Great Authors

Marcel Proust (1871-1922) was born in Paris during a time of great social and political upheaval, a ferment that is dealt with extensively in his monumental work In Search of Lost Time. He was a sickly child and spent the earlier part of his short life pursuing a variety of sometimes frivolous activities, which led to his not being taken seriously as a writer. It was not until 1909, when he was 38 years old, that he began work on the groundbreaking novel for which he is known, a task that consumed the rest of his life.

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.

The Timeless Novel About a Bus Ride from Hell to Heaven In The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis again employs his formidable talent for fable and allegory. The writer finds himself in Hell boarding a bus bound for Heaven. The amazing opportunity is that anyone who wants to stay in Heaven, can. This is...

In The World of J.R.R. Tolkien, you will join Dr. Dimitra Fimi to delve into Tolkien’s complex and multilayered mythology, examining all these ingredients and more. In these 10 lectures, you will explore and appreciate Middle-earth as medieval, mythological, and modern, a literary creation that was shaped by forces old and new. And you may be surprised to discover just how much of Tolkien’s legendarium was constructed posthumously, with his son Christopher compiling and publishing many of Tolkien’s later works after his death.

When an intricate old map is found stuffed into the walls of the bistro in Three Pines, it at first seems no more than a curiosity. But the closer the villagers look, the stranger it becomes. Given to Armand Gamache as a gift the first day of his new job, the map eventually leads him to...

Two Bestselling Agatha Christie Novels in One Great Audiobook Poirot Investigates a host of murders most foul—as well as other dastardly crimes—in this intriguing collection of short stories from the one-and-only Agatha Christie. First there was the mystery of the film star and the diamond...

Ernest Hemingway, Zadie Smith, Joan Didion, Franz Kafka, David Foster Wallace, and more. In Process, acclaimed journalist Sarah Stodola examines the creative methods of literature's most transformative figures. Each chapter contains a mini biography of one of the world's most lauded authors, focused solely on his or her writing process.

Children have always found a delightful friend in James Herriot. His award-winning stories for young readers bring the farmyard world of Herriot's Yorkshire to vibrant life. Featuring a host of adorable animals and colorful townsfolk, each of the stories is narrated by the country vet himself...

James Baldwin reading from Another Country and Giovanni's Room; WIlliam Styron reading from Lie Down in Darkness; James Jones reading from From Here to Eternity; and Philip Roth reading from Letting Go.

Two Bestselling Agatha Christie Novels in One Great Audiobook What is The Secret of Chimneys? A young drifter finds out when a favor for a friend pulls him into the heart of a deadly conspiracy in this captivating classic from Agatha Christie. Little did Anthony Cade suspect that an errand for...

In this seventh book in the series, boys learn about The Korean War (1950-53), also known as the “The Forgotten War.” Despite more than 2 million casualties, most people—young and old—can not fully explain this international conflict or why the United States sacrificed so much treasure to fight it. But your son will learn about stunning modern warfare—ensuring history is anything but “forgotten.”

The Great Gatsby is a classic work of American literary fiction. Set in the Jazz Age in the 1920s, the story is deeply interesting from a historical lens. The plot centers around a mysterious wealthy figure, Jay Gatsby. Jay Gatsby lives a lavish lifestyle, but as it turns out his money does not buy him happiness or love. Told from the perspective of narrator Nick Carraway, the plots follows the lives of lavish New Yorkers and their love lives.

Seventeen of Twain's best-loved and funniest shorter works, including "The Jumping Frog of Calavarous County", "The Story of Old Ram", "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses", "Tom Quartz", and "The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut". Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens on November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri. He grew up in the Mississippi River town of Hannibal. Sam was to be a printer, a river boat pilot, an officer in the Confederacy, a silver prospector and a journalist. He once wrote, "To simply amuse would have satisfied my dearest ambition".

Step into the whimsical and wonderfully absurd world of Stephen Leacock, Canada’s beloved humorist. This carefully curated collection brings together 12 of his most delightful short stories from Frenzied Fiction (1918), Literary Lapses (1910), Nonsense Novels (1911), and Moonbeams from the Larger Lunacy (1915). Whether skewering the pretentiousness of academia, playfully mocking social conventions, or embracing the sheer joy of nonsense, Leacock’s tales remain as fresh and comical today as when they first captivated listeners over a century ago.

Your midlife doesn't have to be a crisis. In fact, the second half of your life can be better than the first. Let bestselling author Bob Buford show you how. What do you want to do with the rest of your life? In Halftime, Buford provides encouragement and insight to propel your life on a new...

Ken Honda—Japan’s #1 bestselling personal development guru—teaches you how to achieve peace of mind when it comes to money with this instant national bestseller. Too often, money is a source of fear, stress, and anger, often breaking apart relationships and even ruining lives. We like to...

Deadly feuds and ancient secrets spell war in the second novel of The Covenant of Steel, a new epic series of action, intrigue, and magic from a master storyteller who has taken the fantasy world by storm. "Ryan again showcases his gift for epic fantasy in his excellent sequel to The Pariah ...

Part history, part true-crime, and entirely entertaining, listen to the story of how the behemoth Oxford English Dictionary was made. You'll hang on every word as you discover that the dictionary's greatest contributor was also an insane murderer working from the confines of an asylum.

James Baldwin gives an electrifying reading about a young gay American in Paris recalling a dramatic and transforming incident from his boyhood, as he struggles to accept his sexual identity.

Charming, vibrant, witty and edifying, The Life of Samuel Johnson is a work of great obsession and boundless reverence. The literary critic Samuel Johnson was 54 when he first encountered Boswell; the friendship that developed spawned one of the greatest biographies in the history of world literature. The book is full of humorous anecdote and rich characterization, and paints a vivid picture of 18th-century London, peopled by prominent personalities of the time.