AudioFile's Best Audiobooks of 2021

APPLES NEVER FALL by Liane Moriarty, read by Caroline Lee

The Delaneys are not an ordinary family, and Joy and Stan, well-respected retired tennis coaches and parents of four near-pros, find themselves immersed in the mystery of a lifetime. Australian narrator Caroline Lee is an amazing performer who digs so deeply into her characters’ personas that listeners will become addicted to each witty, insightful, and gutsy one.

CLOUD CUCKOO LAND by Anthony Doerr, read by Marin Ireland, Simon Jones

Marin Ireland and Simon Jones sparkle as they narrate this immersive time-traveling novel. The interwoven narrative shifts in time from the fall of Constantinople (1450s) to present-day small-town Idaho and to a future set on a spacecraft. From accounts of myths to misbegotten environmental terrorism, Doerr’s novel pulls out all the stops, and the narrators create an enduring listening experience.

HARLEM SHUFFLE by Colson Whitehead, read by Dion Graham

Dion Graham's performance invites listeners into the world of New York in the early 1960s. As his voice captures the feel of the times, he skillfully brings listeners the coffee shops, storefronts, and conversations of the era. Whitehead's audiobook centers on Ray Carney, who operates a struggling furniture store but is unable to escape his background in crime.

JUSTINE by Lawrence Durrell, read by Nicholas Boulton

Nicholas Boulton offers a masterful performance of this first volume of Lawrence Durrell’s famed Alexandria Quartet. Boulton’s rich voice, whether persuasive with seduction or throaty with frustration, captures the experience of an unnamed narrator as he succumbs to the charms of 1940s Alexandria, Egypt, and a few of its most alluring denizens.

BALTHAZAR by Lawrence Durrell, read by Nicholas Boulton

Although each of the novels of the Alexandria Quartet can stand alone, they gain depth if experienced in sequence. Fortunately, Nicholas Boulton is narrating all four, and his performance is masterly. He deploys a range of voices and accents that never leave us in doubt about who is speaking, and he draws out the characters’ emotions and perceptions, which are important in a series that is about the differences between perception and reality, seen through the lens of love.

MOUNTOLIVE by Lawrence Durrell, read by Nicholas Boulton

Nicholas Boulton fully inhabits the often drunk, always stuffy, plainly ridiculous characters who ran the empire on which a British sun refused to set. Without attempting mimicry, he shifts his voice to play the Egyptian beauty in one line, her English lover in the next. His tongue wraps deftly around Durrell’s vast and sometimes-prickly vocabulary. Magnificent prose explodes in the ear, igniting the smallest detail.

CLEA by Lawrence Durrell, read by Nicholas Boulton

With this audiobook, narrator Nicholas Boulton completes Durrell's Alexandria Quartet. His thrilling new performance isn't merely respectful of this classic work; these characters come to life, as does the environment of WWII-era Alexandria, "the capital of memory." While the first three titles focus on several perspectives of the same characters, this audiobook focuses on the passage of time. Boulton finds the humor, pathos, and tragedy in these characters in a performance that feels effortless.

THE LOVE SONGS OF W.E.B. DU BOIS by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, read by Adenrele Ojo, Karen Chilton, Prentice Onayemi

Three talented narrators transport listeners with this absorbing novel. The story centers on the complicated lives of Ailey and her extended family, as well as the trials of her ancestors. Narrator Adenrele Ojo could teach a master class in narration with her flawless portrayals of the intelligent, sensitive Ailey and the other unforgettable contemporary family members. Karen Chilton guides listeners through the histories of Ailey's ancestors. Scholarly pronouncements of Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois are delivered with appropriate measure and gravitas by Prentice Onayemi.

MATRIX by Lauren Groff, read by Adjoa Andoh

Distressingly tall and awkward, Marie de France, half sister of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, is exiled to a decrepit, far-flung abbey. There she begins her life’s work, audaciously transforming the abbey into an empowering and wholly unique sanctuary for the women within. Narrator Adjoa Andoh allows listeners to fully experience the nuns’ rich personalities, using an impressive range of accents, timbres, and rhythms throughout. Above all, it is her depiction of Marie that shines most brightly.