February’s biggest news might be the next fantasy audiobook from Marlon James and read by Golden Voice Bahni Turpin—who also narrates two more titles featured in this month’s selections. We also look forward to new fiction, several titles for middle-grade and teen listeners, and Brené Brown’s latest, just in time for Valentine’s Day.
RECITATIF: A Story
by Toni Morrison, read by Bahni Turpin, Zadie Smith [Intro.]
Random House Audio
Release date: February 1
This 1983 short story by Morrison gets a new stand-alone audio performance, with a new introduction by Zadie Smith.
THE FAMILY CHAO
by Lan Samantha Chang, read by Brian Nishii
Recorded Books
Release date: February 1
When the owner of a popular Chinese restaurant in small-town Wisconsin is found dead, his three sons find themselves at the center of the investigation, and the town’s interest.
IN THE SERPENT’S WAKE
by Rachel Hartman, read by Katharine Lee McEwan
Listening Library
Release date: February 1
Part of Hartman's Seraphina universe where dragons can pass as humans, this sequel to TESS OF THE ROAD promises more fantastic journeys. Katharine Lee McEwan returns to narrate.
BLACK PANTHER: SPELLBOUND
by Ronald L. Smith, read by Dion Graham
Marvel Press
Release date: February 1
Dion Graham returns to narrate this next middle-grade adventure of young prince T’Challa before he became the Black Panther, superhero and Avenger.
THE BOOKS OF JACOB
by Olga Tokarczuk, Jennifer Croft [Trans.], read by Allen Lewis Rickman, Gilli Messer
Penguin Audio
Release date: February 1
From the Nobel Prize winner, an ambitious and literary novel imagining the life of real eighteenth-century religious leader Jacob Frank.
ATLAS OF THE HEART: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience
by Brené Brown, read by Brené Brown
Random House Audio
Release date: February 14
Brown delves deep into the breadth of human emotions in her latest.
BLACK CLOUD RISING
by David Wright Faladé, read by James Shippy
Recorded Books
Release date: February 15
A historical novel set during the Civil War and based on the real-life African Brigade, made up of formerly enslaved soldiers now fighting for the Union.
DIABLO MESA
by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child, read by Cynthia Farrell
Hachette Audio
Release date: February 15
Archaeologist Nora Kelly and FBI agent Corrie Swanson investigate murders among alien cover-ups and the promise of a new era of space flight in this third novel in a new series from Preston and Child.
MOON WITCH, SPIDER KING: Dark Star Trilogy, Book 2
by Marlon James, read by Bahni Turpin
Penguin Audio
Release date: February 15
This highly anticipated follow-up tells the story of BLACK LEOPARD, RED WOLF from the point of view of Sologon the Moon Witch, Tracker's foe in the first book.
BITTER
by Akwaeke Emezi, read by Bahni Turpin
Listening Library
Release date: February 15
In this companion novel to PET, a teen finds herself torn between escaping into the haven of a school where she can practice her art and participating in protests happening in her town.
