Brilliant Books Staff Favorites Summer 2024

Whale Fall

A Novel

By: Elizabeth O'Connor
Narrated by: Dyfrig Morris, Gabrielle Glaister, Gwyneth Keyworth, Jot Davies & Nick Griffiths
Length: 3 hours 49 minutes

“Gorgeously written account of lfe on a remote island off the coast of Wales. Complex character development, descriptive pose, and a haunting atmosphere make this a must read for fans of Claire Keegan, Maggie O'Farrell or Joanna Quinn. Read more

Interesting Facts about Space

A Novel

By: Emily Austin
Narrated by: Natalie Naudus
Length: 8 hours 25 minutes

“Emily Austin’s protagonists are singularly relatable and beautifully flawed. I think many readers will see themselves in Enid, a true crime obsessed, queer woman who struggles with relationships and lives inside her head a lot. This book is so readable, hilarious, powerful, and hopeful. Read more

All This and More

A Novel

By: Peng Shepherd
Narrated by: Helen Laser
Length: 15 hours 38 minutes

From the critically acclaimed, bestselling author of The Cartographers and The Book of M comes an inventive new novel about a woman who wins the chance to rewrite every mistake she’s ever made… and how far she’ll go to find her elusive “happily ever after.” But there’s a twist: the reader gets to decide what she does next to change her fate.One... Read more

The Book of Love

A Novel

By: Kelly Link
Narrated by: January LaVoy
Length: 23 hours 30 minutes

“Laura, Daniel and Mo, three high school students from Lovesend, Massachusetts, go missing one night and leaving their family and friends confused and grieving. A year later they reappear in the classroom of their unremarkable music teacher Mr. Anabin, only to learn that they have been dead and now have a second chance at life. The catch? Only... Read more

Our Wives Under the Sea

By: Julia Armfield
Narrated by: Annabel Baldwin & Robyn Holdaway
Length: 6 hours 6 minutes

“For quite some time, Our Wives Under the Sea has been one of my favorite books to recommend. Despite this, I still struggle to explain this plot without eventually resorting to saying something like, “Just read it. Trust me.” This little book is a short read, best described as an agonizingly surreal depiction of a slowly unraveling, completely... Read more

The Waters

By: Bonnie Jo Campbell
Narrated by: Lili Taylor
Length: 14 hours 40 minutes

“Heavily character driven, mystical, slice-of-life rural story with phenomenal description. As much as I want to call this a ‘cozy read’, this book was quite stressful at times! Read more

From Here to Eternity

Traveling the World to find the Good Death

By: Caitlin Doughty
Narrated by: Caitlin Doughty
Length: 5 hours 37 minutes

The best-selling author of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes expands our sense of what it means to treat the dead with "dignity." Fascinated by our pervasive terror of dead bodies, mortician Caitlin Doughty set out to discover how other cultures care for their dead. In rural Indonesia, she observes a man clean and dress his grandfather's mummified body.... Read more

Smothermoss

By: Alisa Alering
Narrated by: Susan Bennett
Length: 8 hours 21 minutes

“There are few places in America where you'll find more superstitions, symbolism, unique sayings, unusual customs, and strange habits than deep within the mountain-folk culture of Appalachia. If you can't book your vacation to the Appalachian Trail today, than take a deep dive into the pages of Smothermoss instead. While reading...you'll smell... Read more

Cinderwich

By: Cherie Priest
Narrated by: Traci Odom
Length: 5 hours 55 minutes

“Who put Ellen in the blackgum tree?” Decades after trespassing children spotted the desiccated corpse wedged in the treetop, no one knows the answer. Kate Thrush and her former college professor, Dr. Judith Kane, travel to Cinderwich, Tennessee, in hopes that maybe it was their Ellen: Katie’s lost aunt, Judith’s long-gone lover. But they’re not... Read more

The Age of Magical Overthinking

Notes on Modern Irrationality

By: Amanda Montell
Narrated by: Amanda Montell
Length: 6 hours 5 minutes

“Exploring our current culture of overthinking and the language surrounding it, these essays are fascinating and enlightening. Peppered with anecdotes and self-evaluation, this is the book Montell was meant to write. Read more

Moby Dyke

An Obsessive Quest To Track Down The Last Remaining Lesbian Bars In America

By: Krista Burton
Narrated by: Sarah Beth Pfeifer
Length: 12 hours 13 minutes

“Follow author Krista Burton as she embarks on a pilgrimage to the last remaining lesbian bars in the country. Part memoir, part travel essays, part social history of why lesbian bars are important, this book is both enlightening and delightful (and will make you want to sing Goodbye Earl at your next queer karaoke night). Read more