Books by Saskia Maarleveld (narrator)
“I am clearly into twisty mysteries that don’t really tell me where they’re going. This one is all about running cons. The main character is a con artist, who is in small-time cons. She gets involved with a group that runs much bigger, longer-term cons, and ultimately gets involved with a man through one of these cons. You really must pay attention. Is she going to be in trouble with the main person who is running this con group? That’s a big issue. I love strategy and strategy games. This one was completely for me because I was constantly thinking, ‘Who’s playing who?’” Read more...
The Best Audiobooks of 2024 (so far)
Michele Cobb, Publisher
Birnam Wood: A Novel
by Eleanor Catton & Saskia Maarleveld (narrator)
☆ Shortlisted for the 2023 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction
🏆 An AudioFile Best Mystery/Suspense Audiobook of 2023
“Eleanor Catton won the Booker Prize for her novel, The Luminaries. This is very different. It’s also set in her native New Zealand, but it’s a kind of environmentalist thriller. It’s extremely witty, extremely pacey, and incredibly well crafted. It’s about the fight over a particular patch of threatened ground in rural New Zealand. A group of guerrilla gardeners wants to use it for their organic ecological project but it’s also in the sights of miners and developers. The clash between them is executed with incredible panache, wit, surprise and suspense.
This is a book which on its back cover has an endorsement from none other than Stephen King, which I think tells you about the narrative drive that Eleanor Catton achieves here. It’s enormously enjoyable and, of course, it raises all of these profound questions about who should control the land and how it can be protected from environmental degradation.”
“One of the biggest books of the season must be Eleanor Catton’s hotly anticipated third novel Birnam Wood. Pitched (somewhat unexpectedly) as a psychological thriller, it follows the members of a guerilla gardening group as they take over an abandoned farm in cautious partnership with a paranoid American billionaire with plans to build his own survivalist bunker.” Read more...
The Notable Novels of Spring 2023
Cal Flyn, Five Books Editor
Interviews where books by Saskia Maarleveld (narrator) were recommended
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1
Birnam Wood: A Novel
by Eleanor Catton & Saskia Maarleveld (narrator) -
2
All the Sinners Bleed
by S.A. Cosby -
3
Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers
by Jesse Q. Sutanto and narrated by Eunice Wong -
4
The Secret Hours
by Mick Herron -
5
I Have Some Questions for You
by Rebecca Makkai and narrated by Julia Whelan and JD Jackson
The Best Mystery & Suspense Audiobooks of 2023, recommended by AudioFile Editors
The Best Mystery & Suspense Audiobooks of 2023, recommended by AudioFile Editors
It’s a lot of fun listening to mystery books or crime novels as audiobooks, with good narrators adding suspense and enjoyment to the reading experience. Editors at AudioFile magazine, who specialize in reviewing audiobooks, pick out the best ones of 2023, good books made even better by being read aloud by a skilled narrator.
The Best Political Novels of 2023, recommended by Boyd Tonkin
The Orwell Prizes are the UK’s most prestigious prizes for writing about politics, awarded annually to books and articles that best meet George Orwell’s own ambition “to make political writing into an art.” Boyd Tonkin, chair of this year’s judges, talks us through the books shortlisted for the 2023 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction.
The Notable Novels of Spring 2023, recommended by Cal Flyn
Spring is always an excellent time for literary fiction releases, and 2023 is no exception. Here, Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn offers a round-up of the notable new novels of the season, from buzzy debuts to hotly anticipated new releases from internationally acclaimed authors like Eleanor Catton, Han Kang, and Salman Rushdie.
The Best Audiobooks of 2024 (so far), recommended by Michele Cobb
For an engrossing read, it doesn’t get much better than a good audiobook. Michele Cobb, publisher of AudioFile magazine, shares her favourite new audiobooks from the first half of 2024—from engaging memoirs narrated by their authors, to dark psychological thrillers and a post-apocalyptic novel set in New Hampshire.
