Skip content
Celebrate indie bookstores with our limited-time sale! Shop the sale
The Twelve by William Gladstone
  Send as gift   Add to Wish List

Almost ready!

In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.

      Log in       Create account
IBD balloon logo

Shop the sale

In celebration of Independent Bookstore Day, shop our limited-time sale on bestselling audiobooks from April 22nd-28th. Don’t miss out—purchases support your local bookstore!

Shop now

The Twelve

A Novel

$17.84

Get for $14.99 with membership
Narrator Johnny Heller

This audiobook uses AI narration.

We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.

Learn more
Length 7 hours 8 minutes
Language English
  Send as gift   Add to Wish List

Almost ready!

In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.

      Log in       Create account

The Twelve is an extraordinary and unforgettable novel about a most unusual man. As a child, Max lives in a world of colors and numbers, not speaking until the age of six. As an adult, Max ventures on a journey of destiny to discover the secret behind the ancient Mayan prophecy about the end of time, foretold to occur on December 21, 2012.



When he is fifteen years old, Max has a near-death experience during which he has a vision that reveals to him the names of twelve unique individuals. While Max cannot discern the significance of these twelve names, he is unable to shake the sense that they have deep meaning. Eight years pass before Max meets the first of the twelve.



With this, Max's voyage of discovery begins, as he strives to uncover the identities and implications of "the twelve"—individuals he will meet during his journey toward truth, all of whom seem connected, and all of whom may hold the answer to what will happen at the exact moment the world may end. A series of global adventures culminates in a revelation that explains why and how Max and the twelve are destined to unite to discover the magnitude of the meaning of December 21, 2012. Only the twelve can provide the answers, as the fate of all humanity rests in the balance.

William Gladstone majored in Spanish literature at Yale University and cultural anthropology at Harvard University. He also received an advanced degree in literature from the University of Salamanca in Spain. Gladstone has worked at the highest levels of book publishing, created the Waterside Technical Book Conferences, and has been involved in the creation of several digital publishing enterprises, including the first print-on-demand book publishing company, the first digital eBook company, and several current cutting-edge online book marketing companies. He lives in Cardiff, California.

Johnny Heller, a Golden Voice Lifetime Achievement Award winner, has recorded over 800 audiobooks spanning every genre. He is a four-time Audie Award winner; an AudioFile Best Voice, Booklist Editor's Choice List, and Publishers Weekly Listen Up Award winner; and the winner of over thirty Earphones Awards. His national and international audiobook coaching workshops are called "game changing" by attendees. AudioFile magazine named him one of the top fifty voices of the twentieth century.

IBD balloon logo

Shop the sale

In celebration of Independent Bookstore Day, shop our limited-time sale on bestselling audiobooks from April 22nd-28th. Don’t miss out—purchases support your local bookstore!

Shop now
Celebrate indie bookstores with our limited-time sale! Shop the sale