Virtual Front Room - Authors from Around the World

The Brightest Star

A Novel

By: Gail Tsukiyama
Narrated by: Cindy Kay
Length: 9 hours 30 minutes

A LIBRARYREADS PICK AND BEST BOOK CLUB PICK OF 2023 “A writer of astonishing grace, delicacy, and feeling.”—Michael Chabon, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay“A beautiful, haunting book.”—Karen Joy Fowler, New York Times bestselling author of Booth and We Are All Completely Beside OurselvesThe beloved... Read more

A Council of Dolls

A Novel

By: Mona Susan Power
Narrated by: Isabella Star LaBlanc
Length: 11 hours 15 minutes

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD The long-awaited, profoundly moving, and unforgettable new novel from PEN Award–winning Native American author Mona Susan Power, spanning three generations of Yanktonai Dakota women from the 19th century to the present day.From the mid-century metropolis of Chicago to the windswept ancestral lands of the... Read more

Small Worlds

By: Caleb Azumah Nelson
Narrated by: Caleb Azumah Nelson
Length: 7 hours 23 minutes

Set over the course of three summers, this novel follows Stephen, a first-generation Londoner born to Ghanaian immigrant parents, brother to Ray, and best friend to Adeline. On the cusp of big life changes, Stephen feels pressured to follow a certain path—a university degree, a move out of home—but when he decides instead to follow his first... Read more

And Then He Sang a Lullaby

By: Ani Kayode
Narrated by: Michael Obiora
Length: 9 hours 11 minutes

The inaugural title from Roxane Gay Books, And Then He Sang a Lullaby is a searingly honest and resonant debut from a 23-year-old Nigerian writer and queer liberation activist, exploring what love and freedom cost in a society steeped in homophobia.

August is a God-fearing track star who leaves Enugu City to attend university and escape his... Read more

Banyan Moon

A Novel

By: Thao Thai
Narrated by: Cindy Kay, Catherine Ho & Elyse Dinh
Length: 12 hours 23 minutes

“Taking place across different periods of time in Vietnam and Florida, Banyan Moon follows a multi-generational family of Vietnamese-American women and the secrets they keep and sacrifices they make for their loved ones. Told in three different perspectives, follow Minh's journey from a naive, love struck teenager to a determined woman fighting... Read more

Countries of Origin

A Novel

By: Javier Fuentes
Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
Length: 8 hours 28 minutes

This stunning debut chronicles a tumultuous, passionate love affair between two young men from vastly different worlds during one, extraordinary summer in Spain, in what is ultimately a meditation on identity, class, belonging and desire.

“Full of so many pleasures—literary, culinary, amorous… Fuentes has created something beautiful, honest,... Read more

Nightbloom

By: Peace Adzo Medie
Narrated by: Jessica Sarkodie, Ekua Ekumah & Sarah Dorgbadzi
Length: 12 hours 46 minutes

“Medie’s use of multiple perspectives in telling this story of cousins Akorfa and Selasi is extraordinarily effective. We hear their stories from Akorfa’s perspective, then from Selasi’s, and finally from their combined perspectives after they have learned hidden details of each other’s life. Privileged and with a sense of entitlement, Akorfa... Read more

Paper Names

A Novel

By: Susie Luo
Narrated by: Austin Ku
Length: 8 hours 6 minutes

“A powerful novel that juxtaposes struggle with privilege and immigrant life with the life of generational wealth. What begins with a young wealthy tenant generously giving piano lessons to the daughter of his Chinese immigrant doorman, leads over many years to life-altering events. Luo has crafted a taut, thoroughly engaging story of these... Read more