone romances over series, but in this case, I can't wait for more!
YA
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Call Down the Hawk (The Dreamer Trilogy, Book 1)
- By: Maggie Stiefvater
- Narrated by: Will Patton
- Length: 13 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Ronan Lynch is a dreamer. He can pull both curiosities and catastrophes out of his dreams and into his compromised reality. Jordan Hennessy is a thief. The closer she comes to the dream object she is after, the more inextricably she becomes tied to it. Carmen Farooq-Lane is a hunter. Her brother was a dreamer...and a killer. She has seen what dreaming can do to a person. And she has seen the damage that dreamers can do. But that is nothing compared to the destruction that is about to be unleashed....
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Unlistenable
- By Nathan Parker on 11-24-19
Stiefvater’s most expansive world yet
I speak for Stiefvater fans everywhere when I say that we were never done with the Raven Boys. Here was our trajectory: Finished with The Raven Cycle, what now?! Oh look, there’s a whole world of Raven Boys fanfiction. Whew! Let’s live here now. Well, we Stiefvater addicts can now rejoice with the beginning of a whole new trilogy about our beloved goth-like misfit, Ronan Lynch, plus the full Brothers Lynch trio, Adam Parrish, and even more characters to fall in love with. Listeners who arrive at this novel by other means need not fear if they’ve never listened to any of Maggie Stiefvater’s previous works. Call Down the Hawk derives from The Raven Cycle but it stands on its own as a complete story. Will Patton returns to helm this new trilogy as narrator and his voice is just as melodic and mesmerizing as we’ve known it to be, so I can safely say that all is right with the world.
Science & Medicine
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The Great Pretender
- The Undercover Mission That Changed Our Understanding of Madness
- By: Susannah Cahalan
- Narrated by: Christie Moreau, Susannah Cahalan
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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For centuries, doctors have struggled to define mental illness - how do you diagnose it, how do you treat it, how do you even know what it is? In search of an answer, in the 1970s a Stanford psychologist named David Rosenhan and seven other people - sane, normal, well-adjusted members of society - went undercover into asylums around America to test the legitimacy of psychiatry's labels. Rosenhan's watershed study broke open the field of psychiatry, closing down institutions and changing mental health diagnosis forever.
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Important story of fraud really well told
- By ReallyNelie on 12-27-19
What is sanity?
I loved Susannah Cahalan’s memoir, Brain on Fire, for both its unflinching firsthand portrayal of a young woman’s experience with a mysterious brain condition, as well as its detective-like exploration into her diagnosis. So I’m thrilled to see this brilliant writer tackling the topic of mental health once again in her latest release, The Great Pretender, which focuses on a groundbreaking experiment in which eight healthy individuals voluntarily went undercover into the asylums throughout the US. The outcome is at once a fascinating slice of history, a shocking expose, and an education into the field of psychiatry and mental health treatment—in other words, another captivating combo from Cahalan. I’m thrilled to have the chance to be in this writer’s brain once again.
Fiction
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The Other Animals
- By: Daniel Mallory Ortberg, Ken Liu, R. Eric Thomas, and others
- Narrated by: Ken Liu, Lulu Miller, Max McClure, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 5 mins
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In The Other Animals, a worm breaks up with a snail, a vulture contemplates the act of killing, a whale falls in love with a song, and more. This funny, moving collection of stories - written by a crew of scientists, literary writers, and comics, and informed by animal behavioral science - explores what animal perspectives can show humans about the world.
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So Unbelievably Gorgeous
- By Amazon Customer on 11-15-19
Entirely different perspectives
Short stories as a form are, in my opinion, vastly underappreciated. It takes a lot of skill to tell a good story with few words. But more importantly, short stories offer a quick window into infinitely different lives, and their brevity oftentimes makes them more emotionally jarring and insightful than long form. The format serves this collection perfectly. Jumping through different perspectives of anthropomorphized animals, The Other Animals pulls you back to your base, your animalian emotions. Akin to Italo Calvino’s Cosmicomics, the perspective shifts are so radical they evolve into something more human than human with the nuance and humor of universal experience. Dynamically crafted and narrated, this is a quick listen that will have a lasting impact.
History
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Rise and Fall of the Borgias
- By: William Landon, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: William Landon
- Length: 4 hrs and 58 mins
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Since its rise to the highest ranks of power in Renaissance Europe, the Borgia family has developed a scandalous reputation. While they were indeed ostentatious, calculating, worldly, cruel - and even, occasionally, murderous - you may be surprised to find that the Borgias were not terribly different from other powerful and ambitious families of their day. So why has history set them apart as one of the most corrupt and reviled families in history?
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A remarkable history of a maligned family
- By Happy Customer on 12-03-19
The history of a single family says a lot about the Renaissance!
Facts we all know about the Borgias: They had power. They had Popes. Everything in the Showtime series couldn’t be true. Professor Landon probes why this particular family acquired a reputation for incest, poison, and assassination. Did Rodrigo Borgia (aka Pope Alexander VI) hold orgies in the Vatican, or was he a better-than-average Renaissance pontiff? Was Lucrezia, his daughter—yes, you read that right—a murderous temptress, or merely a woman whose value was to ally her family to other powerful clans through marriage? One overarching question runs through the lectures like silk through brocade: what made the Borgias infamous?
Fiction
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Life After Truth
- A Novel
- By: Ceridwen Dovey
- Narrated by: Rachel Butera
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
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Fifteen years after graduating from Harvard, five close friends on the cusp of middle age are still pursuing an elusive happiness and wondering if they’ve wasted their youthful opportunities. Jules, already a famous actor when she arrived on campus, is changing in mysterious ways but won’t share what is haunting her. Mariam and Rowan, who married young, are struggling with the demands of family life and starting to regret prioritising meaning over wealth in their careers.
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Hear it here first
- By Tricia, Audible Editor on 01-15-20
Hear it here first
Ceridwen Dovey is what many would call a, "writer’s writer." Her novels and her journalism have appeared on many a literary short list and best-of round-up. Her latest, Life After Truth, follows five close friends over a Harvard College reunion weekend fifteen years after graduation. When the class’s most reviled alumnus ends up murdered, the friends are forced to look at themselves, and each other, in a whole new light. Let the soul-searching begin. Whether Covey is new to you or a name you know, now is the time to experience her special gift of storytelling as an Audible-first production. You can listen now, and watch for the print version coming in the fall of 2020.