These debut audiobooks are ready to jump your queue and land at the top of your playlist. Want to try something extra nice? Go screen-and-earbud free and listen at home on your smart speaker as you cook, fold laundry, organize the garage—or just relax with your eyes closed.
A “brilliant and devastating” (Booklist) debut for fans of Get Out and Paul Beatty’s The Sellout, about a father’s obsessive quest to protect his son—even if it means turning him white. Read by multiple Audie Award–winning narrator Dion Graham.
“Propulsive…We Cast a Shadow proves that the eeriest works of speculative fiction are those that hit closest to home.”—Vulture
Longlisted for the 2018 Man Booker Prize
Read by multiple narrators, The Water Cure is a dystopic feminist fantasy about three sisters on an isolated island, raised to fear men. A haunting, riveting debut about the capacity for violence and the potency of female desire, The Water Cure both devastates and astonishes as it reflects our own world back at us.
An Indie Next and Library Reads Pick
“Entrancing and compelling, The Au Pair seamlessly alternates between two riveting narrators. Atmospheric and reminiscent of Daphne du Maurier’s work, it’s a beautiful read that delivers a shocking and satisfying ending.”—Liv Constantine, USA Today & Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Last Mrs. Parrish
A Southern Living Best New Book Coming Out Winter 2019
A TIME Best New Book to Read in January 2019
A Buzzfeed Book Coming In 2019 That You’ll Want To Keep On Your Radar
“An imaginative, enthralling, and lyrical exploration of coming home—and coming-of-age—set amid the political tensions of modern Afghanistan…Kochai is a masterful storyteller.”
—Publishers Weekly
A new novel from Sarah Jessica Parker’s imprint, SJP for Hogarth: a deeply affecting debut novel set in Trinidad, following the lives of a family as they navigate impossible choices about scarcity, loyalty, and love.
“Heartbreaking and lovely, this is an important work by a promising new voice.”—Booklist (starred)
“A marital saga so pitch-black it makes Gone Girl look like the romance of the decade…[The Woman Inside] resembles past smashes like Big Little Lies and The Woman in the Window.”—Entertainment Weekly
A wise, lyrical memoir about the power of literature to help us read our own lives—and see clearly the people we love most.
“A conceptually ambitious and assured debut, successfully bridging memoir and literary criticism…A work of incisive observation and analysis, exquisite writing, and an attempt to determine if there is ‘any revelation that could lessen loss, that could help to make the fact of death okay.’”—Kirkus Reviews (starred)
And for young listeners, check out these January debuts from Listening Library!:
A middle grade debut that’s a heartrending coming-of-age tale, perfect for fans of Bridge to Terabithia and Counting By 7s.
“This taut, moving tale delves beyond loss into issues of sexuality, conformity and self-acceptance…a masterful exploration into the power of storytelling but also its dangers, including self-denial and escapism.”—The New York Times Book Review
“We’re predicting this emotional story will be an award winner.”—Parents Magazine
Read by Odyssey and Earphones Award-winning narrator Jayne Entwistle (who also happens to narrate the Flavia De Luce series by Alan Bradley), Freya & Zoose is a timeless tale about a magnificent adventure to the North Pole and the even more astounding feat of true friendship. A perfect audiobook for animal and adventure lovers alike, and for fans of audiobooks like Katherine Applegate’s The One and Only Ivan.