Grab your pen and paper, your TBR list is about to get a serious dose of awesomeness.
From new works by literary juggernauts to exciting fiction and non-fiction from Hollywood stars, 2021 is certainly shaping up to be one for the books. We’ve rounded up 25 of the most anticipated audiobooks coming out in spring 2021 so you can make sure there will never be a dull moment for your ears.
For even more audiobooks you won’t want to miss, check out our Most Anticipated Upcoming Books book list.
The Push by Ashley Audrain, narrated by Marin Ireland (Penguin Audio; January 5)
Blythe Connor is determined that she will be the warm, comforting mother to her new baby Violet that she herself never had. But in the thick of motherhood’s exhausting early days, Blythe becomes convinced that something is wrong with her daughter—she doesn’t behave like most children do.
Or is it all in Blythe’s head?
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A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life by George Saunders, narrated by Keith David, Glenn Close, Phylicia Rashad, George Saunders, Nick Offerman, Rainn Wilson, Bd Wong, Renée Elise Goldsberry (Random House Audio; January 12)
From the New York Times bestselling, Booker Prize–winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo and Tenth of December comes a literary master class on what makes great stories work and what they can tell us about ourselves—and our world today.
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Aftershocks by Nadia Owusu, narrated by Nadia Owusu (Simon & Schuster Audio; January 12)
In the tradition of The Glass Castle, a deeply felt memoir from Whiting Award–winner Nadia Owusu about the push and pull of belonging, the seismic emotional toll of family secrets, and the heart it takes to pull through.
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Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas, narrated by Dion Graham (Balzer + Brazy; January 12)
If there’s one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, it’s that a real man takes care of his family. As the son of a former gang legend, Mav does that the only way he knows how: dealing for the King Lords. With this money he can help his mom, who works two jobs while his dad’s in prison.
Life’s not perfect, but with a fly girlfriend and a cousin who always has his back, Mav’s got everything under control.
Until, that is, Maverick finds out he’s a father.
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Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters, narrated by Renata Friedman (Random House Audio; January 12)
Reese almost had it all: a loving relationship with Amy, an apartment in New York City, a job she didn’t hate. She had scraped together what previous generations of trans women could only dream of: a life of mundane, bourgeois comforts. The only thing missing was a child. But then her girlfriend, Amy, detransitioned and became Ames, and everything fell apart.
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Walking with Ghosts by Gabriel Byrne, narrated by Gabriel Byrne (Recorded Books; January 12)
Combining the cinematic power of Fellini’s Amarcord with the poignance of John McGahern’s writing, Walking with Ghosts is both a moving exploration of the pathos in what it means to be famous and a singular account of Irish boyhood.
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Just As I Am: A Memoir by Cicely Tyson, narrated by Viola Davis, Robin Miles, Cicely Tyson (HarperAudio; January 26)
At last, the Academy, Tony, and three-time Emmy Award-winning actor and trailblazer, Cicely Tyson, tells her stunning story, looking back at her six-decade career and life.
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Let Me Tell You What I Mean by Joan Didion, narrated by Kimberly Farr (Random House Audio; January 26)
From one of our most iconic and influential writers: a timeless collection of mostly early pieces that reveal what would become Joan Didion’s subjects, including the press, politics, California robber barons, women, and her own self-doubt.
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A Bright Ray of Darkness by Ethan Hawke, narrated by Ethan Hawke (Random House Audio; February 2)
The first novel in nearly twenty years from the acclaimed actor/writer/director is a book about art and love, fame and heartbreak—a blistering story of a young man making his Broadway debut in Henry IV just as his marriage implodes.
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Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 by Keisha N. Blain, Ibram X. Kendi, narrator to be announced (Random House Audio; February 2)
A chorus of extraordinary voices comes together to tell one of history’s great epics: the four-hundred-year journey of African Americans from 1619 to the present—edited by Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist, and Keisha N. Blain, author of Set the World on Fire.
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The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah, narrated by Julia Whelan (Macmillan Audio; February 2)
From Kristin Hannah, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone, comes an epic novel of love and heroism and hope, set against the backdrop of one of America’s most defining eras—the Great Depression.
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My Year Abroad by Chang-Rae Lee, narrated by Lawrence Kao (Penguin Audio; February 2)
Tiller is an average American college student with a good heart but minimal aspirations. Pong Lou is a larger-than-life, wildly creative Chinese American entrepreneur who sees something intriguing in Tiller beyond his bored exterior and takes him under his wing. When Pong brings him along on a boisterous trip across Asia, Tiller is catapulted from ordinary young man to talented protégé, and pulled into a series of ever more extreme and eye-opening experiences that transform his view of the world, of Pong, and of himself.
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Unfinished by Priyanka Chopra Jonas, narrated by Priyanka Chopra Jonas (Random House; February 9)
In this thoughtful and revealing memoir, readers will accompany one of the world’s most recognizable women on her journey of self-discovery.
A remarkable life story rooted in two different worlds, Unfinished offers insights into Priyanka Chopra Jonas’s childhood in India; her formative teenage years in the United States; and her return to India, where against all odds as a newcomer to the pageant world, she won the national and international beauty competitions that launched her global acting career.
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Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future by Elizabeth Kolbert, narrated by Rebecca Lowman (Simon & Schuster Audio; February 9)
The New York Times bestselling author of The Sixth Extinction and Field Notes from a Catastrophe returns to examine how the very sorts of interventions that have imperiled our planet are increasingly seen as the only hope for its salvation. By turns inspiring, terrifying, and darkly comic, Under a White Sky is an utterly original examination of the challenges we face.
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A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas, narrated by Stina Nielsen (Recorded Books; February 16)
Feyre, Rhys, and their close-knit circle of friends are still busy rebuilding the Night Court and the vastly-changed world beyond. But Winter Solstice is finally near, and with it, a hard-earned reprieve. Yet even the festive atmosphere can’t keep the shadows of the past from looming. As Feyre navigates her first Winter Solstice as High Lady, she finds that those dearest to her have more wounds than she anticipated—scars that will have far-reaching impact on the future of their Court.
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Dark Horses by Susan Mihalic, narrator to be announced (Simon & Schuster Audio; February 16)
Fifteen-year-old equestrian prodigy Roan Montgomery has only ever known two worlds: inside the riding arena, and outside of it. Both, for as long as she can remember, have been ruled by her father, who demands strict obedience in all areas of her life. The warped power dynamic of coach and rider extends far beyond the stables, and Roan’s relationship with her father has long been inappropriate. She has been able to compartmentalize that dark aspect of her life, ruthlessly focusing on her ambitions as a rider heading for the Olympics, just as her father had done. However, her developing relationship with Will Howard, a boy her own age, broadens the scope of her vision.
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How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need by Bill Gates, narrated by Wil Wheaton (Random House Audio; February 16)
In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical—and accessible—plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe.
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No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood, narrated by Kristen Sieh (Penguin Audio; February 16)
As this urgent, genre-defying book opens, a woman who has recently been elevated to prominence for her social media posts travels around the world to meet her adoring fans. She is overwhelmed by navigating the new language and etiquette of what she terms ‘the portal,’ where she grapples with an unshakable conviction that a vast chorus of voices is now dictating her thoughts.
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Infinite Country by Patricia Engel, narrator to be announced (Simon & Schuster Audio; February 23)
For readers of Valeria Luiselli and Edwidge Danticat, an urgent and lyrical novel about a Colombian family fractured by deportation, offering an intimate perspective on an experience that so many have endured—and are enduring right now.
Rich with Bogotá urban life, steeped in Andean myth, and tense with the daily reality of the undocumented in America, Infinite Country is the story of two countries and one mixed-status family—for whom every triumph is stitched with regret, and every dream pursued bears the weight of a dream deferred.
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Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, narrated by Sura Siu (Random House; March 2)
Klara and the Sun, the first novel by Kazuo Ishiguro since he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, tells the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her.
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We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker, narrated by George Newbern (Macmillan Audio; March 2)
Walk has never left the coastal California town where he grew up. He may have become the chief of police, but he’s still trying to heal the old wound of having given the testimony that sent his best friend, Vincent King, to prison decades before. Now, thirty years later, Vincent is being released.
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How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue, narrated by Lisa Renee Pitts, Dion Graham, Allyson Johnson, Prentice Onayemi, Janina Edwards, Jd Jackson (Random House Audio; March 9)
From the celebrated author of the New York Times bestseller Behold the Dreamers comes a sweeping, wrenching story about the collision of a small African village and an American oil company.
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Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley, narrated by Isabella Star Lablanc (Macmillan Audio; March 16)
In Firekeeper’s Daughter, debut author Angeline Boulley crafts a groundbreaking YA thriller about a Native teen who must root out the corruption in her community, for fans of Angie Thomas and Tommy Orange.
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Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge, narrator to be announced (Recorded Books; March 30)
Coming of age as a free-born Black girl in Reconstruction-era Brooklyn, Libertie Sampson was all too aware that her purposeful mother, a practicing physician, had a vision for their future together: Libertie would go to medical school and practice alongside her. But Libertie, drawn more to music than science, feels stifled by her mother’s choices and is hungry for something else.
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Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia, narrated by Gabriela Garcia, Frankie Corzo (Macmillan Audio; March 30)
A sweeping, masterful debut about a daughter’s fateful choice, a mother motivated by her own past, and a family legacy that begins in Cuba before either of them were born. From 19th-century cigar factories to present-day detention centers, from Cuba to Mexico, Gabriela Garcia’s Of Women and Salt is a kaleidoscopic portrait of betrayals—personal and political, self-inflicted and those done by others—that have shaped the lives of these extraordinary women.
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