Author: Kendra Winchester

After listening to a series of “just okay” audiobooks this month, I was ready for something to really blow me away. In came The Birds of Opulence by Crystal Wilkinson. While it first came out in print a few years ago, it wasn’t until just a month or two ago that this incredible novel was released on audio.

The novel begins in the early 1960s in a place called Opulence, Kentucky. There, we meet generations of Black women who have been raising their daughters in the town since anyone can remember. From a surprise birth on a winter’s day to secret love affairs to dramatic funerals, these women see it all.

I especially love Wilkinson’s prose. There’s just something about the way she describes the fields on the family land or the relationship between mother and daughter that had me hanging on every word.

Allyson Johnson narrates the story with her masterful skill. Instead of trying to imitate the Appalachian Kentucky dialect, Johnson just uses touches of dialect here and there to give hints of how the characters might be speaking. It’s the perfect balance of accent, giving listeners a taste of the flavor of the region.

Narrated by Allyson Johnson (Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia by Sabrina Strings and Citizen by Claudia Rankine)

When a Frenchwoman falls in love with a Moroccan soldier, she has no idea what’s in store for her. After WWII ends, she moves with her new husband to Morocco, and her new life begins. What she imagined as the adventure of her life soon turns to an incredible disappointment as she is ostracized and isolated. Her biracial daughter faces difficulties of her own as she is teased by classmates for having a French mother. With In the Country, Slimani steps up her game and gives us a one-of-a-kind story that is must listen.

Narrated by Lara Sawalha (A Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar and The Silence of Scheherazade by Betsy Göksel)

I love a cute story around baking, and Battle Royal does not disappoint. When two former rivals learn that they will both be competing for the opportunity to bake the cake for an upcoming royal wedding, the gloves come off and the competition begins. The two go head to head in the competition, each showing their own personal flare for their craft. But who will be choosen? The classic perfectionist Dominic? Or the one-of-a-kind Sylvie? 

Narrated by Billie Fulford-Brown (Jane in Love by Rachel Givney and Act Like It by Lucy Parker)

The much-anticipated follow up to Raybearer is here! Jordan Ifueko is back to continue Tarisai’s story. Now coming into her own power, our protagonist must choose her own council, those who will help her survive. She knows what her kingdom expects of her, and she’s determined to see it through. But she doesn’t realize that the throne she sits upon represents all her kingdom must answer for. Can Tarisai figure out how to make amends for the sins of her kingdom’s past?

Narrated by Joniece Abbott-Pratt (The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris and Legendborn by Tracy Deonn)

In one of the most anticipated novels of the year, Velvet Was the Night, Silvia Moreno-Garcia takes on a brand new, noir-inspired story. In Mexico City, during the 1970s, Maite works as a secretary who loves reading the latest romance stories in her favorite magazine. She dreams of passion and love, hoping for a life beyond the boring office around her. When her next-door neighbor disappears, she finds herself in the middle of a very real mystery. But what starts out as a search for a missing person soon turns into a full blown scheme involving political dissidents.

Narrated by Gisela Chípe (The Soul of a Woman by Isabel Allende and It Is Wood, It Is Stone by Gabriella Burnham)

Meilan loves her family of uncles, aunts, and grandparents who all work with her parents at the family bakery, but when the family’s matriarch dies, Meilan’s entire world is turned upside down. Her parents have a disagreement with some of the other family members, and Meilan finds herself far away from her home in Boston. In Rosebud, Ohio, where few people have heard of Boston’s Chinatown, Meilan must learn a whole new world. This is a beautiful story of a Chinese American girl coming into her own in a whole new way.

Narrated by Annie Q (As Many Nows as I Can Get by Shana Youngdahl and Hello (from Here) by Chandler Baker and Wesley King)

Readers with kids often ask me for recommendations so they can make reading women in translation something they do as a family, so I thought I’d start with two books for young people. The one is Inkheart, which I have listened to and relistened to countless times over the years. The book follows a young girl named Meggie whose father repairs books. She loves her quiet life with her dad, but when a mysterious visitor named Dustfinger shows up at their door, Meggie’s whole world begins to change.

This audiobook is the perfect adventure for any young bookworm who has always wondered what they would do if they ever had the opportunity to meet the characters from their favorite books. Lynn Redgrave performs the book perfectly, creating the most incredible voices for each of Inkheart’s memorable characters. 

Narrated by Lynn Redgrave (Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis and The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield)

As the second book that would be perfect for the kids in your life, I have to tell you about A Winter’s Promise, which is part of a quartet of fantasy novels translated from French by Hildegarde Serle. Our protagonist, Ophelia, lives in a world where people live on Arks, floating pieces of land that each have their own culture and customs. Her parents decide to marry her off to a man far to the north, sending her off to meet her future in-laws with just her chaperone as company. Soon, Ophelia finds herself entangled in the political machinations of the different factions in her new home. Emma Fenney does a fantastic job capturing the large cast of characters and providing distinct voices for them that help the listener remember who is who.

Narrated by Emma Fenney (Envy by Amanda Robson and The Stylist by Rosie Nixon)

Like many readers back in 2015, I found myself entangled in the incredible story that is Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan quartet. Lena and Lenu are two best friends from a working class neighborhood of Naples. Their relationship is fraught with jealousy, competition, and manipulation. For the entire series, we watch as these two characters are drawn back to each other again and again through the decades. If you want a saga that will capture your attention from the first page until the last, this is it! Hillary Huber narrates the audiobook edition, giving listeners a narrator that they can get invested in and stick with for the entire series.

Narrated by Hillary Huber (Library at Mount by Char by Scott Hawkins and Final Girls by Riley Sager)

I listened to Notes of a Crocodile last year, and it stood out as one of my favorite audiobooks. The story begins with an unnamed narrator writing her story of attending university in Taiwan in the 1980s. She describes her experience falling in love with another girl in her class and her own struggle with internalized homophobia. As her story unravels, we watch as she creates a found family for herself in her search for a place to belong. Jo Mei narrates the audiobook skillfully, capturing the voice of the unnamed protagonist so well.

Narrated by Jo Mei (The Eighth Girl by Maxine Mei-Fung Chung)

Winner of the 2016 Man Booker International Prize, The Vegetarian needs no introduction. The novel focuses on a young woman who decides to become a vegetarian, much to her family’s horror. As time passes, they become more and more convinced that the protagonist needs to be pulled out of what they believe to be an irrational belief. Narrators Janet Song and Stephen Park draw listeners into the story quickly, making this audiobook incredibly engrossing.

Narrated by Janet Song (All you Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung) and Stephen Park (The Street of a Thousand Blossoms by Gail Tsukiyama)

The Enlightenment of the Greenage Tree begins with the death of the narrator. Although dead, she remains with her family as they flee the city for the Iranian countryside. There, each family member experiences their own fantastical journey to untangle meaning from the series of tragedies that they’ve experienced. Azar uses her own imagination and inspiration from Persian folklore to weave together a narrative all her own. One of my favorite narrators, Priya Ayyar, creates the perfect feel for the audiobook edition.

Narrated by Priya Ayyar (Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed and The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani)

Before listening, I’d heard so many wonderful things about this fantastical title, which features the title character, Elatsoe, and her adventures in a world much like our own, but with vampires, elves, and many more otherworldly creatures. Through a secret passed down by generations of Lipan Apache women, Elatsoe possesses the ability to summon the dead. But her mother always warned her: only ever summon the spirits of animals, never the ghosts of humans.

But when her cousin dies in a car wreck, she feels incredibly tempted to call upon him to help find out what happened. Before she can make a decision, her cousin visits her in her dreams and tells her that he was murdered. Determined to find justice for her cousin, Elatsoe heads to her cousin’s home in rural Texas and begins questioning the townspeople.

I’ve been wanting to read this novel from the moment I learned that it existed, so I couldn’t have been more thrilled to listen to the audiobook on the trip. From the first few moments of the story, the concept and worldbuilding captured my attention. There’s something special about the way Little Badger creates Elatsoe’s world.

Kinsale Hueston performs the novel in a way that captures Elatsoe’s personality, humor, and strength. Hueston hasn’t narrated many audiobook titles yet, and I look forward to hearing more from her!

Narrated by Kinsale Hueston (Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse)

This quiet novel focuses on Yao Tian, a Chinese singer, who has travelled to the United States for a concert. But when he takes an extra gig to help pay for his daughter’s tuition, he has no idea that this choice will change his future forever. I loved listening to Liberty discuss this book on All the Books—I immediately went and found the audio after listening to her describe it!

Narrated by Feodor Chin (A Single Swallow by Zhang Ling and The Ruin of Kings by Jessica Lyons)

A man is murdered and his three adult kids all have a reason, besides their incredible inheritance, to want their father dead. There’s nothing like a messy family novel, so of course Not a Happy Family is right in my wheelhouse. And if you love a novel with all sorts of twists, family secrets, and gasp out loud moments, then this is for you.

Narrated by Ellen Archer (Room by Emma Donoghue)

There’s nothing like listening to a poet read their own work, so of course I’m all here for Maggie Smith’s new collection Goldenrod. These poems focus on the ideas of solitude, parenthood, love, memory, and so much more. There’s something about the way that Smith captures snapshots of everyday life that makes her poems all-engrossing.

Narrated by the Author

I love a good fairytale retelling, but this one hits a bit differently. Adele is a guardian of folks who live in the town of Oakvale, which is surrounded by a dark wood. These guardians wear red cloaks and hoods, harkening back to a certain young woman wandering through a wolf-infested forest. This fascinating take on a beloved tale is sure to not disappoint.

Narrated by Taylor Meskimen (West by Edith Pattou and Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen)

Perfect for any Star Wars lover, this young adult author Justina Ireland spins a tale of Sylvestri Yarrow, who’s been carrying the weight of the family business on her young shoulders ever since her mother passed. There’s also a Jedi Knight and her padawan who are summoned to Coruscant under mysterious conditions. Justina Ireland brings all of her action writing skills to her take on the beloved Star Wars universe, and I am here for it!

Narrated by Keylor Leigh

The moment I heard about Ghost Forest, I knew I had to listen to it. This novel, told in vignettes, follows a family from Hong Kong that moves to Canada. But while his wife and daughter move across the world, the father stays in Hong Kong for work. Our unnamed protagonist shares snippets of her life with us, always circling back to her father and his visits or his absence. When her father becomes ill, the protagonist begins to ponder her life, her father’s life, and what it means for her.

The women in the story create a backbone for the novel as they constantly tell each other stories. As we listen to them share their memories, each new chapter reveals something new about the family, and we begin to see a more complete picture of our protagonist.

There’s an incredible scene where our protagonist tries to figure out how to tell her very ill father that she loves him. This one moment gives us a deeper understanding of the full extent of our protagonist’s emotional struggle as she tries to connect with her father.

Pik-Shuen Fung narrates the audiobook, performing her poetic prose beautifully. She presents each vignette as a polished gem for us to admire, her prose and voice perfectly blending together to create a truly wonderful listening experience. The novel is full of deeply emotional moments where Fung’s narration feels like part of the story itself.

Narrated by Pik-Shuen Fung

As a huge Jasmine Guillory fan, I hit play as soon as the romance novel hit my iPhone’s audiobook app. I loved this whirlwind romance between Ben Stephens, who works in marketing, and Anna Gardiner, whose Hollywood star is on the rise. It contains all the best things: witty banter, plenty of food, and steamy sex scenes. Janina Edwards performs the audiobook perfectly, as always.

Narrated by Janina Edwards (The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Janina Edwards and No One Is Coming to Save Us by Stephanie Powell Watts)

The author of the much-beloved Wayfarer series has created a brand new world to dive into, beginning a new series with A Psalm for the Wild Build. Years before the novel begins, the robots of Panga became sentient and walked away from their lives of servitude. They now wander the forest. When a tea monk meets a robot who asks him, “What do you need?”, the monk begins to think and interrogate the question. Emmett Grosland captures the vibe of a monk meeting a sentient robot, which I can’t imagine has been a kind of audiobook that comes up often for audiobook narrators.

Narrated by Emmett Grosland

OH MY GOODNESS, this audiobook!! I’d never read Samantha Downing before, but as soon as I heard David Pittu’s rendition of Tony Crutcher’s narrative voice, I was hooked. Crutcher hates the students at the private school where he teaches English Literature, so he doesn’t really care when a series of mysterious deaths happen on campus. But when people start digging into his personal life, he’s had enough. From start to finish, I hung on every word, unable to stop listening (who needs sleep?!).

Narrated by David Pittu (Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York by Elon Green and The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt)

Our protagonist arrives at the Hague with a one-year contract to work as an interpreter. While she gets to know her new home in New York City, she finds herself entangled in other people’s lives who are also snared in their own messy relationships. The engrossing whirlwind of her life causes her to take a look at her choices in a new way that makes her reassess her place in the world. Audiobook narrator Traci Kato-Kiriyama captures the viewpoint character’s perspective so well in her performance.

Narrated by Traci Kato-Kiriyama, (The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World by Laura Imai Messina and The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa)

While I didn’t have the internet after Elsa came to town, I listened to audiobooks downloaded on my phone. It felt restorative to listen to Robin Wall Kimmerer read her audiobook Braiding Sweetgrass to me. Each essay in the book focuses on a different aspect of how human beings are part of nature, holding key roles in many of its ecosystems. There’s just something so special with how Kimmerer encourages folks to think about their actions and how that affects the natural world around them.

With her encouragement, I walked outside and began looking at the palm trees and tall grasses around my house. I moved outside of Appalachia for the first time back in October, so many of the plants were unfamiliar to me. I pulled out my Seek app and began learning about the different species of fauna that make their home near mine.

That’s where Robin Wall Kimmerer shines best. With her stories of learning how to weave baskets from freshly felled trees to scooping algae out of her pond, you get the sense she knows the wildlife around her intimately, as fellow sharers of the land. There’s so much wisdom in this book. I know it’s one I’ll listen to again and again.

Narrated by Robin Wall Kimmerer

This incredible novel came out in hardcover last summer, but we FINALLY have an audiobook as of the end of last June. I adored Even As We Breathe and can’t stop talking about it. This work of historical fiction follows a disabled Cherokee man named Cowney who gets a summer job at the historic Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina. While WWII rages on, the US military is using the inn to hold prisoner foreign diplomats of enemy countries. When a young Japanese girl goes missing, Cowney is racially profiled and brought in for questioning. Kaipo Schwab performs the audiobook with such emotional depth, capturing Cowney’s perspective perfectly.

Narrated by Kaipo Schwab, who is also part of the cast who performs Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse and Kink edited by Garth Greenwell and R.O. Kwon

This week, The Birds of Opulence arrived in my audiobook app, and I could not have been more excited. I’ve waited for the audio edition for several years now and feel overjoyed that the time has finally arrived! Affrilachian author Crystal Wilkinson is the current Poet Laureate of Kentucky, but she also writes fiction! The Birds of Opulence is in many ways a family story that focuses on the different generations of Black women in the same community. Narrator Allyson Johnson captures the beautiful cadence of Wilkinson’s incredible prose.

Narrated by Allyson Johnson, who also performs The History of White People by Nell Irvin Painter and Fearing the Black Body by Sabrina Strings

Though the audiobook for Pure America was delayed only a couple months, I could not have been more thrilled to have one of my most anticipated releases of 2021 finally in my hands (well, in an audiobook app on my phone, which I was holding…close enough!). Perhaps most well known for her book What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia (which she wrote in response to the unfortunately popular Hillbilly Elegy), Catte is back with Pure America, a look at the role of eugenics in Virginia. With the #FreeBritney movement saturating our newsfeeds, this audiobook comes at the perfect time. The discussion around Britney’s conservatorship has shined a spotlight on how America’s healthcare and legal systems have repeatedly failed and often actively harmed disabled people. Pure America tackles this same topic with Catte’s signature attention to detail and finesse. Jo Anna Perrin performance shines when she’s narrating the complicated details throughout the book, making it easy for listeners to follow along.

Narrated by Jo Anna Perrin, who also performs What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia by Elizabeth Catte

As a kid, I used to listen to audiobooks on my boom box like there was no tomorrow. I fell in love with the audiobook production company Full Cast Audio, which produced books from children’s authors Tamora Pierce and Bruce Coville. But my favorite book of theirs was the full-cast production of His Dark Materials Trilogy. I still listen to the series every few years and cry at the end of The Amber Spyglass every time.

Narrated by Philip Pullman and a full cast

I’ve written a couple of times about my love of playing video games and listening to audiobooks. Sabriel inspired many of my adventures in World of Warcraft—Abhorsen is even my character’s name! Tim Curry (yes, THE Tim Curry) narrates this dark story of the Abhorsen, the title of the person tasked with hunting down necromancers throughout the Old Kingdom. Curry does a particularly excellent job voicing Mogget, a cat (sort of) who is the Abhorsen’s official companion and provides much of the book’s comedic relief.

Narrated by Tim Curry

As a disabled person, I rarely see that part of myself in books. But when I heard about Disability Visibility, I knew I had to pick it up. The essays from the writers inside were everything I’d hoped they’d be, and I felt seen in ways I never had before. Later, Alice Wong told me she wanted as many disabled people included in the project as possible, so she was delighted that Alejandra Ospina, who is also disabled, was chosen to perform the audiobook.

Narrated by Alejandra Ospina

As an Appalachian, I can’t help but notice that folks often have a certain memoir in mind when they think of Appalachian Literature. So when Appalachian writer Deesha Philyaw started taking the world by storm with her short story collection, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, I couldn’t have been more thrilled. Philyaw has this way of capturing her characters on a page that is all-engrossing. The all-star audiobook narrator Janina Edwards performs the collection, making the listening experience as close to perfection as you can get.

Narrated by Janina Edwards

I remember The Fifth Season not just as my first time listening to N.K. Jemisin, but also as the first time I remember adoring Robin Miles. There’s a video online where Miles and Jemisin discuss the making of the audiobook edition, and it’s this magical piece of insider perspective on what a narrator brings to the table.

Narrated by Robin Miles

After her incredibly successful debut You Should See Me in a Crown, Leah Johnson is back with Rise to the Sun, another young adult queer romance. Like most of the bookternet, I adored Johnson’s first novel, especially since the audiobook edition is narrated by Alaska Jackson, who became an instant favorite of mine. Jackson is back to narrate Rise to the Sun, but this time with Lexi Underwood, and the two make a fabulous team.

Narrated by Alaska Jackson and Lexi Underwood

The moment I heard Adam Lazarre-White read the first line of this book, I became hooked. The novel focuses on two ex-cons whose sons are both murdered. They carry a lot with them, including their mixed emotions about their sons being gay and very much in love with each other. But their quest for justice for their sons unites them in a single cause. So buckle in. Crosby’s second novel is just as all-engrossing as his first.

Narrated by Adam Lazarre-White

Sonali Dev is back with another Jane Austen retelling, and this time she’s retelling Sense and Sensibility. The novel focuses on Yash Raje, California’s first Indian American gubernatorial candidate, who starts to spiral after witnessing his friend become a victim of a hate crime. Yash’s family turns to his sister’s best friend, India Dashwood, to help teach Yash stress management. This is a romantic comedy, so you can see where this is going, but with Sonali Dev’s storytelling, it’s sure to be quite the journey. As an added bonus, one of my favorite narrators, Soneela Nankani, performs the audiobook!

Narrated by Soneela Nankani