Discover Top Audiobooks in Fiction, Coming of Age

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/563822 to listen full audiobooks. Title: The Improbable Life of Ricky Bird Author: Diane Connell Narrator: Hannah Monson Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 10 hours 25 minutes Release date: April 25, 2022 Ratings: Ratings of Book: 5 of Total 1 Genres: Coming of Age Publisher's Summary: If you were charmed by The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, laughed with Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and cried over A Man Called Ove, you will love Ricky Bird. No one loved making forts more than Ricky. A fort was a place of safety and possibility. It shut out the world and enclosed her and Ollie within any story she wanted to tell ... Ricky Bird loves making up stories for her brother Ollie almost as much as she loves him. The imaginary worlds she creates are wild and whimsical places full of unlimited possibilities. Real life is another story. Ricky’s father has abandoned them and the family has moved to a bleak new neighbourhood. Worse still, her mother’s new boyfriend, Dan, has come with the furniture. But Ricky Bird is a force to be reckoned with. As the mastermind of so many outlandish adventures, her imagination is her best weapon. As her father used to say, if you can spin a good yarn you can get on in life. The trouble is that in the best stories characters sometimes take on a life of their own and no one, not even Ricky, is able to imagine the consequences. Beautifully written, heartbreakingly funny and deeply moving, this book has already been compared to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Lost and Found, Shuggie Bain, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and A Monster Calls. But Ricky’s story is all her own – and it will stay with you long after the last page. ‘Fierce and wonderful and utterly singular, Ricky embodies the sheer joy and transformative power of storytelling.’ Kate Mildenhall, author of The Mother Fault and Skylarking ‘A wise, tender but unflinching portrait of an ordinary family and the unordinary girl at its heart. Ricky – fragile, tough, endearing and funny – is a fabulous creation. She'll walk around in my world all year, and more.’ Kristina Olsson, award-winning author of Shell and Boy, Lost

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/592376 to listen full audiobooks. Title: [German] - Zwischeneinander (ungekürzt) Author: Catherine Strefford Narrator: Marvin Kopp Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 6 hours 5 minutes Release date: April 22, 2022 Genres: Coming of Age Publisher's Summary: Was, wenn die Liebe vor einem steht, aber man nicht bereit dafür ist? Richie setzt alles daran, seinem eigenen Glück im Weg zu stehen. Doch muss er wirklich erst sich selbst lieben, um von anderen geliebt werden zu können? Die Beziehung mit Maxi kann Richie nur anfangs genießen, denn unentwegt wartet er auf das Ende, von dem Richie sicher ist, dass es früher oder später kommen wird. Keine Liebe ist wie die andere und nichts Neues kann wachsen, so lange das Herz und die Seele noch mit dem Unkraut der Vergangenheit bewuchert sind. Aber erkennt auch Richie das früh genug? Der zweite Roman mit Richie, bekannt aus 'Nur kurz leben', ausgezeichnet mit dem 1. Platz des tolino media Newcomerpreis 2020.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/583273 to listen full audiobooks. Title: [Spanish] - Paraíso. Premio Nobel de literatura 2021 Author: Abdulrazak Gurnah Narrator: Rafael King Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 9 hours 12 minutes Release date: April 14, 2022 Ratings: Ratings of Book: 4 of Total 1 Genres: Coming of Age Publisher's Summary: Una historia de iniciación que ilumina la crudeza y la belleza de la África precolonial, por el premio Nobel de literatura 2021. Cuando los padres de Yusuf, de doce años, le dicen que vivirá con su tío Aziz durante una temporada, el chico se muestra entusiasmado. Pero lo que Yusuf no sabe es que su padre lo ha empeñado para saldar una deuda imposible de pagar, ni tampoco que Aziz no es pariente suyo, sino un rico y acaudalado comerciante con el que viajará por África central y las riberas del Congo en vísperas de la primera guerra mundial. A través de los ojos de ese chiquillo descubriremos una naturaleza exuberante y hostil, poblada de tribus despiadadas e invasores desalmados, en la que una vida humana vale tanto como unas cuantas gotas de agua. La crítica ha dicho... «Paraíso nos ayuda a comprender el espanto de la colonización. No se trata de un acontecimiento superado, sino de un drama que sigue marcando nuestro presente. [...] Abdulrazak Gurnah es un excelente narrador, con la capacidad de seducción de una moderna Sherezade. [...] Los gobiernos que levantan muros deberían leer Paraíso, una obra que no levanta barreras, sino puentes.» El Cultural «El gran descubrimiento del texto es la propia escritura de Gurnah, que es uno de esos autores capaces de combinar la precisión formal con grandes niveles de lirismo, misterio y evocación. Es a través de esa escritura intensamente sensitiva como el autor consigue que sobre el descubrimiento se cierna cada vez más poderosa la sombra de la destrucción.» El Correo «La prosa de Gurnah se despliega con una riqueza extraordinaria sobre un tapiz sensorial africano, en contraposición al británico. Es un mundo de aromas [...], de noches al aire libre, de jardines rumorosos, de serpientes, mosquitos y calor tropical. [...] Y de historias que saltan y se entrelazan sin fin, evocando a veces el imán narrativo de Las mil y una noches, componiendo un friso que no busca desenlaces sino vidas y caminos.» El Norte de Castilla «Gurnah evoca su mundo con una prosa poética que resulta pura y lúcida: un pequeño paraíso en sí misma.» The Guardian «Un libro que cobra vida con lo inesperado y donde se rescata de manera fascinante un mundo ya extinguido.» The Sunday Times «Un retrato evocador de un continente africano al borde del cambio. Una meditación conmovedora sobre la naturaleza de la libertad y la pérdida de la inocencia, válida tanto para un único niño sensible como para todo un continente.» The New York Times Book Review

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/605537 to listen full audiobooks. Title: School Days: A Novel Author: Jonathan Galassi Narrator: Robert Fass Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 4 hours 51 minutes Release date: April 5, 2022 Genres: Coming of Age Publisher's Summary: The new novel from the acclaimed poet and publisher asks fundamental questions about love and sex, friendship and rivalry, desire and power, and the age-old dance of benevolence and attraction between teacher and student.Sam Brandt is a long-term denizen of Connecticut’s renowned Leverett School. As an English teacher he has dedicated his life to providing his students with the same challenges, encouragement, and sense of possibility that helped him and his friends become themselves here half a lifetime ago. Then Leverett’s headmaster asks Sam to help investigate a charge brought by one of his classmates that he was abused by a teacher. Sam is flooded with memories, above all of his overwhelming love for his friend Eddie and the support and friendship of his most inspiring mentor, Theodore Gibson. Sam’s search for the truth becomes a quest to get at the heart of Leverett, then and now. The school has changed enormously over the years, but at its core lie assumptions about privilege and responsibility untested for more than a century. And Sam’s assumptions about his own life are shaken, too, as he struggles to understand what really happened all those years ago.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/605549 to listen full audiobooks. Title: The Ninth Circle Author: Brendan Deneen Narrator: Curt Bonnem Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 6 hours 14 minutes Release date: April 5, 2022 Genres: Coming of Age Publisher's Summary: The story of a teenager who runs away with a traveling circus in hopes of finding a better life after becoming enraptured by the bewitching blue eyes of a bearded lady, only to discover that nothing is ever quite what it seems When Dan, sixteen, runs away from a terrible home life to join a circus, he has no idea what he’s getting himself into. Based on Dante’s Inferno, The Ninth Circle follows a young man’s coming-of-age as he travels with the circus through nine states. With the Ringmaster as his guide, Dan finds himself falling in love with the Bearded Lady but hated by almost everyone else, including the Strong Man, the Lion Tamers, and the Sword Swallower. Meanwhile, he discovers that the performers have uncanny abilities and dark secrets, especially the person who’s looking to destroy the circus from within.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/577774 to listen full audiobooks. Title: [Spanish] - La granja Author: John Grisham Narrator: Carlos Canales Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 15 hours 10 minutes Release date: March 17, 2022 Genres: Coming of Age Publisher's Summary: La tierra es tan implacable como su gente... Una conmovedora historia del viaje de un chico de la inocencia a la experiencia. Septiembre de 1952. El algodón está casi a punto en los campos de Arkansas. La cosecha empezará pronto. Luke Chandler es un niño de siete años que vive con su familia en una granja sin pintar. En seis semanas, los Chandler y un grupo de jornaleros llegados de la sierra y de México tendrán que recoger todo el algodón, que es su sustento y el garante de su supervivencia en el campo. Pero pronto el calor, la lluvia, el cansancio, un asesinato y el descubrimiento de un secreto familiar amenazarán con destruir las esperanzas de los Chandler. Y sacarán a Luke, de un solo golpe, de su inocencia infantil para llevarlo a la vida adulta. La crítica ha dicho... «Su mejor obra... una novela lírica, valiente y personal.» The Times «John Grisham es un narrador tan bueno como el mejor de los que tenemos.» The New York Times Book Review

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/556587 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Ocean State Author: Stewart O'nan Narrator: Sara Young Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 5 hours 45 minutes Release date: March 15, 2022 Ratings: Ratings of Book: 2.43 of Total 7 Ratings of Narrator: 2.5 of Total 2 Genres: Coming of Age Publisher's Summary: In the first line of Ocean State, we learn that a high-school student was murdered, and we find out who did it. The story that unfolds from there with incredible momentum is thus one of the build-up to and fall-out from the murder, told through the alternating perspectives of the four women at its heart. The murderer Angel, her mother Carol, and the victim Birdy, all come alive on the page as they converge in a climax both tragic and inevitable. Watching over it all is the retrospective testimony of Angel’s younger sister Marie, who reflects on that doomed autumn of 2009 with all the wisdom of hindsight. Angel and Birdy love the same teenage boy, frantically and single mindedly, and are compelled by the intensity of their feelings to extremes neither could have anticipated. O’Nan’s expert hand paints a fully realized portrait of these women but also weaves a compelling and heartbreaking story of working-class life in Ashaway, Rhode Island. Propulsive, moving, and deeply rendered, Ocean State is a masterful novel by one of our greatest storytellers

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/583405 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Yeah / Yes: A Novel Author: Daniel Cottier Narrator: Daniel Cottier Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 5 hours 20 minutes Release date: March 9, 2022 Genres: Coming of Age Publisher's Summary: Banjo 'Jo' Mitchell has a lot to drink about: he's 25, his boyfriend walked out, he's not paid the rent and Australia is voting on his right to marry. Overwhelmed by shame, every passing bus is a tempting opportunity for Jo to leave this life behind. The only thing stopping him isa last glimmer of hope that things may get better, but is a glimmer enough? A hilarious and touching new novel written and read by Daniel Cottier exploring mental health, community and queerness. If the themes of this book are triggering for you, please call Lifeline on 13 11 114. Composer, editor and sound engineering by Nathan Baraclough.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/576193 to listen full audiobooks. Title: [Spanish] - La hija del sepulturero Author: Joyce Carol Oates Narrator: Jane Santos Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 24 hours 53 minutes Release date: February 24, 2022 Genres: Coming of Age Publisher's Summary: La epopeya de una mujer que debe reinventarse a sí misma. Una odisea erótica y turbulenta, intensamente provocadora y emotiva. En 1936, los Schwart, una familia de inmigrantes desesperada por escapar de la Alemania nazi, se instala en una pequeña ciudad de Estados Unidos. El padre, un profesor de instituto, es rebajado al único trabajo al que tiene acceso: sepulturero y vigilante de cementerio. Los prejuicios locales y la debilidad emocional de los Schwart suscitan una terrible tragedia familiar. Rebecca, la hija del sepulturero, comienza entonces su sorprendente peregrinación por la «América profunda», una odisea de riesgo erótico e intrépida imaginación que la obligará a reinventarse a sí misma. Joyce Carol Oates ha creado una pieza magistral de realismo mítico y doméstico, excepcionalmente emotiva y provocadora: un testimonio íntimo de la resistencia del individuo. En esta novela prodigiosa la violencia actúa como un faro iluminando una cultura y una época. ** Premio Ja! Bilbao por el «modernísimo humor negro» de su obra. La crítica ha dicho: «Novelistas como John Updike, Philip Roth, Tom Wolfe y Norman Mailer compiten por el título de Gran Novelista Americano. Pero quizás ellos se equivocan. Tal vez la Gran Novelista Americana es una mujer.» The Herald «Una escritora de una extraordinaria fuerza... Ha tratado con una admirable consistencia el gran tema americano: la búsqueda de la propia identidad.» The Guardian «Oates evoluciona sin descanso como artista, explorando continuamente nuevos aspectos de la vida americana... La literatura es para ella un único género en el que trabaja con total inventiva, adaptando temas clásicos, homenajeando a grandes maestros, escribiendo en diversos estilos y formas, siempre fiel a su propia e intensa imaginación. Sólo nos queda rendirnos ante la todopoderosa fuerza de las virtudes de Joyce Carol Oates.» The New York Review of Books «Su incomparable prosa y su habilidad para mover a la reflexión a medida que va reinventando nuevos géneros son únicas... Pocos escritores son capaces de contar una historia con tanta convicción y entretenimiento.» Scotland on Sunday «Leer a Oates es como transitar por un campo de minas emocional, para volver a la tranquilidad y sacudir la cabeza ante tamañas lucidez y revelación.» The Washington Post Book World

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/563201 to listen full audiobooks. Title: The House of Rust Author: Khadija Abdalla Bajaber Narrator: Waceke Wambaa Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 10 hours 17 minutes Release date: February 22, 2022 Ratings: Ratings of Book: 5 of Total 2 Ratings of Narrator: 5 of Total 1 Genres: Coming of Age Publisher's Summary: The first Graywolf Press African Fiction Prize winner, a story of a girl’s fantastical sea voyage to rescue her father.The House of Rust is an enchanting novel about a Hadrami girl in Mombasa. When her fisherman father goes missing, Aisha takes to the sea on a magical boat made of a skeleton to rescue him. She is guided by a talking scholar’s cat (and soon crows, goats, and other animals all have their say, too). On this journey Aisha meets three terrifying sea monsters. After she survives a final confrontation with Baba wa Papa, the father of all sharks, she rescues her own father and hopes that life will return to normal. But at home, things only grow stranger. Khadija Abdalla Bajaber’s debut is a magical realist coming-of-age tale told through the lens of the Swahili and diasporic Hadrami culture in Mombasa, Kenya. Richly descriptive and written with an imaginative hand and sharp eye for unusual detail, The House of Rust is a memorable novel by a thrilling new voice.