Skip content
Get two free audiobooks AND support local bookstores Make the switch
Nuclear Family by Susanna Fogel
  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
Phone showing make the switch message

Limited-time offer

Get two free audiobooks when you make the switch!

Now’s a great time to shop indie. When you start a new membership supporting local bookstores with promo code SWITCH, we’ll give you two bonus audiobook credits at sign-up.

Make the switch
Libro.fm app with gift bow

Gift audiobook credit bundles

You pick the number of credits, your recipient picks the audiobooks, and your local bookstore is supported by your purchase.

Start gifting

Nuclear Family

A Tragicomic Novel in Letters

$15.26

Retail price: $16.95

Discount: 9%

This title is not eligible for purchase with membership credits. Why?

Length 5 hours 26 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

From filmmaker and New Yorker contributor Susanna Fogel comes a comedic novel about a fractured family of New England Jews and their discontents. Told entirely in letters to a heroine we never meet, we get to know the Fellers through their check-ins with Julie over the course of three decades: their thank-you notes, letters of condolence, family gossip, and good old-fashioned familial passive-aggression.

Together, their missives—some sardonic, others absurd, others heartbreaking—weave a tapestry of a very modern family trying (and often failing) to show one another they care.

The titular “nuclear family” includes, among many others, a narcissistic former-child-prodigy father who has taken up haiku writing in his old age and his new wife, a traditional Chinese woman whose attempts to help her stepdaughter find a man include FedExing her silk gowns from Filene’s Basement; their six-year-old son, Stuart, whose favorite condiment is truffle oil and who wears suits to bed; and Julie’s mother, a psychologist who never remarried but may be in love with her arrogant Rabbi and overshares about everything, including the threesome she had with Dutch grad students in 1972.

Susanna Fogel is a Rhode Island native and apologist. She writes and directs movies and television, including the film Life Partners and the ABC drama series Chasing Life. She is an alumna of the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and Columbia University. Her writing has appeared in the New Yorker and Time.

Gabra Zackman is an actress, author, and narrator who has won several AudioFile Earphones Awards. She was educated at Northwestern University. A classically trained actress, she has appeared in theaters all over the country as well as on film and television.

Bailey Carr is an experienced audiobook narrator who has recorded numerous titles for New York Times bestselling authors. A graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, she currently resides in New York.

Oliver Wyman, a native New Yorker, has appeared on stage as well as in film, and television. He is one of the founders of New York City's Collective Unconscious theater, and his performances include the award-winning “reality play” Charlie Victor Romeo and A.R. McElhinney's cult classic film A Chronicle of Corpses. He also lent his voice to several episodes of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Oliver's work as a narrator extends to over 150 audiobooks and has won many him awards, including Audie awards for his reading of Lance Armstrong's autobiography, It's Not About the Bike, and Thomas L. Friedman's The World is Flat. He also read James Frey's A Million Little Pieces, Tim Dorsey's Atomic Lobster, and David Weber's By Schism Rent Asunder. Oliver has won five Audie Awards from the Audio Publisher's Association, fourteen Earphone Awards from AudioFile Magazine, and two Listen Up Awards from Publisher's Weekly. Oliver was named a 2008 Best Voice in Nonfiction & Culture by AudioFile Magazine.

Dara Rosenberg is an accomplished voice-over artist who has been recognized nationally for her extensive work in audiobooks and commercials. She has narrated over 140 audiobooks and has been the voice of dozens of national television and radio commercials. You can hear Dara's voice each day as a daily news reader for Time Magazine, SpeakPage, and Wibbitz, where she reads for the Huffington Post, CNN, and Reuters. She has a BFA in drama from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and studied at Interlochen Arts Academy, where she majored in drama and musical theater. When Dara is not in the studio recording, she spends her time enjoying life in NYC with her husband, Alex, and fat English Bulldog, Truman.

Michael David Axtell is a voice talent and audiobook narrator.

Allison Hiroto is a voice talent and audiobook narrator.

Scott Aiello has narrated over a dozen audiobooks and is a 2013 Audie Award finalist for his nonfiction narration of Sex and God at Yale by author Nathan Harden. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School drama division and has since performed and directed various New York plays and has been seen on television shows such as Person of Interest and Elementary. Before Juilliard, he was a regular in the Chicago theater circuit.

Ellen Archer has narrated numerous audiobooks and has won several AudioFile Earphones Awards, as well as the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. She is an actress, and singer with a degree in opera performance from the Boston Conservatory. She has performed extensively on the New York stage and in regional theaters.

Lauren Fortgang, a graduate of Fordham University’s Theater Program, is an actress, costume designer, and narrator. She has recorded everything from video games to textbooks. Her audiobook narrations have earned AudioFile Earphones Awards and placed her as a finalist for an Audie Award in 2014.

Jessica Almasy is an actress, theater teacher, and award-winning audiobook narrator. She has recorded over eighty titles, including the Earphones Award–winning Clementine series and Operation Yes. She is the winner of two Audie Awards and several AudioFile Earphones Awards.

Suzanne Toren is an actor who has appeared on and off Broadway, in regional theaters, and occasionally on TV. Over a period of several decades, she has narrated close to 1000 audiobooks for most major publishers. She has received multiple Audie nominations and many industry awards, including Narrator of the Year and Best Voices of the Year. Making beautifully crafted writing come alive is her passion; she is honored and thrilled to have been able to earn a living doing it.

Jonathan Davis's credits include numerous regional theatre performances as well as the New York productions of Three Sisters and Final Passages. Jonathan has also read several Star Wars titles for both Random House Audio and Listening Library.

Carol Monda is an Earphones Award–winning narrator and accomplished voice-over artist. She is also an award-winning actor known for her work in Out of Season, After You Left, and The Gentlemen.

Richard Ferrone has recorded over 150 audiobooks including thrillers, romances, science fiction, and inspirational novels. He has earned numerous Audie Awards for narration, as well as Audie nominations. He was also recognized as an AudioFile “Voice of the Last Century” and a “Rising and Shining Star.” A science fiction fan, he narrated Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars trilogy. He has also narrated works by James Patterson, Dashiell Hammett, Walter Mosley, John Sandford, Eric Van Lustbader, and Stuart Woods.

Stephen Bel Davies has recorded over a hundred titles. Trained at the Juilliard School Drama Division, he has narrated books by a number of New York Times bestselling authors.

L. J. Ganser is a triple Audie Award-winning narrator with over 600 titles recorded to date. Prized for versatility, his work ranges from hard science to magical fantasy, from stinging ants to the Civil War, from Roger Rabbit to infinity-and yes, even beyond. Some of his favorite titles include: Jurassic Park, Capital in the 21st Century, The Guns at Last Light, and The Game of Stars and Comets. He lives in New York City with his family and dog, Mars.

Dan Bittner has narrated dozens of audio books and has starred on stage and on the screen, in movies such as Men in Black, Adventureland, and the Producers: The Movie Musical. He has also appeared onstage as Macbeth Malcolm and Sherlock Holmes in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He has narrated popular audio books such as The Eleventh Plague, Hero, and Forever.

Lance Rubin spent his twenties working as an actor and writing sketch comedy, with several successful runs of The Lance and Ray Show at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City. He has now turned his comedic talents to fiction.

Josh Hurley is an actor, improviser, narrator, and writer. His audiobook credits include Saving Lucas Biggs and Where Things Come Back. He has won two AudioFile Earphones Awards and lives in New York.

Phone showing make the switch message

Limited-time offer

Get two free audiobooks when you make the switch!

Now’s a great time to shop indie. When you start a new membership supporting local bookstores with promo code SWITCH, we’ll give you two bonus audiobook credits at sign-up.

Make the switch
Libro.fm app with gift bow

Gift audiobook credit bundles

You pick the number of credits, your recipient picks the audiobooks, and your local bookstore is supported by your purchase.

Start gifting

Reviews

“Fogel’s novel offers plenty of glimpses—both humorous and endearing—into the life of a single woman with a well-meaning, if clueless, family.”

“Fogel’s spirited tale offers well-won moments of levity and understanding.”

Expand reviews
Get two free audiobooks AND support local bookstores Make the switch