Much has been written about the recent epidemic of loneliness in America. The Unclaimed: Abandonment and Hope in the City of Angels (9.5 hours), an impeccably researched collaboration by sociologists Pamela Prickett and Stefan Timmermans, traces that epidemic to its tragic and perhaps inevitable conclusion, as it follows the stories of four individuals whose bodies are unclaimed and destined for county disposal after their death. Nan McNamara’s direct and compelling narration mirrors the clarity of the text, which combines personal narratives with historical and cultural context, including the not insignificant task of explaining the bureaucratic apparatus surrounding death. Most moving are the stories of people providing ritual and ceremony for those they never knew: abandoned infants, forgotten veterans, the deserted and estranged. The extensive afterword is worth a listen, too, to understand and fully appreciate the complexities of the issue and the work involved in creating this heartbreaking but essential project.

Grief Is for People (6 hours) is a dual story of loss from the perspective of author and audiobook narrator Sloane Crosley. In 2019, in quick succession, Crosley’s home in New York City was burglarized and her best friend, Russell, whom she had known and worked with for decades, died by suicide. In the months that follow, the two tragedies meld together in Crosley’s mind, and she pursues the recovery of her stolen items with the fervor of someone trying to bring back the dead. Crosley’s narration is frank and articulate, a perfect complement to the wit and candor of her prose. Grief Is for People is Crosley’s personal story of processing, broken into five sections mirroring the five stages of grief. However, this memoir is also an homage to Russell, to his brilliance and nuance, his talent and his legacy and the gaping hole left behind by his death.

In James (8 hours) Percival Everett retells one of America’s most beloved and most controversial novels, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, from the point of view of one of America’s most beloved and most controversial characters, the escaped slave Jim. Everett subverts Twain’s depiction of Jim as the passive witness of Huck’s adventures, and instead reveals Jim, who goes by James, to be the increasingly dynamic subject of his own story.

Voice is crucial to this reenvisioning, as James deliberately changes his diction depending on whether he is speaking to white people, to other enslaved people, or addressing himself. Much of the tension and drama in the story occurs when James slips and his voice accidentally, and dangerously, reveals his true self. Dominic Hoffman’s deft performance of James’s many voices reveals his complexity and humanity with more immediacy and power than simply reading the words on the page could.