Every year, editors at AudioFile magazine put together their best-of-the-year list of recommended audiobooks, picking out titles they regard as exceptional. Books are chosen in a variety of genres—from novels to nonfiction, and from single voice to full-cast productions. These are the six titles they have declared the best audiobooks of 2025 in the fiction category.
Amity by Nathan Harris, narrated by André Santana and Angel Pean
Narrators André Santana and Angel Pean add emotional depth to this moving story. In the aftermath of the Civil War, emancipated siblings Coleman and June cannot escape the Harper family of Baton Rouge. Mr. Harper, seeking his fortune in a Mexican silver mine, forces June to accompany him. Santana and Pean excel in distinguishing each character and fully immersing listeners in this gripping story. Their performances elevate the novel to unforgettable heights.
(12.25 hours)
What We Can Know by Ian McEwan, narrated by David Rintoul and Rachel Bavidge
Narrators David Rintoul and Rachel Bavidge perform with distinct British styles as this speculative novel jumps around in time. Rintoul portrays Tom, who lives in the 22nd century, when the diminished world has experienced climate catastrophes and been ravaged by AI-controlled wars. Rintoul’s professorial tone and diction strongly suggest an interior life of the mind. Bavidge captures Vivien’s 21st-century conflicts, sensuality, and intellect. She’s the wife of famous poet Francis Blundy, whose lost work, “A Corona for Vivien,” provides the subplot of Tom’s search for it a century later.
(11 hours)
The Antidote by Karen Russell, narrated by Elena Rey, Sophie Amoss, Mark Bramhall, Shayna Small, Jon Orsini, Natasha Soudek, Karen Russell, James Riding
Karen Russell, the magical realism and prose virtuoso, conjures the American Dust Bowl. Her vibrant imaginings are voiced by a stellar cast. Sophie Amoss shimmers as the Antidote, a “prairie witch” who takes verbal deposits; Asphodel Oletsky, a teen recently orphaned when her mom was murdered, is vividly portrayed by Elena Rey; and the masterful Mark Bramhall inhabits the sane, sensitive, long-suffering wheat farmer, Harp Oletsky. The audiobook’s action occurs between two immense weather events six weeks apart in 1935—an epic dust storm dubbed “Black Sunday” bookended by a torrential rain and flood.
(17 hours)
Big Chief by Jon Hickey, narrated by Shaun Taylor-Corbett
Loss haunts this powerful story of politics, corruption, and loyalty. Narrator Shaun Taylor-Corbett performs this debut novel with just the right tone, style, and tempo. He voices the angsty Mitch Caddo with a sure sense of his conflicted life as a “fixer” for the fictional Passage Rouge Nation. The plot revolves around the days just before a tribal election when issues arise involving tribal membership and past suspect business dealings. Taylor-Corbett delivers the dialogue with restraint and intelligence and is masterful in bringing this compelling novel to life.
(10 hours)
Buckeye by Patrick Ryan, narrated by Michael Crouch
Golden Voice Narrator Michael Crouch brings his expert skills to this complex historical drama. While WWII still rages in the Pacific, a secret spanning generations begins in Bonhomie, Ohio. Cal Jenkins and Margaret Salt, who are married to other people, share a kiss in a hardware store upon the news of victory over Germany, and this starts a massive trickle-down effect throughout generations of their two families. Crouch’s smooth narration powerfully dramatizes how one moment can change everything.
(15.75 hours)
Junie by Erin Crosby Eckstine, narrated by Angel Pean
Narrator Angel Pean’s stand-out performance is essential here. Her storytelling skill is consistently riveting, fully embodying these characters and the detailed and occasionally magical world they inhabit. Junie, an enslaved girl in 1800s Alabama, lives with the loss of her sister, Minnie, whose death is a weight on her conscience. An encounter with Minnie’s ghost changes Junie’s life, opening a new path that could include escaping her captors.
(13.5 hours)
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