> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://thebeemagazine.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # My five all-time favourite audiobooks - URL: https://thebeemagazine.com/my-five-all-time-favourite-audiobooks/ - Published: 2026-11-11T16:30:39.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-11T16:30:39.000Z - Description: To mark the start of her regular audiobook reviews, our resident expert Micaela J. Ralph chooses her five all-time favourite listens. - Author: Micaela J. Ralph - Tags: Audiobooks I've listened to more audiobooks than I can count, and somewhere along the way I've become a bit of a backseat expert about what makes a good one. Because a brilliant book doesn't automatically make a brilliant audiobook. Whether narrated by the author, a voice actor or a full cast, the best audiobooks aren't just books read aloud. They're interpretations that can reshape a story into something else entirely. For me, it's the performance that transforms the storytelling. Where an accent makes a setting feel real, or the delivery of a sentence changes its meaning. I've loved far too many audiobooks to make anything resembling a definitive list, but should I ever find myself marooned on a desert island (one with electricity and a phone charger, preferably), these are some of the ones I'd want with me. An eclectic bunch, from unsettling horror to tender love stories, each reminding me why I love having stories told to me in the first place. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fc/56/fc56b9ab-b4c1-4291-8dc6-e491452ed510/content/images/2026/10/81G3TP-XFpL._UF1000-1000_QL80_.jpg) **How High We Go in the Dark** **Sequoia Nagamatsu** Narrated by a full cast Each chapter is given to a different voice, and that choice is what elevates this audiobook. The book moves across time and lives, and hearing those shifts in actual human voices makes each story feel distinct and lived in. It didn’t feel like I was reading a collection of stories, it felt like I was listening to a chorus of people trying to make sense of the same changing world. That’s what really stuck with me. [How High We Go in the Dark (Audible)](https://www.audible.com/pd/How-High-We-Go-in-the-Dark-Audiobook/006307267X?ref=thebeemagazine.com) --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fc/56/fc56b9ab-b4c1-4291-8dc6-e491452ed510/content/images/2026/10/51FO9CVAVrL._SL500_.jpg) **Penance** **Eliza Clark** Narrated by a full cast A novel concerned with who gets to tell a story, and how easily it can be distorted. In audio, hearing the girls’ voices, their accents and rhythms, sharpens that tension. The distance between the narrator and the lives he’s describing becomes much more pronounced. You can actually hear what’s being flattened or misunderstood. It’s an incredible listen. [Penance (Audible)](https://www.audible.com/pd/Penance-Audiobook/B0BSVQ41ZX?ref=thebeemagazine.com) --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fc/56/fc56b9ab-b4c1-4291-8dc6-e491452ed510/content/images/2026/10/41Zmcxk6Q3L._SL500_.jpg) **The Haar** **David Sodergren** Narrated by Mhairi Morrison This one works because of the contrast. Morrison’s voice is soft and lilting, almost comforting, and it pulls you right into the Scottish seaside village. You settle into her voice and that place. So, when things turn, it’s really rough. I don’t think the atmosphere would have got under my skin in the same way without her. [The Haar](https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Haar-Audiobook/B0DB2Z5M5W?ref=thebeemagazine.com) --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fc/56/fc56b9ab-b4c1-4291-8dc6-e491452ed510/content/images/2026/10/41xnkpx8GuL._SL500_.jpg) **Open Water** **Caleb Azumah Nelson** Narrated by the author There’s something about hearing this in Nelson’s own voice that just changes it. The rhythm, the pauses, the weight behind certain lines, all carry through in a way that makes you feel close and fond. It turns something already personal into something that feels directly shared with you, the listener. Nelson takes your hand as he tells this story. [Open Water](https://www.audible.com/pd/Open-Water-Audiobook/B08V4H59RQ?ref=thebeemagazine.com) --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fc/56/fc56b9ab-b4c1-4291-8dc6-e491452ed510/content/images/2026/10/41LdBXnM9KL._SL500_.jpg) **Machines Like Me** **Ian McEwan** Narrated by Billy Howle This one is strange. The narration has a controlled, almost artificial quality that creates a sense of distance. Rather than detracting from the story, it adds an extra layer, making the experience feel more observational and, more unsettling. I finished it thinking ‘that was really weird’, and loved it for exactly that reason. [Machines Like Me](https://www.audible.com/pd/Machines-Like-Me-Audiobook/1980032386?ref=thebeemagazine.com) --- [Tip the Bee](https://thebeemagazine.com/#/portal/support) All donations go towards supporting the Bee’s mission to nurture, publish promote and pay for the best new working-class writing.