Our most anticipated audiobooks of 2026

The latest from one of non-fic’s greatest

The first time I’d ever read anything by Patrick Radden Keefe, I was a college freshman assigned his New Yorker reporting on human trafficking, which he expanded upon in The Snakehead. Radden Keefe’s narrative pacing and deft ability to craft thoughtful, multifaceted portraits of his complex human subjects would come to redefine everything I thought possible about journalism. With modern classics Say Nothing and Empire of Pain, he cemented himself as a master of his craft, delivering chronicles of past and present with all the intrigue and finesse of the best fiction storytellers. Needless to say, I’m counting the days until the author-narrated London Falling, an intricate saga investigating a young man’s unimaginable double life and his tragic, sudden death.

Say what?

One never knows where Alice Feeney is going to take you in her audiobooks. One thing’s for sure, it’s a place you’ve never been. The title alone has whetted my appetite. Shouldn’t it be “My Ex-Husband’s Wife”? I guess I’ll soon find out. The big key on the cover is either a big secret about to be unlocked or a door someone has no business unlocking. And just who is on the other side of that door? When it comes to Feeney’s audiobooks, narration never disappoints, and Richard Armitage can tell me a story any day. Who knows what the future holds in 2026? But I am certain about one thing: I’ll be listening to My Husband’s Wife.

All bills come due

You give me a story about the ethereal unknown of death and its afterparties, tell me it’s written by George Saunders, and you have my full attention. Comparing Vigil to Lincoln in the Bardo, his first novel, at first seems easy and sure. But Vigil is entirely new and exists as its own bit of remarkability. In the context of Saunders’s career, this stands clearly in its own lane as the work of an author who has again figured out the right words to describe this cosmic pudding we live in, with humour for us and grace for his characters who need it the most.

Liza, the legend, spills the tea

With so many pretty young things eager to share their story without having lived much of a life, it’s easy to be jaded about celebrity memoirs. Then there’s Liza Minnelli. The daughter of film director Vincente Minnelli and Wizard of Oz star Judy Garland, she’s Hollywood royalty who has seen it all. Yet, the EGOT winner has never shared her side of the story. The fact that the icon is finally giving us her tale of nearly 80 years on the planet is thrilling, and that the audio will include original interviews with her longtime friend Michael Feinstein (and hopefully other autobiographical recordings) is sure to make all of us stop and listen.

The ending I can’t wait to begin

Evelyn Clarke’s The Ending Writes Itself is easily my most anticipated release of the year. What made this even more enticing was the mystery surrounding the identity of author “Evelyn Clarke,” who recently revealed that they are none other than Cat Clarke and V.E. Schwab. The set-up for this exciting collaboration feels straight out of an Agatha Christie novel: a remote Scottish island, a dead literary legend, and a cast of ambitious suspects—six struggling authors competing to finish writing the deceased author’s final manuscript within 72 hours. As the clock ticks down and secrets surface, this literary game of cat-and-mouse might just prove that some stories are better left unfinished.

Go ahead and threaten me with a good time

I have to be careful when I listen to a mystery. I scare easily, and sometimes a thriller just isn’t worth the disruption to my psyche. But a contemporary retelling of Little Women in which Beth has been murdered? Thrill me. Terrorise me. I’m all in. Katie Bernet’s debut will hook you immediately with its campy cover and bold, declarative title: Beth Is Dead. Screw anticipation—I got an early listen and dove right in. Alternating between then (i.e. before the titular incident) and now, the clever narrative unfurls from the point of view of all four March sisters, brilliantly brought to life (and, ahem, death) by Caitlin Kelly, Emily Tremaine, Ferdelle Capistrano, and Piper Goodeve. I don’t know that I’ve ever enjoyed a retelling more. It’s witty, propulsive, layered, meta, and there are not one but two nested narratives that old and new acquaintances of the March sisters alike will relish.

‘60s vibes and family drama

Meet the Newmans takes listeners to 1964, where "America's favourite TV family" faces declining ratings after two decades of primetime dominance. As society transforms around them, the Newmans must decide what to reveal about themselves to stay relevant in a changing world. Brilliantly narrated by Marin Ireland and Tim Campbell, this intimate behind-the-scenes tale explores each family member's struggles set against 1960s social upheaval. It's family drama at its finest—full of happy tears, heartbreak, feminist awakening, marital strife, and brotherly bonds—building to a life-affirming, thoroughly entertaining conclusion.

The tradwife novel about to go viral

It feels funny to call Yesteryear my most anticipated 2026 release, given I devoured an advance copy months ago and haven’t stopped thinking about it since. A debut novel about a tradwife influencer who is suddenly dropped into the mid-1800s and must learn to survive without a phone and staff of minions, let alone electricity and indoor plumbing? I was in from the jump, and Caro Claire Burke’s indelible main character, spot-on details, and shocking twists and turns had my jaw on the floor. What I can’t wait for is the audio performance by Rebecca Lowman, who will bring antiheroine Natalie Heller Mills to life, and to finally be able to discuss the novel’s themes, masterful handling of Ballerina Farm-style intrigue, and that ending (!!!) with my entire group chat. Because I’m calling it now: Come April, Yesteryear will be a sensation!

A musical history lesson

On the very long list of things we didn’t learn in high school, let’s add this tale of an Underground Railroad that allowed enslaved people to escape south, across the Rio Grande, to Mexico. A musical history in the mold of Hamilton, Mexodus was created and performed by Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson, who use hip-hop, beat box, and even accordion to tell the story of Henry, an enslaved man on the run, and Carlos, a traumatised vet, who must decide how much they’re willing to trust each other to survive. This is an Audible Original that truly offers something you’ve never heard before.

How to be a (queer) girl

I love a story that takes place over a short, specific period of time. Think Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, narrated over the course of a single day, or Jenny Han’s wistful YA novel The Summer I Turned Pretty. These contained snapshots serve as a reminder of just how pivotal and evocative certain chapters of our existence can be, and how they play out, in some essence, for the rest of our lives. I’m hoping that Sonia Feldman’s dreamy debut, Girl’s Girl, follows in the footsteps of these works, as it takes place over the course of one Midwestern summer and zeroes in on the distinct realities of girlhood, specifically queer girlhood, as 15-year-old Mina examines what it means—and what it changes—to love another person with all your heart.

Good dad, bad dad

As a writer for Esquire and GQ, Tom Junod built a career chronicling what it meant to be a "man at his best." One of his most compelling subjects was his own father, Lou, a suave handbag salesman with a magnificent wardrobe and boundless charisma. But was Lou truly a good man? In this poetic but unsparing investigative memoir, Junod turns his reporter's lens inward, crawling inside his father's life to unearth a trove of family secrets. Revelations around Lou's worst betrayals irrevocably reshape Tom's life, along with his definitions of loyalty, forgiveness, and what it means to be a better man.