-
Formentera
- A Short Story
- Narrated by: Eric Yves Garcia, Taylor Meskimen
- Length: 1 hr and 48 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $14.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's Summary
From New York Times best-selling author Norman Ollestad comes a captivating short story about the fraying relationship of a married couple and the bold, messy explorations of intimacy that only seem possible far away from home.
Jim Stenson has been flown to the bohemian island of Formentera for a monthlong gig: writing a screenplay for a famous Spanish director, loosely based on the classic French film Contempt. With his career flagging, Jim is determined to make the most of the opportunity. But the director raises the stakes, pushing Jim to draw inspiration for the script from his strained relationship with his wife Anna.
Anna arrives on the island with her own agenda, thinking this long-overdue break from her psychotherapy practice will offer a chance to clear her head and, perhaps, even reignite a spark in her marriage. Languid days and emotionally charged nights create a dynamic neither expects. And when Jim's writing and their time together begin to blur the lines between reality and fantasy, they must decide: Is this an opportunity for a breakthrough or the beginning of the end?
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Lost Children
- Dark Fairy Tales
- By: Francesca Lia Block
- Narrated by: Lauren Singerman
- Length: 2 hrs and 9 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After the loss of her mother, a woman returns to the San Fernando Valley only to uncover a haunting secret about her childhood friend. A visiting professor at a charming but strange California liberal arts college must face her past in order to protect her son. A sister, lost in the woods, confronts the dangerous truth about her brother, her stepmother, and herself. Rose's dog Wolfie has died, and three seductive women offer to help return him to her. But only if she will pay the price.
-
-
What?
- By msala on 04-21-21
-
Crazy for the Storm
- By: Norman Ollestad
- Narrated by: Norman Ollestad
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the age of three, Norman Ollestad was thrust into the world of surfing and competitive downhill skiing by the intense, charismatic father he both idolized and resented. While his friends were riding bikes, playing ball, and going to birthday parties, young Norman was whisked away in pursuit of wild and demanding adventures.
-
-
Riveting!
- By Elizabeth on 06-20-09
By: Norman Ollestad
-
Showmance
- Drama Games, Book 1
- By: Arielle Morisot
- Narrated by: Andrew Joseph Perez
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rachael Reed is a married theatrical dresser and makeup artist who dreams of a life backstage on Broadway. Hugh Davidson is, quite seriously, a British knight and also a famously gorgeous classical actor. When Rachael takes a chance and leaves her life in Philadelphia to become Hugh's personal assistant, he promises that he'll help to fulfill her career dreams.
-
-
Showmance=when love starts on the boards
- By KDS/BJD on 07-31-22
By: Arielle Morisot
-
All in Good Time (Bryeton Books)
- By: M.K. Chester
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Kelly
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Philadelphian Elizabeth Temple arrives in small Southern Bryeton to teach first grade in 1948, hoping to slide unnoticed into a spinster’s existence, believing she is unfit for any companion. She doesn’t count on falling for Jake Ryan, a WWII veteran tainted by a scandalous divorce, struggling to raise his young son.
-
-
So good
- By Taj-Marie Lingofelter on 01-03-19
By: M.K. Chester
-
Circe
- By: Madeline Miller
- Narrated by: Perdita Weeks
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child - not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring, like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power - the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.
-
-
Not worth the hype but still good
- By Yvonne den Besten on 06-21-19
By: Madeline Miller
-
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
- By: V. E. Schwab
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 17 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
France, 1714: In a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever - and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world. But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.
-
-
Prose style not to my liking
- By C.V. Cox on 10-18-20
By: V. E. Schwab
-
Lost Children
- Dark Fairy Tales
- By: Francesca Lia Block
- Narrated by: Lauren Singerman
- Length: 2 hrs and 9 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After the loss of her mother, a woman returns to the San Fernando Valley only to uncover a haunting secret about her childhood friend. A visiting professor at a charming but strange California liberal arts college must face her past in order to protect her son. A sister, lost in the woods, confronts the dangerous truth about her brother, her stepmother, and herself. Rose's dog Wolfie has died, and three seductive women offer to help return him to her. But only if she will pay the price.
-
-
What?
- By msala on 04-21-21
-
Crazy for the Storm
- By: Norman Ollestad
- Narrated by: Norman Ollestad
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the age of three, Norman Ollestad was thrust into the world of surfing and competitive downhill skiing by the intense, charismatic father he both idolized and resented. While his friends were riding bikes, playing ball, and going to birthday parties, young Norman was whisked away in pursuit of wild and demanding adventures.
-
-
Riveting!
- By Elizabeth on 06-20-09
By: Norman Ollestad
-
Showmance
- Drama Games, Book 1
- By: Arielle Morisot
- Narrated by: Andrew Joseph Perez
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rachael Reed is a married theatrical dresser and makeup artist who dreams of a life backstage on Broadway. Hugh Davidson is, quite seriously, a British knight and also a famously gorgeous classical actor. When Rachael takes a chance and leaves her life in Philadelphia to become Hugh's personal assistant, he promises that he'll help to fulfill her career dreams.
-
-
Showmance=when love starts on the boards
- By KDS/BJD on 07-31-22
By: Arielle Morisot
-
All in Good Time (Bryeton Books)
- By: M.K. Chester
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Kelly
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Philadelphian Elizabeth Temple arrives in small Southern Bryeton to teach first grade in 1948, hoping to slide unnoticed into a spinster’s existence, believing she is unfit for any companion. She doesn’t count on falling for Jake Ryan, a WWII veteran tainted by a scandalous divorce, struggling to raise his young son.
-
-
So good
- By Taj-Marie Lingofelter on 01-03-19
By: M.K. Chester
-
Circe
- By: Madeline Miller
- Narrated by: Perdita Weeks
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child - not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring, like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power - the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.
-
-
Not worth the hype but still good
- By Yvonne den Besten on 06-21-19
By: Madeline Miller
-
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
- By: V. E. Schwab
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 17 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
France, 1714: In a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever - and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world. But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.
-
-
Prose style not to my liking
- By C.V. Cox on 10-18-20
By: V. E. Schwab
-
The Rose Code
- A Novel
- By: Kate Quinn
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 16 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything - beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses - but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets.
-
-
My Favorite Book!!!
- By Jan M on 03-09-21
By: Kate Quinn
-
An American Marriage (Oprah’s Book Club)
- A Novel
- By: Tayari Jones
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden, Eisa Davis
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to 12 years for a crime Celestial knows he didn't commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding.
-
-
Loved the Story, but...
- By Lisa N. Haynes on 03-01-18
By: Tayari Jones
-
The Henna Artist
- By: Alka Joshi
- Narrated by: Sneha Mathan
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Escaping from an abusive marriage, seventeen-year-old Lakshmi makes her way alone to the vibrant 1950s pink city of Jaipur. There she becomes the most highly requested henna artist - and confidante - to the wealthy women of the upper class. But trusted with the secrets of the wealthy, she can never reveal her own....
-
-
Lyrical and inspiring
- By Anonymous User on 04-23-20
By: Alka Joshi
-
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
- A Novel
- By: Taylor Jenkins Reid
- Narrated by: Alma Cuervo, Julia Whelan, Robin Miles
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one in the journalism community is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now? Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband, David, has left her, and her career has stagnated.
-
-
I’m not crying, you’re crying
- By bridget on 07-16-18
-
Big Lies in a Small Town
- A Novel
- By: Diane Chamberlain
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
North Carolina, 2018: Morgan Christopher's life has been derailed. Taking the fall for a crime she did not commit, her dream of a career in art is put on hold - until a mysterious visitor makes her an offer that will get her released from prison immediately. Her assignment: restore an old post office mural in a sleepy Southern town. Morgan knows nothing about art restoration, but desperate to be free, she accepts. What she finds under the layers of grime is a painting that tells the story of madness, violence, and a conspiracy of small town secrets.
-
-
5++++🌟
- By kimberly U on 01-18-20
-
The Time Traveler's Wife
- By: Audrey Niffenegger
- Narrated by: Fred Berman, Phoebe Strole
- Length: 17 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Clare and Henry have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was 36. They were married when Clare was 23 and Henry was 31. Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: periodically his genetic clock resets and he finds himself misplaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity from his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing.
-
-
Forget the Movie!
- By Kindle Customer on 03-31-12
-
The Golem and the Jinni
- A Novel
- By: Helene Wecker
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 19 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Helene Wecker's dazzling debut novel tells the story of two supernatural creatures who appear mysteriously in 1899 New York. Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life by a strange man who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic. When her master dies at sea on the voyage from Poland, she is unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York Harbor. Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire, born in the ancient Syrian Desert. Trapped in an old copper flask by a Bedouin wizard centuries ago, he is released accidentally by a tinsmith in a Lower Manhattan shop.
-
-
What does it mean to be human?
- By Janice on 08-05-13
By: Helene Wecker
-
The Paris Wife
- A Novel
- By: Paula McLain
- Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet 28eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway and her life changes forever. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled “Lost Generation”—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.
-
-
Narration Issues
- By Sara on 10-06-15
By: Paula McLain
-
Girl, Woman, Other
- By: Bernardine Evaristo
- Narrated by: Anna-Maria Nabirye
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From one of Britain's most celebrated writers of color, Girl, Woman, Other is a magnificent portrayal of the intersections of identity and a moving and hopeful story of an interconnected group of black British women. Winner of the 2019 Booker Prize and short-listed for the Gordon Burn Prize, Girl, Woman, Other paints a vivid portrait of the state of post-Brexit Britain, as well as looking back to the legacy of Britain's colonial history in Africa and the Caribbean.
-
-
smart, compassionate, confronting and enjoyable
- By Kelly on 12-20-19
-
The Secret Wife
- By: Gill Paul
- Narrated by: Laura Kirman, Thomas Judd
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The stories of two very different women, linked by the secrets and lies of history, merge together as past and present weave together in this stunning story of love, loss and resilience. 2016. Kitty, fleeing from a devastating revelation in her own life, finds herself at her great-grandfather's cabin in Lake Akanabee. There she discovers a gorgeous necklace, which leads her uncover to long-buried family secret. 1914. Tatiana, Grand Princess of Russia, falls in love with Dmitri, a Russian solider, as she nurses him back to health.
-
-
An unexpected jewel with refreshing perspectives
- By Amazon Customer on 12-17-16
By: Gill Paul
-
Becoming Mrs. Lewis
- The Improbable Love Story of Joy Davidman and C. S. Lewis
- By: Patti Callahan
- Narrated by: Lauren Woodward
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When poet and writer Joy Davidman began writing letters to C. S. Lewis - known as Jack - she was looking for spiritual answers, not love. Love, after all, wasn’t holding together her crumbling marriage. Everything about New Yorker Joy seemed ill-matched for an Oxford professor and the beloved writer of The Chronicles of Narnia, yet their minds bonded over their letters.
-
-
A painful but beautiful masterpiece
- By E.F.B. on 10-10-19
By: Patti Callahan
-
Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald
- By: Therese Anne Fowler
- Narrated by: Jenna Lamia
- Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When beautiful, reckless Southern belle Zelda Sayre meets F. Scott Fitzgerald at a country club dance in 1918, she is seventeen years old and he is a young army lieutenant stationed in Alabama. Before long, the "ungettable" Zelda has fallen for him despite his unsuitability: Scott isn't wealthy or prominent or even a Southerner, and keeps insisting, absurdly, that his writing will bring him both fortune and fame. Her father is deeply unimpressed.
-
-
Attraction to the disillusioning 20's comes alive!
- By LP on 04-01-13

About the Creator

About the Performer

About the Performer
Audible Originals
We’re raising the bar on audio entertainment with these original listens produced in the Audible studios.



Best Short Stories
From a variety of genres, including sci-fi, fantasy, romance, and more, here are the 20 best short story audiobooks available.
Best of Fiction
Getting caught up in a mystery or tangled family drama; laughing with, rooting for, or crying over people who don’t exist…
What listeners say about Formentera
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- alexander jenson
- 05-04-21
Language. Twisted relationships. Formentera.
I thoroughly enjoyed the craftsmanship and escape. Norman Ollestad has proven himself once again. My only complaint is I wanted more. Thank you.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- mnesburn
- 05-02-21
A complete escape
Formentera completely swept me away to that small Spanish island and into the complex web of characters and the intense drama of a complicated multi layered marriage. Ollestad is a master with painting the backdrop and of immediately drawing the reader into this world and this marraige. I just finished and am starting it again and looking forward to catching all the nuance the second time around. Highly recommended!!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Bette
- 05-12-21
Good Story
Good (if rather traditional) story, very good storytelling, good character development and excellent readers. As with so many publications of late, I stumbled across some really problematic narrative grammar and a few malapropisms that pulled me out of the story to wonder if proofreaders and editors are now a thing of the past. SMH.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tom
- 12-23-21
Well crafted Short Story
I’ve found Audible Originals to be a Hit-and-Miss experience, but this one worked. The premise was interesting and difficult to pull off but I think Ollestad succeeded. With just six characters, he spun an intriguing web in just a few pages.
He writes about the creative process taking place in the midst of a marriage on the brink and a faltering career, with underlying themes of insecurity, passion and manipulation running though all of it. Nicely done.
My only reservation was with Taylor Meskimen’s narration of the part of Anna. I felt she played the role in the voice of an excited teenager rather than an unhappy three year partner of a failing writer.
The writing was good and the rest of the characters were well played, so I’d give Formentera Four Stars. A satisfying read. ****
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Susan Herr
- 09-09-21
Interesting
I enjoyed this story very much. I recommend this. It’s short and sweet and complex.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- andrew Maguire
- 06-26-21
More please!
Bottom line. I did not want this story to end! Jim and Annas journey in Formentera only makes me wonder what happens to them next. This is a sexy summer listen and you’ll be looking up flights to Spain before you even finish.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amber
- 06-19-21
good short listen
it was good to listen to just to escape what's going on around you. it got confusing at times but pretty simple to catch up after a few lines. I wouldn't pay for the book but not bad for being free.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Rendij
- 06-09-21
Great story breezes by, needs a sequel!
An evocative exploration of a married couple testing the boundaries of their own sexual appetites in order to reignite the spark. Expertly matched to the medium of the auditory short story, and especially great if listened to in headphones (Garcia is fantastic as Jim). With the carnal charge of Henry Miller and the astute exposition of James Salter, the author creates an immediate escape tinged with the melancholy of desires not met. Deftly crafted, Formentera makes for a wholly perfect summertime listen!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- P. K. Bellville
- 05-28-21
Couldn't finish
It didn't engage me. I couldn't finish it because the premise was uncomfortable, and the sex.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- L J
- 05-21-21
Nice island setting but that’s about it!
The narration was way overdone and overly dramatic—at times I just cracked up it was so bad. Hard to focus on the storyline which was not that enjoyable. I listened to it just to mentally escape to an island. Very difficult to keep listening to the end with the self-absorbed characters.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Gregory M. Brassard
- 05-07-21
Loved it!
Excellent short story. I was hooked after the first chapter. Listened Start to finish in one sitting. Definitely recommend.