One Day, by David Nicholls Read by Anna Bentinck, 16hrs 25mins Nostalgia is a powerful thing at the best of times. With elegant lyrical prose, spectacular set-pieces, and quiet moments of tender hope, it is a ludicrously good book. Get it into you before the inevitable Hollywood adaptation.ĭays Without End, by Sebastian Barry Read by Aidan Kelly, 7hrs 58mins Set in the 19th-century American west, Days Without End is a love story of two men fighting through the Indian and civil wars. Though the idea of a summer holiday is little more than a fantasy right now, it's still a treat to be swept away in this rich tale of class politics, sex and drugs in 1980s Thatcher Britain.Īmerican Dirt, by Jeanine Cummins Read by Yareli Arizmendi, 16hrs 54mins A breakneck thriller with a social conscience, American Dirt follows a woman's attempt to illegally cross the US-Mexico border with her young son, all the while pursued by a violent drug cartel. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst Read by Alex Jennings, 17hrs 13mins Winner of the 2004 Booker Prize, The Line of Beauty is the kind of novel you fall in love with by a French swimming pool in July. Part coming-of-age tale, part lyrical ode to the natural world, part murder mystery: there's plenty to chew on for the next group video chat. Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens Read by Cassandra Campbell, 12hrs 12mins This is one for all the now-virtual book clubs out there. There There, by Tommy Orange Read by Darrell Dennis, Alma Cuervo, and others, 8hrs Following a disparate group of characters gathered for the 'Big Oakland Powwow', There There is a dizzying, furious, heart-breaking and wholly original lament of the Native American diaspora. You'll frequently hit the rewind button to fully appreciate the many, many perfect passages. Hilary Mantel's conclusion to her Cromwell trilogy is historical fiction at its magisterial best. The Mirror and the Light, by Hilary Mantel Read by Ben Miles, 38hrs 11mins She's only gone and done it again.

Historical novelist Hilary Mantel was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Literature by UCD in 2016.

The story of two boys sentenced to a brutal reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida, it is a devastating and essential book. The Nickel Boys, by Colson Whitehead Read by JD Jackson, Colson Whitehead, 6hrs 46mins Winner of this year's Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Colson Whitehead's follow-up to The Underground Railroad is another superb account of institutionalised racism in America. Finally, if you have no interest in the latest releases, Open Culture has a collection of 1,000 classics available as free audiobooks.

Audio book recommendations