Showing results for "free audiobooks" in Contemporary Fiction

Arthur MacDonald, 85, is having an end-of-life crisis. His beloved, dying wife of over 60 years no longer knows who he is. His older brother still has all his hair and a wife almost half his age. The man his middle-aged daughter is dating has a ponytail. His teenaged grandson wants to cook desserts for a living. And his daughter wants him to move into Silvermine retirement home. Then Arthur meets the gorgeous, radical, 80-something-year-old Robbie and learns that nobody is ever too old to fall in love all over again.

In this incandescent novel, V.S. Naipaul takes us deeply into the life of one man, an Indian who, uprooted by the bloody tides of Third World history, has come to live in an isolated town at the bend of a great river in a newly independent African nation. Naipaul gives us the most convincing and disturbing vision yet of what happens in a place caught between the dangerously alluring modern world and its own tenacious past and traditions.

The novel is set in Varanasi. Chetan Bhagat initiates the story through the central character of Gopal. It is through Gopal's narration of his life to the author that we are introduced to Raghav and Aarti. The story revolves around these three characters. While Gopal comes from a poor family, Raghav comes from a well-off family. Both set out to achieve success and realise their dreams.

Mysterious, funny, insightful, and heartbreaking, these are tales of expatriates and exiles, wise children and straying saints. They compose a secret history, both intimate and panoramic, of modern times, and offer a kaleidoscopic impression of the world within a world that is Paris.

2017 has been a monumental year for Audible, having just celebrated our 20th anniversary, a milestone that would have never been possible without our wonderful and loyal listeners. One of our major commitments is bringing new and diverse audio experiences to our members, so this year, as our gift to you, we pulled together a collection that reflects a little bit of everything we’ve been up to recently.

Aavarana: The Veil by S. L. Bhyrappa is a story of a free-spirited and rebellious young woman, Lakshmi, who marries the man she is deeply in love with. Amir, her husband, requests she convert to Islam, and she reluctantly agrees. Despite her father being completely against the marriage, she breaks ties with him and changes her name to Razia. However, things change for the worse, and she discovers a different side to Amir. He is not the progressive and liberal person she thought he was.

Shreya and her twin brother, Sushant, are attacked by a mysterious stranger with extraordinary powers. Fighting for their lives, and unable to hold out against him, Shreya falls back, in desperation, upon an ancient legend. But when an ancestor from deep antiquity unexpectedly appears in response to Shreya’s cry for help, the lives of the twins take an unexpected turn.

Award-winning Japanese author and poet Mieko Kawakami brings Ashes of Spring, a collection of short stories set in everyday life in Japan just before the pandemic lockdown.

Bold, brilliant and ridiculously funny, Guilt Trip will make you laugh out loud, cry quietly, and nod furiously in recognition. Meet Ladoo Singh – a bright, curve-celebrating woman juggling corporate chaos, family expectations, unsolicited Rishta advice and the weight of her own insecurities. From being body-shamed at weddings to battling workplace sexism and fatphobia, Ladoo fights back with sharp wit and unapologetic sass.

Told in Ruskin Bond's simple yet poignant style, the stories and poems in No Man Is an Island thoughtfully explore the many shades of friendship and camaraderie. Featuring classic tales such as 'The Woman on Platform No. 8', in which a mysterious stranger befriends a young boy, and 'The Crooked Tree', in which a writer and a hawker form an unlikely bond, this heartwarming collection is a must-listen.

I forget what took me to Fosterganj in the first place. Destiny, perhaps, although I'm not sure why destiny would have bothered to guide an itinerant writer to an obscure little hamlet in the hills. Chance would be a better word. For chance plays a great part in all our lives. And it was just by chance that I found myself in the Fosterganj bazaar one fine morning early in May....

The year is 1977. Three teenagers drive along an Indiana back road, heading home away from the highway, away from prying eyes and traffic cops. One behind the driver's wheel, two in the back seat sampling the merchandise that could get them all jailed. And then, as the car careens beneath a black sky lit only by a million stars, they see it. Something in the sky, something large and close and beckoning with its strangeness.

Mara was the demon who tried to distract Lord Buddha with the help of his three daughters—Raga, Arati and Tanha. Paroosh believes Mara’s three daughters have been strayed in this world wearing skins of teenage girls. And he seeks to deliver to Mara, by sacrificing the girls against the peepal tree, for he wants the father to reunite with his daughter.

Four women know nothing about each other and live cocooned in their individual worlds. Until one day they're forced to reckon with shocking truths they never imagined! Their desires haunt them, provoke them and make them fight to choose new paths in their lives. Will these women survive their stories of passion, betrayal and pain? Best-selling author and film writer Madhuri Banerjee brings to you a new romantic thriller that interweaves varied stories of women and their passions, to show us how all relationships ultimately crash into each other.

Beaten and brutally raped, her body is never found. However, the killers make one mistake. They leave a witness, a witness who has nothing to live for except revenge. And when he crosses the boundaries of time to make the guilty pay, a whole lot of dark characters come to light. There is Valentine, the superstar brand ambassador who sells anything for a price; there is Medici, a pharmaceutical company fraudulently manufacturing banned drugs; there is the perverted and sinister-minded Dr Ranga....

When 26-year-old Ayan is sent to live with his grumpy old grandfather Gopal Shanker in a tiny village in Kerala, he is understandably devastated. What can a sleepy, idyllic village without even internet connectivity offer a young man?

The trajectories of Arvind and Arbaaz, both businessmen of a kind whose lives are unwillingly intertwined, ricochet off one another while they play out their sinister and murderous plots of personal and professional one-upmanship, all the while breaking every rule in the book. Both are unaware that what they seek and fight over is the very obstacle in realising an ancient secret that dates back to a time long forgotten. And yet, at the heart of it all, there lies tenderness...and pathos...and blood...and rare moments of an almost exalted happiness.

In That Boy Thatha, sixteen-year-old Thatha’s world is shattered when he’s separated from his family. Stripped of security, love, and guidance, he must navigate a harsh world alone. Battling guilt, loneliness, and the brutal realities of growing up too soon, Thatha’s journey becomes one of survival and self-discovery. As he struggles for a better future, the weight of his past and the looming forces of karma threaten to destroy everything he’s fought for.

Shreya and her twin brother, Sushant, are attacked by a mysterious stranger with extraordinary powers. Fighting for their lives, and unable to hold out against him, Shreya falls back, in desperation, upon an ancient legend. But when an ancestor from deep antiquity unexpectedly appears in response to Shreya’s cry for help, the lives of the twins take an unexpected turn. For an ancient evil, described in the shlokas of the Rigveda, India’s oldest text, long believed to have been vanquished and rooted out from the face of the earth, has inexplicably survived.

Rohan’s dreams come crashing down when his beloved breaks up with him. Unable to endure the trauma of separation, he decides to end his life. An unexpected phone call gives his story a twist and takes him on a journey to diverse places, where he discovers life-altering truths. Who is the mysterious call from? Is he able to overcome his grief and make a fresh start?