Best of the Year 2019 Top 10
After much heartfelt discussion and lots and lots of listening, we’ve chosen 10 works of audio greatness to represent the year’s best. Here's why we love each of them. —The Audible Editors
Product List
  • Evil Eye Audiobook By Madhuri Shekar cover art

    • Evil Eye

    • By: Madhuri Shekar
    • Narrated by: Nick Choksi, Harsh Nayyar, Annapurna Sriram, Bernard White, Rita Wolf
    • Length: 1 hr and 38 mins
    • Release date: 05-02-19
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 32,462 ratings
    • No curse here—just a blessing
    • "Back in early 2019, some of us were still new to the concept of audio plays. Then Madhuri Shekar came along and got us hooked. Brilliantly told as a series of phone calls, her breakout Audible Original Evil Eye ricochets between Los Angeles and Delhi, rocketing from a family dramedy to a breathless thriller just as effortlessly. Performed by a pitch-perfect cast, it completely broke us while breaking the mold, too."

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  • Know My Name Audiobook By Chanel Miller cover art

    • Know My Name

    • A Memoir
    • By: Chanel Miller
    • Narrated by: Chanel Miller
    • Length: 15 hrs and 24 mins
    • Release date: 09-24-19
    • Language: English
    • 5 out of 5 stars 8,668 ratings
    • The memoir we needed
    • "This summer the world was stunned when Chanel Miller revealed her identity as the woman who was sexually assaulted by Stanford swimmer Brock Turner in 2015. Known then as Emily Doe, she delivered a powerful victim impact statement that was published online the next day. Chanel’s words resonated so deeply that they were read more than 11 million times, including on the floor of Congress. In her hauntingly lovely memoir, she offers an intimate first-person account of surviving not only rape, but the justice system’s tragic failures in handling sexual assault cases. And her vital story is all the more powerful when heard in her own voice."

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  • Normal People Audiobook By Sally Rooney cover art

    • Normal People

    • A Novel
    • By: Sally Rooney
    • Narrated by: Aoife McMahon
    • Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
    • Release date: 04-16-19
    • Language: English
    • 4 out of 5 stars 8,633 ratings
    • Better than normal
    • "Novels that rocket into the zeitgeist with as much velocity as this one did are rare. There was no escaping the Sally Rooney mania this summer—and for good reason. There is nothing normal about how good Normal People is. The writing hits you hard and quick, and Aoife McMahon’s ability to find the sounds of truth in the story’s small moments makes this one of the best things you could listen to this year."

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  • Maybe You Should Talk to Someone Audiobook By Lori Gottlieb cover art

    • Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

    • A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed
    • By: Lori Gottlieb
    • Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
    • Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
    • Release date: 04-02-19
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 42,682 ratings
    • A perfect venn diagram of self-dev and therapy-gazing
    • "There's been a boom lately in listens that offer a fly-on-the wall glimpse into others' counseling sessions—starting with Audible Originals creators Mel Robbins and Esther Perel. Maybe You Should Talk To Someone may be the apotheosis of this, with the author revealing her own raw emotions and realizations from sessions with her therapist as well as those revealed in (well-masked) sessions with her patients. The intensity and intimacy is perfectly captured in narrator Brittany Pressley's performance. Voyeurs and fans of personal growth, this is for you."

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  • The Murmur of Bees Audiobook By Sofia Segovia, Simon Bruni - translator cover art

    • The Murmur of Bees

    • By: Sofia Segovia, Simon Bruni - translator
    • Narrated by: Xe Sands, Angelo Di Loreto
    • Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
    • Release date: 04-16-19
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 17,189 ratings
    • Hear the buzz
    • "This work in translation from Mexican novelist Sofia Segovia is sheer audio perfection! Narrators Xe Sands and Angelo Di Loreto literally breathe life into Segovia’s lyrical prose. With its backdrop of the Mexican Revolution and the devastating influenza outbreak of 1918, listeners are transported in time and place—and captivated by the orphaned boy who is magically followed by bees."

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  • Twisted Audiobook By Mary Pilon, Carla Correa cover art

    • Twisted

    • The Story of Larry Nassar and the Women Who Took Him Down
    • By: Mary Pilon, Carla Correa
    • Narrated by: Mary Pilon, Carla Correa
    • Length: 5 hrs and 17 mins
    • Release date: 07-25-19
    • Language: English
    • 5 out of 5 stars 2,900 ratings
    • Fighters, on and off the mat
    • "This year saw plenty of content—all of it heartbreaking—about Larry Nassar, the doctor who sexually abused hundreds of young gymnasts in one of the biggest scandals in sports history. But it was the collective power of the many voices of the documentary, Twisted, that resonated loudest. It's particularly impactful in audio with intimate, first-person accounts laid bare. It's not just the scope of horrifying crimes, but the awe-inspiring resilience of those who would not be silenced that makes Twisted essential listening."

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  • Red, White & Royal Blue Audiobook By Casey McQuiston cover art

    • Red, White & Royal Blue

    • A Novel
    • By: Casey McQuiston
    • Narrated by: Ramon de Ocampo
    • Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
    • Release date: 05-14-19
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 12,698 ratings
    • The love story we needed
    • "Casey McQuiston’s debut is an alternate-history love story between the snarky First Son of the United States and the poised Prince of England. It’s impossible to listen to this one and not smile. Narrator Ramon de Ocampo nailed accents, angst, and funny tech sounds making this already charming experience even more enjoyable."

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  • Talking to Strangers Audiobook By Malcolm Gladwell cover art

    • Talking to Strangers

    • What We Should Know About the People We Don't Know
    • By: Malcolm Gladwell
    • Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
    • Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
    • Release date: 09-10-19
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 70,432 ratings
    • The human voice empowers connection
    • "Talking with Strangers incorporates real audio (including, for example, snippets of the Sandra Bland traffic stop) to heighten the urgency of Malcolm Gladwell’s message: that society needs a structured approach to, well, talking with strangers, in order to de-escalate interactions that might be tragic. It’s an ambitious goal, and Malcolm Gladwell strives to point out—and to dismantle—as many stumbling blocks as one sociologist-turned-best selling-author can."

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  • The Water Dancer (Oprah’s Book Club) Audiobook By Ta-Nehisi Coates cover art

    • The Water Dancer (Oprah’s Book Club)

    • A Novel
    • By: Ta-Nehisi Coates
    • Narrated by: Joe Morton
    • Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
    • Release date: 09-24-19
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 13,752 ratings
    • Historical fiction at its finest
    • "Listening to Joe Morton bring to life the magical realism-tinged world of The Water Dancer, Ta-Nehisi Coates’s first novel, is pretty magical itself. Morton immerses you in the antebellum Virginia where Hiram Walker, an enslaved man with unique abilities, goes from being born into servitude to joining the Underground Railroad and finding out much more about the value of personhood. Coates’s beautiful writing provides a welcome new look at the fully rounded out lives of the enslaved that moves beyond the horror of their predicament."

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  • Call Me God Audiobook By Jim Clemente, Tim Clemente, Peter McDonnell cover art

    • Call Me God

    • The Untold Story of the DC Sniper Investigation
    • By: Jim Clemente, Tim Clemente, Peter McDonnell
    • Narrated by: Maureen O'Connell
    • Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
    • Release date: 10-24-19
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 5,822 ratings
    • A revealing look at a historic case
    • "For a headline-dominating crime story that completely captured the nation's attention less than 20 years ago, it was surprising to learn how much we didn't know about the DC Sniper investigation. Using thorough reporting, victim interviews, and firsthand accounts from the lead FBI investigators on the case, Call Me God exposes the seams at which our judicial infrastructure breaks down, while elevating the moments of heroism and triumph where both tireless work and a little good luck can deliver justice. Harrowing and immediate, Call Me God is a documentary feels like an edge of your seat thriller, but with very real life stakes."

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