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.

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.

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.

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.

In the male-dominated landscape of wartorn 1963 Saigon, Vietnam, Tricia and Charlene are two American wives striving to be the best possible “helpmeets” to their military husbands: sociable, graceful, obedient, obliging. Through author Alice McDermott’s precise, lingering prose, these women otherwise relegated to the margins bloom with agency and empathy. Charlene’s immense business acumen flares along the line between altruism and absurdity. Tricia struggles to become a mother and to be a good Samaritan, but finds herself held back by the limits of her body and the expectations imposed on a woman of her upper-class status.

Rachel Kenney’s warm, heartfelt narration is a complement to Tricia’s fading naiveté and the strength of her moral compass. Jesse Vilinsky, who voices Charlene’s daughter, Rainey, when she reconnects with Tricia 60 years later, lends a bright, gentle tone to a woman seeking closure. Absolution (10 hours) is not a story about remarkable events, but a story that teases out the remarkableness in everyday people—in neighbors, servants, childhood friends, spouses. It is a breath of fresh air amongst war novels devoted to the machinations of war, speaking instead to war’s ripple effect off the battlefield and years down the line.

Ross Gay’s earlier books, The Book of Delights and Inciting Joy, have established him as a writer of highly crafted essayettes on delight—that most elusive but absolutely essential human emotion. The audiobook of The Book of (More) Delights (7 hours) confirms Gay’s ability to discover delight even when it is hidden in sorrow, anger or tedium.

Gay is an award-winning poet, and consequently he understands the power not only of words and imagery, but of punctuation, structure and, especially, sound. His careful reading gives pauses their due, releases the rhythm and rhyme that prose so often hides, and subtly emphasizes descriptions of a beloved nana, flower or friend. There’s nothing pretentious about his reading; instead, it simply brims with the honest pleasure of acknowledging life’s unexpected joys. And nothing is guaranteed to create more delight in a listener’s day than hearing Gay gleefully repeat the words “vehicular vernacular”!

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.

The debut short story collection from writer Aaliyah Bilal traverses the inner worlds of Black Muslims in America as they grapple with life events like the death or infidelity of a parent. Temple Folk (8 hours) draws listeners in with an array of voices that illuminate the range of the stories. The audiobook features actors and narrators Amir Abdullah, Chanté McCormick, Soneela Nankani, Leon Nixon and Jade Wheeler. Each voice offers complexity and nuance to the rich landscape of Black American Muslim life that Bilal has rendered. Holding emotional heft and spiritual reverence, the narrators’ stunning performances anchor listeners and create a sense of intimacy.

Shiromi Arserio’s heartfelt performance captures youthful innocence and passion when two 14-year-old girls must hide their blossoming love for one another from the world.

Learned by Heart (9 hours) is set in the confines of an English boarding school in the 1800s—a time when same-sex relationships were criminalized. Although wealthy heiress Eliza Raine tries to follow the rules and not draw attention to herself, the biracial girl can’t escape questions and judgment about her Indian and English heritage. New student Anne Lister makes a strong impression on Eliza because Anne is confident, outspoken and so different from the others. Before long, Eliza is falling for Anne. Arserio’s velvety voice sweeps effortlessly between Eliza’s perspective as a reserved schoolgirl and that of her ardent adult self, conveying Eliza’s anguish as she confronts the consequences of her fateful affections.

Arserio’s blend of emotion and restraint captures the intensity of this tale of desire and devotion by Emma Donoghue.

Poet and filmmaker Tahir Hamut Izgil reflects on the Chinese government’s persecution of the Uyghur people in Waiting to Be Arrested at Night (7.5 hours). This personal and harrowing audiobook brings together history, memoir and poetry.

Greg Watanabe’s straightforward narration puts the emotion of Izgil’s story into sharp relief, confronting readers with a reality that Izgil powerfully exposes. Both in the prose chapters as well as in Izgil’s poems that are scattered throughout the book, Watanabe’s simple approach underscores Izgil’s dread over mounting persecution and his hope for a better future.

Waiting to Be Arrested at Night uncovers a difficult and necessary story. Izgil and Watanabe give a voice to a silenced community and, together, call for listeners to bear witness to the experience of the Uyghur people.