The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the WorldBy William DalrympleNarrated by William Dalrymple, 13hrs 54minsFrom about 250 BC to AD 1200 Indian art, religion, technology, mathematics and culture had spread like wildfire from the Red Sea to the Pacific, having a monumental impact on the ancient world. Fans of the superb Empire podcast will feel right at home listening to the familiar dulcet tones of author William Dalrymple, who narrates with an infectious enthusiasm.History books are probably the most challenging type of audiobook to listen to. When you hold a history book in your hand, you are forever flicking back and forth between pages, checking maps, indexes, names and dates. Dalrymple’s gifts as a storyteller mean you are always compelled to keep listening. And when you are riveted to a chapter on ancient trade routes, you know you’re on to a winner. A book to permanently rewire how you think about the past.The Buffalo Hunter HunterBy Stephen Graham JonesNarrated by Owen Teale, Shane Ghostkeeper, Marin Ireland, 15hrs 6minsStephen Graham Jones has long been one of modern horror’s finest writers, and The Buffalo Hunter Hunter has to be up there with his best work. A sprawling tale told over multiple timelines, it is an immensely satisfying and creepy novel that somehow manages to make the idea of vampires seem fresh. In a small Montanan town in 1912, Lutheran pastor Arthur Beaucarne is visited by a Blackfeet Indian named Good Stab. Beaucarne transcribes Good Stab’s story; a horrific, blood-soaked tale of colonial brutality, Native American massacres and a slowly unfurling mystery. As always, Graham uses horror to tackle difficult themes and provoke questions in the reader. Describing a brutal cycle of violence and a visceral, guilt-ridden thirst for revenge, it is everything a good horror story should be: chilling and thought-provoking.PerfectionBy Vincenzo Latronico. Translated by Sophie HughesNarrated by Sophie Roberts, 3hrs 14minsA young Italian couple living in Berlin feel pretty good about themselves. They’re in love, they have a nice apartment and good jobs. They go to gallery openings and after-parties, wear nice clothes and listen to music on vinyl. Is this living the good life? Can satisfaction really be found in a well-appointed kitchen? Perfection is a brilliant, harsh novel about spiritual starvation. What happens when a whole generation buys into a dream that never existed? What happens when a young person’s definition of happiness is inextricably linked to the things they don’t have?Depending on your age you’ll either find this short audiobook to be a wonderfully sharp satire, or an unbearably depressing takedown on the absolute living hell we have willingly built up around ourselves. This is Where the Serpent LivesBy Daniyal Mueenuddin Narrated by Daniyal Mueenuddin, 11hrs 59minsDestined to be devoured by countless book clubs over the next few years, this is not the book you might initially think it is. It starts off like your typical rags-to-riches story. Yazid, an orphan abandoned on the street as a baby, spends his childhood and teen years working at a tea stall. He’s a bright and charming boy and we can anticipate how he might leave the bustling streets behind and climb Pakistan’s strict social ladder. But then something unexpected happens. About 90 minutes in, the scene changes to a rural estate, and you realise you’ve been wrong-footed. The story blooms into something much more ambitious than you might have expected – an expansive tale of interconnected lives spanning generations. At times it can be a little difficult to keep track of all the characters, but this is an eye-opening and moving novel about a culture and class system you might otherwise be unfamiliar with.Olga Ravn. Photograph: Lærke Posselt The Wax ChildBy Olga Ravn. Translated by Martin AitkenNarrated by Freya Miller, 4hrs 35minsBased on the true story of an infamous 17th-century Danish witch trial, The Wax Child is a beautifully strange and unsettling listening experience. The narrator is a small, lifeless wax doll whose short, simple sentences transfer a fairytale-like quality to the story. But this is no fantasy; it is historical fiction rooted in a very harsh reality. A reality of herbal remedies, folk tales, still births and violent deaths. It feels similar in tone to the excellent 2024 Austrian film The Devil’s Bath – both use unforgettably disturbing imagery to conjure a past reality where women were often feared and always subjugated. Best listened to at night, by candlelight.Doireann Ní Ghríofa. Photograph: Brid O'Donovan Said the DeadBy Doireann Ní GhríofaNarrated by Doireann Ní Ghríofa, 10hrs 8minsUpon finishing Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s extraordinary new book, you will be left with an understanding of why humans have told stories aloud for as long as we could speak. Narrated by the author in little more than a whisper, the act of listening becomes an intensely intimate experience. In fact, the distance between speaker and listener dissolves so completely that the very distinction between fiction and reality becomes meaningless. Hearing the voices of a chorus of ghosts from a derelict Cork mental hospital proves to be a very moving exercise in compassion and empathy.The Serviceberry: An Economy of Gifts and AbundanceBy Robin Wall KimmererNarrated by author, 1hr 55minsA small number of people hoard and accumulate wealth with a demonic intensity. As a result, the rest of the world suffers. If just a few billionaires listened to this beautiful little book we would all surely reap the benefits. Then again, the core themes of gratitude, reciprocity and community would surely go over the hair-plugged heads of any listening billionaires.Robin Wall Kimmerer is a Potawatomi botanist and professor whose lyrical and moving descriptions of the natural world are inextricably entwined with an indigenous wisdom we all once possessed. Here she takes the metaphor of the serviceberry (although it’s not just a metaphor) to explain how a gift economy works. The facts of our existing economy are indisputable: the whole system is built on scarcity, competition and the hoarding of resources. It is a system that actively harms the natural world. In contrast, the serviceberry distributes its berries to meet the needs of the natural community. This very distribution ensures its own survival. It’s not difficult to see which path we should be taking. If you turn on the news every day and despair, this book is the antidote.Ian McGuire. Photograph: Paul Wolfgang Webster White River CrossingBy Ian McGuireNarrated by Dugald Bruce Lockhart, 8hrs 40minsA lot of audiobooks begin with a short piece of music to set the tone and mood of the story to follow. White River Crossing opens with a few atmospheric bars that wouldn’t sound out of place in a Michael Mann film, which feels incredibly apt for a story about violent men with corrupted souls. When a fur peddler arrives at an outpost of the Hudson Bay Company in the winter of 1766, he claims to know where gold is to be found in the harsh north. Magnus Norton, the outpost’s chief factor, can’t suppress his capitalist instincts and launches an expedition to bring back the rumoured riches. It is not a spoiler to say the journey does not go well. Listening to White River Crossing can be unpleasant at times. Some of these characters are truly despicable. But if you’re in the mood for a cinematic story with meaty action and a propulsive plot, the hours will fly by. Ann Patchett WhistlerBy Ann PatchettNarrated by author, 10hrs 44minsAnn Patchett writes books that feel ideally suited for summer reading (or listening). The Dutch House and Tom Lake, for example, are filled with such fully realised, likable characters you just want to spend as much time as possible with them. Her new novel, Whistler, has a lot in common with those other works, but is perhaps her most emotionally satisfying novel to date. The story follows Daphne Fuller whose life is changed after a chance encounter with her old stepfather. Although they only knew each other for a year when she was nine, the relationship made a deep imprint on them both. A beautiful book about small moments, memory and real human connection, Whistler should come with a warning: you will not be able to stop crying. What an extraordinary gift Ann Patchett possesses; simply having one of her characters display a passing act of kindness can result in a torrent of cathartic tears. By the end you’ll be a blubbering mess, but in a good way. Shigeru Miyamoto playing Super Mario World on a Nintendo Super NES System. Photograph: Ralf-Finn Hestoft/Corbis via Getty Super Nintendo: How One Japanese Company Helped the World Have FunBy Keza MacDonaldNarrated by author, 8hrs 23minsIf you asked someone who has never held a controller in their life to name a video game character, they would very likely say Mario. Or Zelda. Or Pikachu. Or Donkey Kong. The influence Nintendo has had on popular culture, and specifically the entertainment industry, can’t be over-stated. In this breezy and entertaining history of the Japanese company, Keza MacDonald takes us from their humble origins in 1889 to the present, through each new remarkable iteration – from SNES to N64 and Gameboy to Switch. One of the few western journalists to ever set foot inside the elusive Nintendo HQ, MacDonald draws on her own private interviews with legends such as Shigeru Miyamoto (creator of numerous franchises including Mario and Zelda) to paint a picture of a remarkably unique company. George Saunders. Photograph: Zach Krahmer VigilBy George SaundersNarrated by full cast, 5hrs 32minsKJ Boone, an elderly, bedridden oil company chief executive is hours from death. He is visited by Jill Blaine, herself long dead, who has come to usher the old tycoon into the afterlife. There is just one small problem: Boone refuses to go gently into that good night. What follows is a chaotic, supernatural slapstick morality play about greed, the inherent maliciousness of capitalism, our dying planet, and the inexhaustible ability that people have to excuse their own bad behaviour. The full cast delivers an aptly chaotic audio version, led by excellent performances from Judy Greer and Stephen Root. Although it should be said with no equivocations – this is a love-it-or-hate-it book. If you can get on its nutty wavelength there is much to enjoy.Live FastBy Brigitte Giraud. Translated by Cory StockwellNarrated by Mozhan Navabi, 3hrs 20minsIn Brigitt Giraud’s Prix Goncourt-winning novel she recalls the death of her husband, Claud, 20 years earlier. It is an audiobook you will struggle not to finish in a single sitting. Giraud describes, in heartbreaking detail, the day Claud decided to borrow his brother-in-law’s motorbike to pick up his son from school. Minutes later he was killed in a traffic accident aged just 41. The names of each chapter will tell you all you need to know about how Giraud decides to excavate this too-painful memory. “If only we hadn’t asked for the keys in advance.” “If only I hadn’t phoned my mother.” “If only I’d allowed our son to go on vacation with my brother.”This is an amazing book about the million little ways we can torture ourselves over things that are outside our control. Incredibly, though, it doesn’t leave you feeling miserable. It is filled with beautiful, wise observations on life’s messiness, marriage, children and the joy of loving someone so completely.Maggie O'Farrell. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni LandBy Maggie O’FarrellNarrated by Dane Whyte O’Hara, 16hrs 47minsOn a cold and wet western peninsula, Thomás and his 10-year-old son Liam are working on the Ordnance Survey for the “red coats”. The year is 1865 and the scars of the Great Hunger can be seen everywhere, especially in the empty spaces once occupied by the living. Thomás takes the work of mapping the changed landscape seriously, until he has a very unexpected spiritual awakening. In an act of dangerous rebellion, he decides to map the land, not as the colonisers want to see it, but as it really is – inextricable from history, myth and the natural world. Land is a terrific book that produces a perhaps unexpected side effect. After listening you will be compelled to protest the building of every damn data centre and office block besmirching the magnificent ancient beauty of this island.