Leeanna Walsman’s moving performance in the audiobook of Emma Grey’s The Last Love Note (11 hours) conveys the myriad of complex emotions an Australian woman experiences after her husband’s unexpectedly early death. This uplifting story about grief, love and joy after a loss may be especially appealing to fans of Cecelia Ahren and Jojo Moyes.

Two years after her husband’s death from early onset Alzheimer’s disease, Kate Whittaker is still afflicted by confusion and angst as she tries to move on. Walsman’s pitch-perfect narration captures Kate’s fluctuating emotional and mental states throughout an engaging blend of drama and light moments, like when Kate must contend with her guilty attraction to her new neighbor or the bossiness of her micromanaging mother. The sound effect used for telephone conversations and Walsman’s fitting Australian accent add to the dynamic nature of this audio production.

The Wonderful World of James Herriot (12 hours) collects James Herriot’s classic tales into a warm, welcoming audiobook. Based on his work as a veterinarian for farming communities, Herriot’s writing captures a humor and a gentleness that makes for a delightful listen.

While the audio version misses out on the print edition’s illustrations, it gains a comforting resemblance to the experience of hearing bedtime stories read aloud. The introduction is read by Herriot’s daughter, Rosie Page, and the stories by narrators Anna Madeley and Nicholas Ralph, who also star in “All Creatures Great and Small,” the TV show based on Herriot’s work. Madeley and Ralph deliver each character and scene in bright, vivid tones that match the charm of Herriot’s writing.

The Wonderful World of James Herriot gives listeners a peek into Herriot’s life, tracing parallels between his time on rural homesteads and his well-loved tales. This collection invites listeners to sit back, relax and reminisce about more peaceful times.

Read our literary gifts feature on the print edition of The Wonderful World of James Herriot.

Robbie Stephens, Jr. is sent to Gracetown School for Boys after protecting Gloria, his older sister, from a wealthy white boy. At the reformatory, where boys are punished for their “crimes,” students are going missing—and with his ability to see haints, or ghosts, Robbie can uncover the truth behind these disappearances. Dark and terrifying, The Reformatory (21 hours) paints a haunting picture of the Jim Crow South, based partially on author Tananarive Due’s family history.

Joniece Abbott-Pratt gives a multifaceted voice to this audiobook, narrating alternatively with a hushed urgency that adds to the tension and terror of the most gruesome, frightening moments, and a steady, hopeful tone that conveys the Stephenses’ love and perseverance. The Reformatory contains both intensely difficult subject matter and resonant emotional scenes, and Abbott-Pratt’s deft navigation between different moods will keep you listening closely.

Read our starred review of the print edition of The Reformatory.

Through a dialogue between an unnamed young gay man and an older, dying man named Juan Gay, National Book Award-winner Blackouts (Macmillan Audio, 7 hours) explores the suppression of queer history. Interspersed throughout the book are poems constructed by blacking out words from pages of Sex Variants: A Study in Homosexual Patterns, an actual book by queer sex researcher Jan Gay. Its production, and the eventual removal of Gay’s name from the book, form the basis for much of the story.

The audio version reinforces the book’s unique structure by featuring different voice actors for the two main characters: Torian Brackett as the young man and Ozzie Rodriguez as Juan Gay. Brackett and Rodriguez are convincing narrators, and the end of their story is particularly moving. Author Justin Torres himself reads the erasure poems in a quiet and almost whispery voice, affectingly reminding the listener of the act of redaction that is at the heart of Blackouts.

Read our starred review of the print edition of Blackouts.

Following Jack and Elizabeth from their meet cute as alt rock-loving college students in 1990s Chicago to their contemplation of a move to the suburbs in the early 21st century, the audiobook of Nathan Hill’s second novel Wellness (19 hours) chronicles not only the couple’s evolving love story but also the ever-shifting wellness culture that forms its partial backdrop. Even though the audio version of this expansive novel stretches to almost 19 hours, Ari Fliakos’s warm, intelligent narration sustains listeners’ interest. Fliakos, who also read Hill’s (even longer) debut, The Nix, excels at differentiating among a dozen or more primary and secondary characters of different genders and ages, making the dialogue sections especially engaging. With wry humor and pathos, this Gen X coming-of-(middle)-age novel makes for a profoundly emotional and humanistic listening experience.

Read our starred review of the print edition of Wellness.

The Caretaker (6 hours) is a moving story of love, fidelity and friendship set in the North Carolina mountains during the Korean War. Author Ron Rash draws on Shakespeare: Characters include a philosophical gravedigger, a scheming town leader and his wife, a young man unsure of life’s meaning in the face of death, and, in perhaps the clearest parallel, star-crossed lovers defying their parents. Never heavy-handed, these allusions give the novel a beautiful sense of inevitability without revealing what the ending will be.

Drawing on his Kentucky roots, James Patrick Cronin narrates with an authentic timbre and pace. His low-key performance and sympathetic portrayal of even the most unsympathetic characters allows the listener to hear Rash’s message: Love can both redeem us and cause us to betray those whom we love the most.