Katharine Lee McEwan has narrated 53 audiobooks on Listento.it by 58 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.4★ across 1,601 ratings. The most-rated is A Torch Against the Night.
Paris for One and Other Stories
Summary
From the number-one New York Times best-selling author of Me Before You and After You, a sensational collection featuring the title novella and eight other stories. Quintessential Jojo Moyes, Paris for One and Other Stories is an irresistibly romantic collection filled with humor and heart. Nell is 26 and has never been to Paris. She's never even been on a romantic weekend away - to anywhere - before. Traveling abroad isn't really her thing. But when Nell's boyfriend fails to show up for their mini-vacation, she has the opportunity to prove everyone - including herself - wrong. Alone in Paris, Nell finds a version of herself she never knew existed: independent and intrepid. Could this turn out to be the most adventurous weekend of her life? Funny, charming, and irresistible, Paris for One is vintage Moyes - as are the other stories that round out the collection. Read by Fiona Hardingham, Susan Duerden, Jayne Entwistle, Olivia Mackenzie-Smith, and Katharine McEwan.
©2016 Jojo Moyes (P)2016 Penguin Audio
The Ice Beneath Her
Summary
Acclaimed Swedish author Camilla Grebe makes her solo American debut with a psychological thriller as cunning in its twists as it is captivating in its storytelling - for fans of the celebrated crime fiction of Camilla Läckberg, Jo Nesbø, Ruth Ware, and Fiona Barton. Winter's chill has descended on Stockholm as police arrive at the scene of a shocking murder. An unidentified woman lies beheaded in a posh suburban home - a brutal crime made all the more disturbing by its uncanny resemblance to an unsolved killing 10 years earlier. But this time there's a suspect: the charismatic and controversial chain-store CEO Jesper Orre, who owns the home but is nowhere to be found. To homicide detectives Peter Lindgren and Manfred Olsson, nothing about the suave, high-profile businessman - including a playboy reputation and rumors of financial misdeeds - suggests he conceals the dark heart and twisted mind of a cold-blooded killer. In search of a motive, Lindgren and Olsson turn to the brilliant criminal profiler Hanne Lagerlind-Schön. Once a valued police asset, now marooned in unhappy retirement and a crumbling marriage, she's eager to exercise her keen skills again - and offer the detectives a window into the secret soul of Jesper Orre. But they're not the only ones searching. Two months before, Emma Bohman, a young clerk at Orre's company, chanced to meet the charming chief executive, and romance swiftly bloomed. Almost as quickly as the passionate affair ignited, it was over when Orre inexplicably disappeared. One staggering misfortune after another followed, leaving Emma certain that her runaway lover was to blame and transforming her confusion and heartbreak into anger. Now, pursuing the same mysterious man for different reasons, Emma and the police are destined to cross paths in a chilling dance of obsession, vengeance, madness, and love gone hellishly wrong. Praise for The Ice Beneath Her “The Ice Beneath Her deserves to be called a page-turner - I read it in one sitting! The narrative is fast-paced and the twists superb.” (Cecilia Ekbäck, best-selling author of Wolf Winter)
©2016 Camilla Grebe and Elizabeth Clark Wessel (P)2016 Random House Audio
Dragon Unleashed
Summary
A dragon shape-shifter and a healer with power over the earth fight a corrupt empire in this thrilling and deeply emotional romantic fantasy from the USA Today best-selling author of Radiance. Magic is outlawed in the Krael Empire and punishable by death. Born with the gift of earth magic, the free trader Halani keeps her dangerous secret closely guarded. When her uncle buys a mysterious artifact, a piece of bone belonging to a long-dead draga, Halani knows it's far more than what it seems. Dragas haven't been seen for more than a century, and most believe them extinct. They're wrong. Dragas still walk among the denizens of the empire, disguised as humans. Malachus is a draga living on borrowed time. The magic that has protected him will soon turn on him - unless he finds a key part of his heritage. He has tracked it to a group of free traders, among them a grave-robbing earth witch who fascinates him as much as she frustrates him with her many secrets. Unbeknownst to both, the Empire's twisted empress searches for a draga of her own, to capture and kill as a trophy. As Malachus the hunter becomes the hunted, Halani must risk herself and all she loves to save him from the empire's machinations and his own lethal birthright.
©2020 Grace Draven (P)2020 Penguin Audio
The Red-Haired Woman
Summary
From the Nobel Prize winner and best-selling author of Snow and My Name Is Red, a fable of fathers and sons and the desires that come between them.
On the outskirts of a town 30 miles from Istanbul, a master well digger and his young apprentice are hired to find water on a barren plain. As they struggle in the summer heat, excavating without luck meter by meter, the two will develop a filial bond neither has known before - not the poor middle-aged bachelor nor the middle-class boy whose father disappeared after being arrested for politically subversive activities. The pair will come to depend on each other and exchange stories reflecting disparate views of the world. But in the nearby town where they buy provisions and take their evening break, the boy will find an irresistible diversion. The Red-Haired Woman, an alluring member of a travelling theatre company, catches his eye and seems as fascinated by him as he is by her. The young man's wildest dream will be realized, but, when in his distraction a horrible accident befalls the well digger, the boy will flee, returning to Istanbul. Only years later will he discover whether he was in fact responsible for his master's death and who the redheaded enchantress was.
A beguiling mystery tale of family and romance, of East and West, tradition and modernity, by one of the great storytellers of our time.
Translated from Turkish by Ekin Oklap.
©2017 Orhan Pamuk (P)2017 Random House Audio
The Royal Governess
Summary
“A beautifully woven and exquisitely detailed story of strong upstairs/downstairs women.” (Heather Morris, New York Times best-selling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz) Sunday Times best-selling author Wendy Holden brings to life the unknown childhood years of one of the world’s most famous figures, Queen Elizabeth II, and reveals the spirited young governess who made her the icon we love today. In 1933, 22-year-old Marion Crawford accepts the role of a lifetime, tutoring the little Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose. Her one stipulation to their parents the Duke and Duchess of York is that she bring some doses of normalcy into their sheltered and privileged lives. At Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Balmoral, Marion defies stuffy protocol to take the princesses on tube trains, swimming at public baths, and on joyful Christmas shopping trips at Woolworth’s. From her ringside seat at the heart of the British monarchy she witnesses 20th-century history’s most seismic events. The trauma of the Abdication, the glamour of the Coronation, the onset of World War II. She steers the little girls through it all, as close as a mother. During Britain’s darkest hour, as Hitler’s planes fly over Windsor, she shelters her charges in the castle dungeons (not far from where the Crown Jewels are hidden in a biscuit tin). Afterwards, she is present when Elizabeth first sets eyes on Philip. But being beloved confidante to the Windsors comes at huge personal cost. Marriage, children, her own views: All are compromised by proximity to royal glory. In this majestic story of love, sacrifice, and allegiance, best-selling novelist Holden shines a captivating light into the years before Queen Elizabeth II took the throne.
©2020 Wendy Holden (P)2020 Penguin Audio
Try Not to Breathe
Summary
For fans of Gillian Flynn, Laura Lippman, and Paula Hawkins comes Holly Seddon's arresting fiction debut - an engrossing thriller full of shocking twists and turns, richly imagined characters, and gripping psychological suspense. Some secrets never die. They're just locked away. Alex Dale is lost. Destructive habits have cost her a marriage and a journalism career. All she has left is her routine: a morning run until her body aches, then a few hours of forgettable work before the past grabs hold and drags her down. Every day is treading water, every night is drowning. Until Alex discovers Amy Stevenson. Amy Stevenson, who was just another girl from a nearby town until the day she was found unconscious after a merciless assault. Amy Stevenson, who has been in a coma for 15 years, forgotten by the world. Amy Stevenson, who, unbeknownst to her doctors, remains locked inside her body, conscious but paralyzed, reliving the past. Soon Alex's routine includes visiting hours at the hospital, then interviews with the original suspects in the attack. But what starts as a reporter's story becomes a personal obsession. How do you solve a crime when the only witness lived but cannot tell the tale? Unable to tear herself away from her attempt to uncover the unspeakable truth, Alex realizes she's not just chasing a story - she's seeking salvation. Shifting from present to past and back again, Try Not to Breathe unfolds layer by layer until its heart-stopping conclusion. The result is an utterly immersive, unforgettable debut.
©2016 Holly Seddon (P)2016 Random House Audio
The Splendor Before the Dark
Summary
Nero’s ascent to the throne was only the beginning.... Now, Margaret George, the author of The Confessions of Young Nero, weaves a web of politics and passion, as ancient Rome’s most infamous emperor cements his place in history. With the beautiful and cunning Poppaea at his side, Nero commands the Roman empire, ushering in an unprecedented era of artistic and cultural splendor. Although he has yet to produce an heir, his power is unquestioned. But in the 10th year of his reign, a terrifying prophecy comes to pass and a fire engulfs Rome, reducing entire swaths of the city to rubble. Rumors of Nero’s complicity in the blaze start to sow unrest among the populace - and the politicians.... For better or worse, Nero knows that his fate is now tied to Rome’s - and he vows to rebuild it as a city that will stun the world. But there are those who find his rampant quest for glory dangerous. Throughout the empire, false friends and spies conspire against him, not understanding what drives him to undertake the impossible. Nero will either survive and be the first in his family to escape the web of betrayals that is the Roman court, or be ensnared and remembered as the last radiance of the greatest dynasty the world has ever known. "A resplendent novel filled with the gilt and marble of the ancient world." (C. W. Gortner, author of The Romanov Empress)
©2018 Margaret George (P)2018 Penguin Audio
Jali: The Short Story Collection
Summary
Written for audio format, this collection of six science fiction stories draw on themes of arrival, discovery and destination. Commissioned especially for Audible, and narrated by outstanding performers, these stories evoke the traditional storytelling of West African Jali as the unknown and distant are brought to life for audiences. In this collection Chris Beckett and An Owomoyela use the theme of 'discovery' to shape tales of searching; Nikesh Shukla and Lauren Beukes consider 'destination' in stories of finding a home; and Ken Liu and Paul Cornell each discuss 'arrival'. Jali is one of three short story collections written by our favourite best-selling novelists and emerging authors, and curated based on the themes of arrival, discovery and destination. Bard collates contemporary fiction while Skald features six crime stories. This is an Audible Original Podcast. Free for members. You can download all 6 episodes to your Library now.
©2018 Audible, Ltd. (P)2018 Audible, Ltd.
Aliens
Summary
In these lively and fascinating essays, scientists from around the world weigh in on the latest advances in the search for intelligent life in the universe and discuss just what that might look like. Since 2000, science has seen a surge in data and interest on several fronts related to ET (extraterrestrials); AI (artificial intelligence); and SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence). The debate has intensified over whether life exists outside our solar system, what that life would look like, and whether we'll ever make contact.
Included in this audiobook are essays from a broad spectrum of the scientific community: cosmologists, astrophysicists, NASA planetary scientists, and geneticists, to name just a few, discussing the latest research and theories relating to alien life. Some of the topics include: If life exists somewhere in space, what are the odds that it evolves into something we would recognize as intelligent? What will space travel look like in the future, and will it all be done by cyborg technology? How long until we are ruled by robot overlords? (This is actually a serious consideration.) Are we simply a simulation in the mind of some supreme being acting out a virtual reality game?
For those who have ever wondered, Is there anybody out there? here are the latest theories and evidence that move us closer to answering that question.
©2017 Jim Al-Khalili (P)2017 Random House Audio
Leopard at the Door
Summary
Set in Kenya in the 1950s against the fading backdrop of the British Empire, a story of self-discovery, betrayal, and an impossible love. After six years in England, Rachel has returned to Kenya and the farm where she spent her childhood, but the beloved home she'd longed for is much changed. Her father's new companion - a strange, intolerant woman - has taken over the household. The political climate in the country grows more unsettled by the day and is approaching the boiling point. And looming over them all is the threat of the Mau Mau, a secret society intent on uniting the native Kenyans and overthrowing the whites. As Rachel struggles to find her place in her home and her country, she initiates a covert relationship, one that will demand from her a gross act of betrayal. One man knows her secret, and he has made it clear how she can buy his silence. But she knows something of her own, something she has never told anyone. And her knowledge brings her power.
©2017 Jennifer McVeigh (P)2017 Penguin Audio
His Perfect Wife
Summary
His Perfect Wife proves how unknowable those closest to us can be. "This smart, mirror maze of a thriller bristles with sharp edges, twisting familiar Gone Girl themes into Bell’s own intense creation." (Kirkus Reviews) Before she disappeared, Alexandra Southwood lived an average, happy life: devoted to the care and upkeep of her husband, Marc, and their two beautiful daughters. But now, held in a room against her will, Alexandra is forced to imagine how her family is coping in the wake of her disappearance. She finds solace in memories of their past, recalling her courtship with Marc and their marriage - all that he saved her from, all that she’s lost. Marc’s pain is visceral. He thinks of nothing but Alexandra. Even when the police discover her bloody belongings, he cannot accept that she is gone. Marc is the only one who believes she’s still alive, and he channels his pain into action, embarking on his own journey to find his wife, one that will lead him to discover answers to questions he never wanted to ask. Previously published as Exhibit Alexandra "An astutely written, complex debut." (The Guardian) "Beautifully insidious, a novel that outwits expectation at every turn." (Francis Spufford, author of Golden Hill) "[A] provocative debut thriller.... Bell’s daring performance can’t be ignored." (Publishers Weekly starred review)
©2018 Natasha Bell (P)2018 Random House Audio
Those People
Summary
From the author of the international best seller Our House, a new novel of twisty domestic suspense asks, “Could you hate your neighbor enough to plot to kill him?”
Lowland Way is the suburban dream. The houses are beautiful, the neighbors get along, and the kids play together on weekends.
But when Darren and Jodie move into the house on the corner, they don't follow the rules. They blast music at all hours, begin an unsightly renovation, and run a used-car business from their yard. It doesn’t take long for an all-out war to start brewing.
Then, early one Saturday, a horrific death shocks the street. As police search for witnesses, accusations start flying - and everyone has something to hide.
Narrated by Katharine McEwan with Jonathan Cowley, Jayne Entwistle, Andrew Fallaize, Paul Fox, Billie JD Porter, and Moira Quirk
©2019 Louise Candlish (P)2019 Penguin Audio
After She's Gone
Summary
Brought together by a brutal murder, a psychological profiler who’s lost her memory and a teenage boy with a fiercely guarded secret become unwitting, unlikely partners in this race to stop a killer - “Nordic noir at its best” (Booklist, starred review). Named the Best Nordic Crime Novel of the Year by the Crime Writers of Scandinavia. Out of the frozen depths of a forest in Ormberg, Sweden, a woman stumbles onto the road. Her arms are covered with scratches, her feet are bare, and she has no memory of who she is. Local police identify her as psychological profiler Hanne Lagerlind-Schön, who, with her partner, had been helping investigate the cold case of a young woman’s murder. Hanne begins to recover but cannot recall anything about where her partner is, or what their investigation had uncovered before her disappearance. Police have only one lead: a young woman in a sequined dress who was spotted nearby the night Hanne was found. The young woman doesn’t come forward because she doesn’t exist: Jake Birgersson, a local teenager, had been out walking in his mother’s dress and sister’s makeup, his secret shame and thrill. Terrified of discovery, Jake hid and watched Hanne get into a car, leaving behind her diary. Reading Hanne’s notebook, Jake realizes that it contains the key to a major breakthrough in the case - but turning it in would mean admitting the truth about who he is. When another murder victim is found in the woods, Jake realizes that Hanne herself is in danger, and his only choice is to find and warn her so that together, they can stop the killer before he strikes again. Praise for After She’s Gone: “[A] stellar crime novel.... Grebe delivers an unflinching, heart-wrenching message about the plight of refugees in this scorching thriller.” (Publishers Weekly)
©2019 Camilla Grebe (P)2019 Random House Audio
Fifty Words for Rain
Summary
A Good Morning America Book Club Pick and New York Times Best Seller! From debut author Asha Lemmie, “a lovely, heartrending story about love and loss, prejudice and pain, and the sometimes dangerous, always durable ties that link a family together.” (Kristin Hannah, number one New York Times best-selling author of The Nightingale) Kyoto, Japan, 1948. “Do not question. Do not fight. Do not resist." Such is eight-year-old Noriko “Nori” Kamiza’s first lesson. She will not question why her mother abandoned her with only these final words. She will not fight her confinement to the attic of her grandparents’ imperial estate. And she will not resist the scalding chemical baths she receives daily to lighten her skin. The child of a married Japanese aristocrat and her African American GI lover, Nori is an outsider from birth. Her grandparents take her in, only to conceal her, fearful of a stain on the royal pedigree that they are desperate to uphold in a changing Japan. Obedient to a fault, Nori accepts her solitary life, despite her natural intellect and curiosity. But when chance brings her older half-brother, Akira, to the estate that is his inheritance and destiny, Nori finds in him an unlikely ally with whom she forms a powerful bond - a bond their formidable grandparents cannot allow and that will irrevocably change the lives they were always meant to lead. Because now that Nori has glimpsed a world in which perhaps there is a place for her after all, she is ready to fight to be a part of it - a battle that just might cost her everything. Spanning decades and continents, Fifty Words for Rain is a dazzling epic about the ties that bind, the ties that give you strength, and what it means to be free.
©2020 Asha Lemmie (P)2020 Penguin Audio
Revenge in Rubies
Summary
When Harriet Gordon receives word from a friend about a tragic death, she and Inspector Curran are thrust into a web of family secrets that threatens to destroy them both in this all-new mystery from the author of Singapore Sapphire. Singapore, 1910 - Harriet Gordon has found fulfillment at last. Her young ward, Will, has settled into his new home with Harriet and her brother, Julian. And Harriet’s employment as a typist at the Straits Settlements Police Force has given her an intriguing way to occupy her time and some much-needed financial independence. But when her friend and employer, Inspector Robert Curran, is called to the scene of a brutal murder and Harriet is asked to comfort the victim’s family, her newfound sense of contentment is abruptly shattered. Sylvie Nolan, the new and much-younger wife of Lieutenant Colonel John Nolan, has been bludgeoned to death in her bedroom. The tightly knit military community in Singapore quickly closes ranks to hinder Curran’s investigation, and Harriet realizes that her friendship with the colonel’s sister might prove useful. But to get close enough to the family’s secrets, Harriet must once again face her painful past, and Curran is forced to dredge up some long-buried secrets of his own. And when more shocking deaths occur that all seem linked to Sylvie’s murder, Harriet and Curran discover that they too are in the sights of a callous killer....
©2020 A. M. Stuart (P)2020 Penguin Audio
You Don't Know Everything, Jilly P!
Summary
Alex Gino, the Lambda Literary Award-winning author of George, is back with another sensitive tale based on increasingly relevant social justice issues. Jilly thinks she's figured out how life works. But when her sister Emma is born deaf, she realizes how much she still has to learn. A big fantasy reader, Jilly connects with another fan, Derek, who is African American and a deaf ASL user. She goes to Derek for advice but doesn't always know the best way to ask for it and makes some mistakes along the way. Jilly has to step back to learn to be an ally, a sister, and a friend, understanding that life works in different ways for different people, and that being open to change can make you change in the best possible ways.
©2018 Alex Gino (P)2018 Scholastic Inc.
To the Lions
Summary
Shortlisted for the Steel Dagger Award Shorlisted for Best Debut, Capital Crime Award An international thriller featuring a female journalist who stumbles upon a dark conspiracy, and her determination to follow the clues, no matter how far that takes her. Casey Benedict, star reporter at the Post, has infiltrated the lives and exposed the lies of countless politicians and power players. Using her network of contacts, and her ability to slip into whatever identity suits the situation, Casey is always on the search for the next big story, no matter how much danger this might place her in, or what the cost might be, emotionally. Tipped off by an overheard conversation at an exclusive London nightclub, she begins to investigate the apparent suicide of a wealthy young British man whose death has left his fiancée and family devastated. The young man's death, however, is only the tipping point of a much more sinister and dangerous scandal involving the world's most powerful leaders and magnates - men who are gathering in Northern Africa for an extreme and secret hunt. With fellow reporter Miranda and combat veteran Ed by her side, Casey's determined hunt for the truth will take her from the glitz of St. Tropez to the deserts of Libya and on to the very darkest corners of the human mind.
©2019 Holly Watt (P)2019 Penguin Audio
Witches of Ash and Ruin
Summary
Modern witchcraft blends with ancient Celtic mythology in an epic clash of witches and gods, perfect for fans of V.E. Schwab's Shades of Magic trilogy and A Discovery of Witches.
Seventeen-year-old Dayna Walsh is struggling to cope with her somatic OCD; the aftermath of being outed as bisexual in her conservative Irish town; and the return of her long-absent mother, who barely seems like a parent. But all that really matters to her is ascending and finally, finally becoming a full witch - plans that are complicated when another coven, rumored to have a sordid history with black magic, arrives in town with premonitions of death. Dayna immediately finds herself at odds with the bewitchingly frustrating Meiner King, the granddaughter of their coven leader.
And then a witch turns up murdered at a local sacred site, along with the blood symbol of the Butcher of Manchester - an infamous serial killer whose trail has long gone cold. The killer's motives are enmeshed in a complex web of witches and gods, and Dayna and Meiner soon find themselves at the center of it all. If they don't stop the Butcher, one of them will be next.
With razor-sharp prose and achingly real characters, E. Latimer crafts a sweeping, mesmerizing story of dark magic and brutal mythology set against a backdrop of contemporary Ireland that's impossible to pause.
©2020 E. Latimer (P)2020 Listening Library
The Girl I Used to Be
Summary
The acclaimed author of Gone Without a Trace returns with a new novel of twisting psychological suspense in which a woman is forced to face down her blackmailer. Someone's been sending Gemma compromising photos. Photos she doesn't remember posing for. She can't recall much about that night during a work conference - she'd written off her headache the next morning as the result of too much drinking at the hotel bar. But then increasingly disturbing photos start appearing in her email, along with bills and other items she can't account for. As the blackmailer grows bolder and events start to escalate beyond her control, Gemma fears for her already shaky marriage and worries that the truth of what really happened that night must be more twisted than she imagines. Unable to go to the police for fear that she will lose her family, Gemma resolves to hunt down the blackmailer on her own. But not everyone in Gemma's life is who they seem, and as she gets closer to the truth, she discovers just how far the shadows from her past can reach.
©2018 Mary Torjussen (P)2018 Penguin Audio
A Most English Princess
Summary
"In this sweeping, immersive novel, A Most English Princess draws readers into the mesmerizing world of the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria - Princess Vicky - as she emerges into a powerful force in her own right and ascends to become the first German Empress.” (Marie Benedict, New York Times best-selling author of The Only Woman in the Room) Perfect for fans of the BBC's Victoria, Alison Pataki's The Accidental Empress, and Daisy Goodwin's Victoria, this debut novel tells the gripping and tragic story of Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter, Victoria, Princess Royal. To the world, she was Princess Victoria, daughter of a queen, wife of an emperor, and mother of Kaiser Wilhelm. Her family just called her Vicky...smart, pretty, and self-assured, she changed the course of the world. January 1858: Princess Victoria glides down the aisle of St. James Chapel to the waiting arms of her beloved, Fritz, Prince Frederick, heir to the powerful kingdom of Prussia. Although theirs is no mere political match, Vicky is determined that she and Fritz will lead by example, just as her parents Victoria and Albert had done, and also bring about a liberal and united Germany. Brought up to believe in the rightness of her cause, Vicky nonetheless struggles to thrive in the constrained Prussian court, where each day she seems to take a wrong step. And her status as the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria does little to smooth over the conflicts she faces. But handsome, gallant Fritz is always by her side, as they they navigate court intrigue, and challenge the cunning Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, while fighting for the throne - and the soul of a nation. At home they endure tragedy, including their son, Wilhelm, rejecting all they stand for. Clare McHugh tells the enthralling and riveting story of Victoria, the Princess Royal - from her younger years as the apple of her father Albert's eyes through her rise to power atop the mighty German empire to her final months of life.
©2020 Clare McHugh (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers