-
The Handmaid's Tale: Special Edition
- Narrated by: Claire Danes, full cast, Margaret Atwood, Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $29.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
"Are there any questions?" The final line in Margaret Atwood's modern classic, The Handmaid's Tale, has teased and perplexed fans since the book's original release more than 30 years ago. Now, in this Audible Original production, listeners get some of the answers they've waited so long to hear.
Featuring an all-new interview with Professor Piexoto, written by Atwood and performed by a full cast, The Handmaid's Tale: Special Edition is a must-listen for both fans and newcomers alike. Emmy Award winner Claire Danes (Homeland, Temple Grandin) gives a stirring performance of this classic in speculative fiction, where the message (and the warning) is now more timely than ever. In addition to rich sound design that honors the audio origins of Atwood's classic, the special edition also includes a brand-new afterword from the author and an essay written by author Valerie Martin (Mary Reilly, Property).
After a violent coup in the United States overthrows the Constitution and ushers in a new government regime, the Republic of Gilead imposes subservient roles on all women. Offred, now a Handmaid tasked with the singular role of procreation in the childless household of the enigmatic Commander and his bitter wife, can remember a time when she lived with her husband and daughter and had a job, before she lost everything, even her own name. Despite the danger, Offred learns to navigate the intimate secrets of those who control her every move, risking her life for mere glimpses of her former freedom, and records her story for future listeners.
Whether you're a fan of the original novel or someone who has recently discovered it, The Handmaid's Tale: Special Edition will shock, impress, and satisfy all those who listen.
The Handmaid's Tale: Special Edition features performances by Claire Danes, Margaret Atwood, Emily Bauer, Allyson Johnson, Gabra Zackman, Suzanne Toren, Tim Gerard Reynolds, Jennifer Van Dyck, Ray Porter, Emily Cox, Lauren Fortgang, Dan Reiss, Prentice Onayemi, Therese Plummer, and Mark Boyett.
Critic reviews
"Thanks to Audible, you can now pick up a new Special Edition of The Handmaid's Tale to get caught up to speed on the story of Offred, brought to life in this audiobook version by none other than Claire Danes. (Suddenly our heads are spinning with crossover potential.) Aside from the impressive voice acting alone, this audio update also contains new scenes that actually extend the story beyond the original last line of the novel." (Nerdist)
"This highly pertinent, ingeniously conceived production deepens the original work and even surpasses it." (The Washington Post)
"Danes has a calm, still voice that perfectly suits the protagonist.... So what is 'special' and new about this edition? Most of it has to do with material at the end of the book. Previous readers of the book will know that there is an afterword set centuries after the events told in the rest of the novel; it takes the form of an academic lecture that describes finding Offred's story. She never wrote it down; rather, she recorded it over a bunch of music cassette tapes. This edition actually begins each section of the novel with the sound of a 'record' button being pressed and a snatch of music referred to in the epilogue. In a sense, this makes listening to the audiobook a more authentic experience than reading it.... While the Hulu show has its points, what it lacks is the sheer poetry of Atwood's writing, which is profoundly and gorgeously highlighted by the experience of listening to the novel. Absolutely recommended." (Locus magazine)
"The actor Claire Danes voices the narrator, Offred (the book’s second section, given over to the perspectives of other handmaids, is read by a full cast), with an appropriately theatrical gravitas, her voice so dramatic at points that it trembles. She has called the book 'so poetic I think the words are really served by being spoken out loud.'” (The New York Times Book Review)
Featured Article: Classic Literature from Black Writers, Performed by Black Narrators
Despite the many great works of literature by great Black writers, Black voices have had a hard time entering "the canon." Worse, there have been times when Black words were miscast and read by narrators who didn't connect with the spirit of the authors. To help rectify this, we offer our careful selection of classics by Black authors performed by gifted Black actors that truly deserve to be recognized, celebrated, and savored.
Related to this topic
-
The Blind Assassin
- By: Margaret Atwood
- Narrated by: Margot Dionne
- Length: 18 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For the past twenty-five years, Margaret Atwood has written works of striking originality and imagination. In The Blind Assassin, she stretches the limits of her accomplishments as never before, creating a novel that is entertaining and profoundly serious. The novel opens with these simple, resonant words: "Ten days after the war ended, my sister drove a car off the bridge." They are spoken by Iris, whose terse account of her sister Laura's death in 1945 is followed by an inquest report proclaiming the death accidental.
-
-
Good book, TERRIBLE audio!
- By Whitney on 04-27-09
By: Margaret Atwood
-
Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules (Unabridged Selections)
- By: Edited by David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris, Mary-Louise Parker, Cherry Jones
- Length: 2 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules is a collection of short stories, some classic, others impending, selected and introduced by David Sedaris.
-
-
Great stories but only 5 of 17 are included
- By Terri Kirk on 07-13-12
-
Brick Lane
- By: Monica Ali
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Sastre
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nanzeen's inauspicious birth in a Bangladeshi village imbues in her a sense of fatalism that she carries across continents. Married off to a man old enough to be her father, Nanzeen moves to London and cares for her family. But gradually she begins to question whether fate controls her or whether she has a hand in her own destiny. She discovers both the complexity that comes with free choice and the depth of her attachment to her husband, her daughters and her new world.
-
-
A truly wonderful book!
- By A M on 11-24-03
By: Monica Ali
-
Mr. Fox
- A Novel
- By: Helen Oyeyemi
- Narrated by: Carol Boyd
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fairy-tale romances end with a wedding and the fairy tales don't get complicated. In this book, celebrated writer Mr. Fox can't stop himself from killing off the heroines of his novels, and neither can his wife, Daphne. It's not until Mary, his muse, comes to life and transforms him from author into subject that his story begins to unfold differently....
-
-
A Great Novel, just Poor for Audio
- By James A. Dittes on 08-13-16
By: Helen Oyeyemi
-
Tar Baby
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Desiree Coleman
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jadine Childs is a Black fashion model with a white patron, a white boyfriend, and a coat made out of ninety perfect sealskins. Son is a Black fugitive who embodies everything she loathes and desires. As Morrison follows their affair, which plays out from the Caribbean to Manhattan and the deep South, she charts all the nuances of obligation and betrayal between Blacks and whites, masters and servants, and men and women.
-
-
So good that I'm writing my first Audible review!
- By BL on 12-10-11
By: Toni Morrison
-
The Bell Jar
- By: Sylvia Plath
- Narrated by: Maggie Gyllenhaal
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful but slowly going under - maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that Esther's insanity becomes completely real and even rational, as probable and accessible an experience as going to the movies. Such deep penetration into the dark and harrowing corners of the psyche is an extraordinary accomplishment and has made The Bell Jar a haunting American classic.
-
-
A must-read for every woman
- By Julie W. Capell on 05-06-16
By: Sylvia Plath
-
The Blind Assassin
- By: Margaret Atwood
- Narrated by: Margot Dionne
- Length: 18 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For the past twenty-five years, Margaret Atwood has written works of striking originality and imagination. In The Blind Assassin, she stretches the limits of her accomplishments as never before, creating a novel that is entertaining and profoundly serious. The novel opens with these simple, resonant words: "Ten days after the war ended, my sister drove a car off the bridge." They are spoken by Iris, whose terse account of her sister Laura's death in 1945 is followed by an inquest report proclaiming the death accidental.
-
-
Good book, TERRIBLE audio!
- By Whitney on 04-27-09
By: Margaret Atwood
-
Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules (Unabridged Selections)
- By: Edited by David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris, Mary-Louise Parker, Cherry Jones
- Length: 2 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules is a collection of short stories, some classic, others impending, selected and introduced by David Sedaris.
-
-
Great stories but only 5 of 17 are included
- By Terri Kirk on 07-13-12
-
Brick Lane
- By: Monica Ali
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Sastre
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nanzeen's inauspicious birth in a Bangladeshi village imbues in her a sense of fatalism that she carries across continents. Married off to a man old enough to be her father, Nanzeen moves to London and cares for her family. But gradually she begins to question whether fate controls her or whether she has a hand in her own destiny. She discovers both the complexity that comes with free choice and the depth of her attachment to her husband, her daughters and her new world.
-
-
A truly wonderful book!
- By A M on 11-24-03
By: Monica Ali
-
Mr. Fox
- A Novel
- By: Helen Oyeyemi
- Narrated by: Carol Boyd
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fairy-tale romances end with a wedding and the fairy tales don't get complicated. In this book, celebrated writer Mr. Fox can't stop himself from killing off the heroines of his novels, and neither can his wife, Daphne. It's not until Mary, his muse, comes to life and transforms him from author into subject that his story begins to unfold differently....
-
-
A Great Novel, just Poor for Audio
- By James A. Dittes on 08-13-16
By: Helen Oyeyemi
-
Tar Baby
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Desiree Coleman
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jadine Childs is a Black fashion model with a white patron, a white boyfriend, and a coat made out of ninety perfect sealskins. Son is a Black fugitive who embodies everything she loathes and desires. As Morrison follows their affair, which plays out from the Caribbean to Manhattan and the deep South, she charts all the nuances of obligation and betrayal between Blacks and whites, masters and servants, and men and women.
-
-
So good that I'm writing my first Audible review!
- By BL on 12-10-11
By: Toni Morrison
-
The Bell Jar
- By: Sylvia Plath
- Narrated by: Maggie Gyllenhaal
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful but slowly going under - maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that Esther's insanity becomes completely real and even rational, as probable and accessible an experience as going to the movies. Such deep penetration into the dark and harrowing corners of the psyche is an extraordinary accomplishment and has made The Bell Jar a haunting American classic.
-
-
A must-read for every woman
- By Julie W. Capell on 05-06-16
By: Sylvia Plath
-
The Vine of Desire
- By: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anju and Sudha formed an astounding, almost psychic connection during their childhood in India. When Anju invites Sudha, a single mother in Calcutta, to come live with her and her husband, Sunil, in California, Sudha foolishly accepts, knowing full well that Sunil has long desired her. As Sunil's attraction rises to the surface, the trio must struggle to make sense of the freedoms of America - and of the ties that bind them to India and to one another.
-
-
Vine of desire
- By Mz Shantay on 03-27-21
-
Fruit of the Drunken Tree
- A Novel
- By: Ingrid Rojas Contreras
- Narrated by: Marisol Ramirez, Almarie Guerra, Ingrid Rojas Contreras
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seven-year-old Chula and her older sister, Cassandra, enjoy carefree lives thanks to their gated community in Bogotá, but the threat of kidnappings, car bombs, and assassinations hover just outside the neighborhood walls, where the godlike drug lord Pablo Escobar continues to elude authorities and capture the attention of the nation. When their mother hires Petrona, a live-in-maid from the city's guerrilla-occupied slum, Chula makes it her mission to understand Petrona's mysterious ways.
-
-
Maybe better to read this book than listen???
- By Amazon Customer on 12-12-18
-
Future Home of the Living God
- A Novel
- By: Louise Erdrich
- Narrated by: Louise Erdrich
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world as we know it is ending. Evolution has reversed itself, affecting every living creature on earth. Science cannot stop the world from running backward, as woman after woman gives birth to infants that appear to be primitive species of humans. Thirty-two-year-old Cedar Hawk Songmaker, adopted daughter of a pair of big-hearted, open-minded Minneapolis liberals, is as disturbed and uncertain as the rest of America around her. But for Cedar, this change is profound and deeply personal. She is four months pregnant.
-
-
“Nolite te bastardes carborundorum”
- By Mel on 11-27-17
By: Louise Erdrich
-
The Muse
- A Novel
- By: Jessie Burton
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin, Maria Elena Infantino
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
England, 1967. Odelle Bastien is a Caribbean émigré trying to make her way in London. When she starts working at the prestigious Skelton Institute of Art, she discovers a painting rumored to be the work of Isaac Robles, a young artist of immense talent and vision whose mysterious death has confounded the art world for decades. The excitement over the painting is matched by the intrigue around the conflicting stories of its discovery.
-
-
Mixed narration
- By Amy Fleury on 08-05-16
By: Jessie Burton
-
The Red Address Book
- By: Sofia Lundberg, Alice Menzies - translator
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The global fiction sensation - published in 32 countries around the world: Meet Doris, a 96-year-old woman living alone in her Stockholm apartment. She has few visitors, but her weekly Skype calls with Jenny - her American grandniece, and her only relative - give her great joy and remind her of her own youth. In writing down the stories of her colorful past - working as a maid in Sweden, modelling in Paris during the '30s, fleeing to Manhattan at the dawn of the Second World War - she may help Jenny, haunted by a difficult childhood, unlock the secrets of their family....
-
-
narrator was overwrought
- By Janet L. Hamilton on 02-22-19
By: Sofia Lundberg, and others
-
Life Class
- By: Pat Barker
- Narrated by: Russell Boulter
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spring of 1914, a group of young students gather in an art studio for a life-drawing class. Paul Tarrant and Elinor Brooke are two components of a love triangle, and at the outset of the war, they turn to each other. After volunteering for the Red Cross, Paul must confront the fact that life, love, and art will never be the same for him.
-
-
In Love and War
- By Cariola on 07-28-09
By: Pat Barker
-
Sula
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nel and Sula's devotion is fierce enough to withstand bullies and the burden of a dreadful secret. It endures even after Nel has grown up to be a pillar of the black community and Sula has become a pariah. But their friendship ends in an unforgivable betrayal—or does it end? Terrifying, comic, ribald and tragic, Sula is a work that overflows with life.
-
-
Good against evil and a riotous story to boot
- By Karen on 04-11-11
By: Toni Morrison
-
The Lost Family
- A Novel
- By: Jenna Blum
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1965 Manhattan, patrons flock to Masha’s to savor its brisket bourguignon and impeccable service and to admire its dashing owner and head chef Peter Rashkin, the most eligible bachelor in town. But Peter does not care for the parade of eligible women who come to the restaurant hoping to catch his eye. Running Masha’s consumes him, as does his terrible guilt over surviving the horrors of the Nazi death camp while his wife, Masha - the restaurant’s namesake - and two young daughters perished. Then exquisitely beautiful June Bouquet, an up-and-coming young model, appears at the restaurant, piercing Peter’s guard.
-
-
STIMULATES THE HEART, MIND AND IMAGINATION
- By Miss Manners on 07-01-18
By: Jenna Blum
-
Trading Dreams at Midnight
- By: Diane McKinney-Whetstone
- Narrated by: Shari Peele
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Diane McKinney-Whetstone, the award-winning and best-selling author of Tumbling, presents Trading Dreams at Midnight - - an Essence Book Club Recommended Read. Back in 1984, 15-year-old Neena's mother left and never came back. And now Neena is following in her footsteps.
-
-
Hard to follow
- By Nevada on 08-13-10
-
London Fields
- By: Martin Amis
- Narrated by: Steven Pacey
- Length: 21 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The murderee is Nicola Six, a "black hole" of sex and self-loathing who is intent on orchestrating her own extinction. The murderer may be Keith Talent, a violent lowlife whose only passions are pornography and darts; or the rich, honorable, and dimly romantic Guy Clinch. As Nicola leads her suitors towards the precipice, London--and, indeed, the whole world--seems to shamble after them in a corrosively funny novel of complexity and morality.
-
-
Big chewy novel, excellent narration
- By Sand on 08-21-14
By: Martin Amis
-
Wonder Boys
- By: Michael Chabon
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A wildly successful first novel made Grady Tripp a young star, and seven years later he still hasn't grown up. He's now a writing professor in Pittsburgh, plummeting through middle age, stuck with an unfinishable manuscript, an estranged wife, a pregnant girlfriend, and a talented but deeply disturbed student named James Leer.
-
-
A strong, early Chabon (sounds like grading wine)
- By Darwin8u on 03-09-14
By: Michael Chabon
-
A Golden Age
- A Novel
- By: Tahmima Anam
- Narrated by: Madhur Jaffrey
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As young widow Rehana Haque awakes one March morning, she might be forgiven for feeling happy. Today she will throw a party for her son and daughter. In the garden of the house she has built, her roses are blooming, her children are almost grown, and beyond their doorstep, the city is buzzing with excitement after recent elections. Change is in the air.
-
-
sad, poignant, thought-provoking, beautiful
- By Rio Delta Wild on 06-04-08
By: Tahmima Anam
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Mrs. Wickham
- By: Sarah Page
- Narrated by: Jessie Buckley, Johnny Flynn, full cast
- Length: 2 hrs and 3 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imagine if you made one little mistake when you were young and were punished for it for the rest of your life. Well, that’s what happened to Lydia (yes, that Lydia, the youngest Bennet sister from Pride and Prejudice), and she’s here to set the record straight. Hold on to your teacups and get ready for sophisticated (and a little bit naughty) hot takes and witty banter that’ll make you laugh—and think. We meet Lydia just as she is denounced by her family, exiled miles from home, and married to the rogue George Wickham, who seems to love all women...except his own wife.
-
-
Was I supposed to feel sorry?
- By LuJuna Brown-Jackson on 09-10-22
By: Sarah Page
-
The Underground Railroad (Television Tie-in)
- A Novel
- By: Colson Whitehead
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hell for all the slaves, but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood—where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Matters do not go as planned—Cora kills a young white boy who tries to capture her. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted.
-
-
Stupendous book, hard to follow in audio
- By JQR on 12-01-16
By: Colson Whitehead
-
Finding Tamika
- By: Erika Alexander, Kevin Hart, Charlamagne Tha God, and others
- Narrated by: Erika Alexander
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Black girls and women disappear every day, but not without a trace. Join actress and activist Erika Alexander in a neo-noir, true crime drama as she searches for Tamika Huston, a 24-year-old Black woman from Spartanburg, SC who went missing in 2004. Her case became a rallying cry for other missing Black women in America and led to a growing demand to expose a system that ignores missing girls and women of color.
-
-
Cynical conflation of two tragedies
- By Buretto on 03-26-22
By: Erika Alexander, and others
-
Girls & Boys
- By: Dennis Kelly
- Narrated by: Carey Mulligan
- Length: 1 hr and 46 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When they met at an airport, it was love at first sight. But in time, everything collapsed. As an unnamed but unforgettable woman muses on her life—from meet cute to marriage and parenthood—her recollections inexorably build to a devastating truth. In this shattering performance, Carey Mulligan, star of the critically lauded drama An Education, captivates audiences with playwright Dennis Kelly’s harrowing ruminations on family, ambition, gender, and violence.
-
-
Be aware of the content before listening
- By Anne Marie on 09-11-18
By: Dennis Kelly
-
Hidden Figures
- The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race
- By: Margot Lee Shetterly
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Before John Glenn orbited the Earth or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as "human computers" used pencils, slide rules, and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets and astronauts into space. Among these problem solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation.
-
-
Great Story of a History Obscured
- By Cynthia on 09-18-16
-
The Sandman
- By: Neil Gaiman, Dirk Maggs
- Narrated by: Riz Ahmed, Kat Dennings, Taron Egerton, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When The Sandman, also known as Lord Morpheus - the immortal king of dreams, stories and the imagination - is pulled from his realm and imprisoned on Earth by a nefarious cult, he languishes for decades before finally escaping. Once free, he must retrieve the three “tools” that will restore his power and help him to rebuild his dominion, which has deteriorated in his absence.
-
-
absolutely Epic!
- By Victor @ theAudiobookBlog dot com on 07-16-20
By: Neil Gaiman, and others
-
Mrs. Wickham
- By: Sarah Page
- Narrated by: Jessie Buckley, Johnny Flynn, full cast
- Length: 2 hrs and 3 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imagine if you made one little mistake when you were young and were punished for it for the rest of your life. Well, that’s what happened to Lydia (yes, that Lydia, the youngest Bennet sister from Pride and Prejudice), and she’s here to set the record straight. Hold on to your teacups and get ready for sophisticated (and a little bit naughty) hot takes and witty banter that’ll make you laugh—and think. We meet Lydia just as she is denounced by her family, exiled miles from home, and married to the rogue George Wickham, who seems to love all women...except his own wife.
-
-
Was I supposed to feel sorry?
- By LuJuna Brown-Jackson on 09-10-22
By: Sarah Page
-
The Underground Railroad (Television Tie-in)
- A Novel
- By: Colson Whitehead
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hell for all the slaves, but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood—where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Matters do not go as planned—Cora kills a young white boy who tries to capture her. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted.
-
-
Stupendous book, hard to follow in audio
- By JQR on 12-01-16
By: Colson Whitehead
-
Finding Tamika
- By: Erika Alexander, Kevin Hart, Charlamagne Tha God, and others
- Narrated by: Erika Alexander
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Black girls and women disappear every day, but not without a trace. Join actress and activist Erika Alexander in a neo-noir, true crime drama as she searches for Tamika Huston, a 24-year-old Black woman from Spartanburg, SC who went missing in 2004. Her case became a rallying cry for other missing Black women in America and led to a growing demand to expose a system that ignores missing girls and women of color.
-
-
Cynical conflation of two tragedies
- By Buretto on 03-26-22
By: Erika Alexander, and others
-
Girls & Boys
- By: Dennis Kelly
- Narrated by: Carey Mulligan
- Length: 1 hr and 46 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When they met at an airport, it was love at first sight. But in time, everything collapsed. As an unnamed but unforgettable woman muses on her life—from meet cute to marriage and parenthood—her recollections inexorably build to a devastating truth. In this shattering performance, Carey Mulligan, star of the critically lauded drama An Education, captivates audiences with playwright Dennis Kelly’s harrowing ruminations on family, ambition, gender, and violence.
-
-
Be aware of the content before listening
- By Anne Marie on 09-11-18
By: Dennis Kelly
-
Hidden Figures
- The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race
- By: Margot Lee Shetterly
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Before John Glenn orbited the Earth or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as "human computers" used pencils, slide rules, and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets and astronauts into space. Among these problem solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation.
-
-
Great Story of a History Obscured
- By Cynthia on 09-18-16
-
The Sandman
- By: Neil Gaiman, Dirk Maggs
- Narrated by: Riz Ahmed, Kat Dennings, Taron Egerton, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When The Sandman, also known as Lord Morpheus - the immortal king of dreams, stories and the imagination - is pulled from his realm and imprisoned on Earth by a nefarious cult, he languishes for decades before finally escaping. Once free, he must retrieve the three “tools” that will restore his power and help him to rebuild his dominion, which has deteriorated in his absence.
-
-
absolutely Epic!
- By Victor @ theAudiobookBlog dot com on 07-16-20
By: Neil Gaiman, and others
-
Dracula [Audible Edition]
- By: Bram Stoker
- Narrated by: Alan Cumming, Tim Curry, Simon Vance, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The modern audience hasn't had a chance to truly appreciate the unknowing dread that readers would have felt when reading Bram Stoker's original 1897 manuscript. Most modern productions employ campiness or sound effects to try to bring back that gothic tension, but we've tried something different. By returning to Stoker's original storytelling structure - a series of letters and journal entries voiced by Jonathan Harker, Dr. Van Helsing, and other characters - with an all-star cast of narrators, we've sought to recapture its originally intended horror and power.
-
-
IS THAT NOT SO?
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 11-05-15
By: Bram Stoker
-
Feeding the Dragon
- By: Sharon Washington
- Narrated by: Sharon Washington
- Length: 1 hr and 17 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For a book-obsessed kid with a big imagination and a flair for drama, could anything be luckier than living in a library? Capturing her remarkable childhood and its impact, Sharon Washington's autobiographical Off-Broadway show brings its sense of wonder and bittersweet realism into your home and heart as an enthralling audio experience. Only from Audible, Feeding the Dragon celebrates the role of books in opening Washington's mind to worlds of possibilities - including a career in acting.
-
-
Excellent story!
- By Imara Walker on 09-07-18
-
Not My Father's Son: A Memoir
- By: Alan Cumming
- Narrated by: Alan Cumming
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With ribald humor, wit, and incredible insight, Alan seamlessly moves back and forth in time, integrating stories from his childhood in Scotland and his experiences today as the celebrated actor of film, television, and stage. At times suspenseful, at times deeply moving, but always incredibly brave and honest, Not My Father's Son is a powerful story of embracing the best aspects of the past and triumphantly pushing the darkness aside.
-
-
The Best Part of Saturday
- By George Knight on 12-16-14
By: Alan Cumming
-
Alias Grace
- By: Margaret Atwood
- Narrated by: Margaret Atwood, Sarah Gadon
- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's 1843, and Grace Marks has been convicted for her involvement in the vicious murders of her employer and his housekeeper and mistress. Some believe Grace is innocent; others think her evil or insane. Now serving a life sentence, Grace claims to have no memory of the murders. An up-and-coming expert in the burgeoning field of mental illness is engaged by a group of reformers and spiritualists who seek a pardon for Grace. He listens to her story while bringing her closer and closer to the day she cannot remember.
-
-
Beautiful and Intense Story
- By Aparries on 11-27-17
By: Margaret Atwood
-
The Kite Runner
- By: Khaled Hosseini
- Narrated by: Khaled Hosseini
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why we think it’s a great listen: Never before has an author’s narration of his fiction been so important to fully grasping the book’s impact and global implications. Taking us from Afghanistan in the final days of its monarchy to the present, The Kite Runner is the unforgettable story of the friendship between two boys growing up in Kabul. Their intertwined lives, and their fates, reflect the eventual tragedy of the world around them.
-
-
A Worhty Read
- By P. C..S. on 08-17-03
By: Khaled Hosseini
-
My Evil Mother
- A Short Story
- By: Margaret Atwood
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Life is hard enough for a teenage girl in 1950s suburbia without having a mother who may—or may not—be a witch. A single mother at that. Sure, she fits in with her starched dresses, string of pearls, and floral aprons. Then there are the hushed and mystical consultations with neighborhood women in distress. The unsavory, mysterious plants in the flower beds. The divined warning to steer clear of a boyfriend whose fate is certainly doomed.
-
-
Great easy read
- By Fundamental I. on 04-02-22
By: Margaret Atwood
-
Invisible Man
- A Novel
- By: Ralph Ellison
- Narrated by: Joe Morton
- Length: 18 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ralph Elllison's Invisible Man is a monumental novel, one that can well be called an epic of modern American Negro life. It is a strange story, in which many extraordinary things happen, some of them shocking and brutal, some of them pitiful and touching—yet always with elements of comedy and irony and burlesque that appear in unexpected places. It is a book that has a great deal to say and which is destined to have a great deal said about it.
-
-
How Did This Escape Me?
- By E. Pearson on 11-23-11
By: Ralph Ellison
-
The End of the Affair
- By: Graham Greene
- Narrated by: Colin Firth
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Graham Greene’s evocative analysis of the love of self, the love of another, and the love of God is an English classic that has been translated for the stage, the screen, and even the opera house. Academy Award-winning actor Colin Firth (The King’s Speech, A Single Man) turns in an authentic and stirring performance for this distinguished audio release.
-
-
Colin Firth Kills It
- By Em on 05-09-12
By: Graham Greene
-
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
- By: Benjamin Alire Saenz
- Narrated by: Lin-Manuel Miranda
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship - the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.
-
-
One of the best novels I've listened to in years.
- By Nyx on 10-27-13
-
To Kill a Mockingbird
- By: Harper Lee
- Narrated by: Sissy Spacek
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Harper Lee’s Pulitzer prize-winning masterwork of honor and injustice in the deep south - and the heroism of one man in the face of blind and violent hatred, available now for the first time as a digital audiobook. One of the best-loved stories of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird has been translated into more than 40 languages, sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, served as the basis for an enormously popular motion picture, and was voted one of the best novels of the 20th century by librarians across the country.
-
-
A gift to be treasured
- By David Shear on 07-09-14
By: Harper Lee
-
Sankofa
- A Novel
- By: Chibundu Onuzo
- Narrated by: Sara Powell
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anna is at a stage of her life when she's beginning to wonder who she really is. She has separated from her husband, her daughter is all grown up, and her mother - the only parent who raised her - is dead. Searching through her mother's belongings one day, Anna finds clues about the African father she never knew. His student diaries chronicle his involvement in radical politics in 1970s London. Anna discovers that he eventually became the president - some would say dictator - of a small nation in West Africa. And he is still alive.
-
-
Really addictive!
- By Buddy on 10-15-21
By: Chibundu Onuzo
-
Evil Eye
- By: Madhuri Shekar
- Narrated by: Nick Choksi, Harsh Nayyar, Annapurna Sriram, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 38 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pallavi is an aspiring writer living in California. Her mother, Usha, is thousands of miles away in Delhi - and obsessed with finding her daughter a husband. In Madhuri Shekar’s ingenious Evil Eye, hilarious back-and-forth via phone and social media takes a shocking, supernatural twist when Pallavi meets the perfect man - leading to a climactic showdown that will leave listeners on the edges of their seats.
-
-
Holy Crap!
- By Avid Reader on 05-03-19
By: Madhuri Shekar
What listeners say about The Handmaid's Tale: Special Edition
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- WiremanReads
- 04-20-17
WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT
What made the experience of listening to The Handmaid's Tale: Special Edition the most enjoyable?
Claire Danes' Narration
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Handmaid's Tale: Special Edition?
LISTEN: I thought this was going to be the entire novel narrated by the full cast. Claire Danes and Tim Gerard Reynolds?! YES PLEASE.
BUT NO.
This is simply Claire Danes narrating the entire novel (wonderful job though) so if you already have a copy of the handmaiden's tale narrated by her DONT GET THIS ONE BECAUSE THE OTHER NARRATORS JUST READ THE EXTRAS TACKED ON AT THE END.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
907 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Brian
- 05-13-17
An enjoyable dystopian with a lot of truth
With the release of the series on Hulu that was based on this book, I decided to give the book a listen before watching any of the episodes. I told my wife to start it without me in case I didn't like the book or couldn't get through it.
I did have a hard time in the beginning of The Handmaid's Tale. Atwood's writing style is the epitome of the books teenagers are "forced" to read in high school that makes them feel like they don't enjoy reading. It was choppy and incredibly descriptive. For every description of something that Offred saw there were up to 5 lines about it in the book.
Honestly, that is the reason that I gave this a 4 out of 5. The story is awesome, and being written as long ago as I'm alive -- a lot of the main pillars of it are easily seen as coming true sooner rather than later. I believe that Atwood wrote this as an enigmatic "future" tale, not putting a date on it to age it. And it was written well enough that Hulu decided that they wanted to make a series out of it.
Offred was one of those characters that you both feel bad for and not. I think she was written this way so that you both feel pity for her and a little bit apathetic. By far I would not wish what Offred had to go through on anyone but at the same time, the way her character was written made it more or less blasé.
The dystopian future that Atwood created was easily what kept me reading this. It was interesting and deep. I would read more books about the lead-up and the start of the entire fall from grace. I absolutely loved her descriptions and the way that she left other things up to the reader's imagination.
If you're curious if you should pick this book up -- it really depends on how much you enjoy the story (or the writing). Some people enjoy long and over-explained diatribes (millions of Stephen King fans for example). But, don't say I didn't warn you.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
158 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Andre
- 06-03-17
The Novel of Our Time
What made the experience of listening to The Handmaid's Tale: Special Edition the most enjoyable?
The story itself made the experience of listening to The Handmaid's Tale most enjoyable. It seems plausible and prescient. I can see how Christian fundamentalist can overthrow the government and set up an Old Testament style theocracy in which women are subjugated and valued only for their ability to birth children. Atwood looked to history and current trends to follow them to their logical, although frightening, conclusion.
What other book might you compare The Handmaid's Tale: Special Edition to and why?
I compared The Handmaid's Tale to George Orwell's 1984 and to Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 in that all three described a dystopian world in which people are always watched and information is controlled, omitted, and altered to benefit the elite of a totalitarian regime.
What about the narrators’s performance did you like?
Claire Danes did a phenomenal job at narrating this book. She brings a actress' craft and skill with voices and characters, creating a seamless performance. The other actors at the Gilead symposium two hundred years into the future fleshed out the novel in a scene that enlightened and humored me as it poked fun at academics.
Who was the most memorable character of The Handmaid's Tale: Special Edition and why?
Of course, Offred was the most memorable character in The Handmaid's Tale. Her narrative reminded me of slave narratives and the Diary of Ann Frank. She told a compelling story of struggling to survive in a world hostile towards women, towards freedom. I saw this world from her eyes and at once was entranced and felt revulsion. It is all the more sad when I can see how this can happen here in America.
Any additional comments?
The Special Edition of The Handmaid's Tale is an exceptional production. Given that the narrator Offred recorded her account on thirty cassette tapes, the story works better heard rather than read as a book or seen on TV. Even the snippets of music at the beginning of each cassette were a nice touch, bringing her story to life as it was recorded.This is one of the greatest novels I have listened to this year, but also one of the most frightening because I can see how this can happen here.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Paula Glasl
- 04-19-17
A true dystopian classic!
In a world where women's rights have been completely obliterated, Offred's tale serves as a stark warning about the perils of acquiescing to unwarranted governmental control.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- David C.
- 12-16-19
The Highway to Hell is paved with Theocrats
It took a few years, but we finally got around to watching the three seasons of The Handmaid's Tale on Hulu. That, of course, prompted the reading of the book. And, though written in 1984 (how's that for irony) it is a dark and dystopian cautionary tale when religious fundamentalists are allowed to govern as timely now as when it was written.
Set in the near future the novel documents the take over of America by an oppressive totalitarian system crafted by Christian fundamentalists who were inspired by the 16th Century patriarchy of the American Puritan blended with the overarching self righteous evangelical movements of religious fundamentalism more in line with the fascism of the Taliban than with the Old Testament that dominates the culture and lifestyle of the Sons of Jacob that rules The Republic of Gilead, the nation that rose from the ashes of a violent and bloody coup of what was the United States.
While Margaret Atwood's novel broadly influences the television series, there are minor differences to make the show more realistic in a 21st century environment. In many ways, in an effort to make the serries more inclusive, it white washes the underlying white supremacy of the original story where dark skinned people, children or not, don't really have a place in the balm of Gilead, except perhaps, as labor in the colonies which, in an of itself, offers no long term prospects.
While the book is timely, it more than anything demonstrates that periods of blight, despoliation and scarcity are ripe for instilling the rampant fear that makes totalitarianism not only possible, but likely.
As well as her many prizes, Margaret Atwood just won her second Booker Award, which she was co-awarded with Bernardine Evaristo, for The Testaments, the sequel to Handmaid's Tale. I will be getting to that in the future and be curious to see how well it aligns with seasons two and three.
Both the book and the show are excellent and well worth the time investment.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Bgrl82
- 05-05-17
wow
This story is amazing... and terrifying. Made even scarier by current events which make it seem like we're on our way to our own HMT... Danes spectacular reading made the story even better. I'm watching the show now, and it's throwing me off seeing the actress playing her, when I listened to the story I pictured Claire Danes in the role. Everyone should read this.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Eli
- 03-17-19
Buyer Beware.....
This is a deeply disturbing read because of it's implicit plausibility - published in the 1985(!!!), the story doesn't feel very far-fetched for the atmosphere of today's culture. Having read the book, then watched the Hulu series, the series is so much more hopeful!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jacqueline Burnette
- 09-02-21
Special Edition
I'm glad I got the special edition, the essay and interview at the end were great
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Michael
- 02-13-21
Fantastic!
This is a truly awesome piece of writing. “It is at the same time the future and the past.” Reading this “Tale” makes you wonder how you would fared in a similar situation and ultimately makes you come to terms with just how much work our societal structure requires from us to maintain its democratic characteristics.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Marie
- 10-07-19
so good, makes ya think
supression is a bad habit and everyone is valuable in the day to day life
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!