Behind the Scenes Photos from Sally Rooney’s New Audiobook!

As a mood reader, I expect for my reading to wander from book to book for no apparent reason at all. One day I might want to read a mystery novel and the next I can’t get enough of a nonfiction book about what happens to our bodies after we die. But for the last few years, I’ve noticed an entirely new-to-me mood: the Sally Rooney mood.

I may be in the minority in that I enjoyed both Conversations with Friends AND Normal People. There’s just something about reading about Irish millennials making poor decisions that’s established itself in my mind as its own particular feeling.

So when I picked up Beautiful World, Where Are You, I expected confused 20-somethings walking around with an intense amount of angst from not actually sitting down and working out their own feelings. And, my stars, does this novel deliver.

Alice, Felix, Eileen, and Simon all circle around each other as they try to recover from past bad relationships, mental health struggles, and anxiety about the ever looming present. Sometimes you want to sit them down like misbehaving preschoolers and make them talk it out.

Now, I say all this, but I want to be clear; I adore Rooney’s storytelling in Beautiful World, Where Are You. Her stark descriptions and direct style keep her prose straightforward, so that the email, text, and dialogue pop off the page.

Such a heavy emphasis on dialogue could have proved difficult for even the most seasoned audiobook narrator, but Aoife McMahon rose to the occasion. Her ability to capture the voices of each of the four main characters is nothing but brilliant. She packs so much life and vibrancy into her delivery, I found myself completely swept away, just sitting down and staring into space.

Here are a few behind-the-scenes photos of Aoife McMahon reading Beautiful World, Where Are You, provided by Macmillan Audio. I love McMahon’s expressions while she’s reading!

Star-crossed lovers, Kostas and Defne, share stolen moments in a beautiful garden. Once war breaks out, they’re separated. After the war, Kostos returns to the place of his forbidden love. While he says he’s there for work, in reality he’s searching for Defne. Years later, Ada Kazantzakis searches for the answers of what happened to her family.

Narrated by Daphne Kouma and Amira Ghazalla (The Moon-spinners by Mary Stewart and To Save My Child by Emma Robinson)

As a biracial Chinese American girl, Willa Chen has never felt like she fit in anywhere. But after her parents divorce, she doesn’t feel like she fits in at home either. After years of feeling adrift, Willa decides to nanny for a wealthy white couple and sees everything she never had dangled in front of her on a daily basis.

Narrated by Natalie Naudus (One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston and The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang)

Celeste Headlee, the author of We Need to Talk, is back with Speaking of Race, where she discusses how society speaks about race. While many people say they want to speak more about race, research shows we’re more likely to stay in our own bubbles than to engage with those who disagree with us. Headlee examines this data and discusses what that means for us here in America.

Narrated by Celeste Headlee (Do Nothing by Celeste Headlee and We Need to Talk by Celeste Headlee)

Adam Stillwater and Whitney Mitchell are two lonely teenagers who work across the street from each other. They view each other as rivals, but when they are trapped inside by a snow storm, things begin to change. *sigh* I love a good, “oh no, we’re trapped in by snow storm. Whatever shall we do?” story. 

Narrated by Sunil Malhotra and Natalie Naudus (Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo and A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza)

From the author of The Wolf Border comes Hall’s latest novel, Burntcoat, which is set during the spread of a deadly virus. Artist Edith Harkness locks herself in her studio with a man barely more than a stranger to her. As time passes, their relationship changes, but is it changing for the better or for worse?

Narrated by Louise Brealey (The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides and The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins)

Based in West African mythology, Skin of the Sea features Simi, a young woman who serves the gods as a Mami Wata, a mermaid. Being a Mami Wata is all Simi ever wanted, but when she rescues a man from drowning, her place as a Mami Wata to the gods is put into jeopardy.

Narrated by Yetide Badaki (Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor and The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi)