Five Books For Audio Joy, fun stuff edition

A bonus recommendation, a links roundup, music, a poem, and more

Mar 30, 2025

*The Lute Player* by Caravaggio, c.1600.

Welcome to this month’s Fun Stuff Edition of Five Books For, a newsletter for people who love great stories. This month I’ve been sharing some amazing audiobook recommendations, and I hope you’ve discovered something new to enjoy.

Over at Global Comment, in this month’s Great Adaptations column I take a look at Murder On The Orient Express by Agatha Christie. Not only does it feature one of her most clever and ingenious plots, but it’s also been beautifully adapted as both an immersive audio production and a stunning film.

As always for this edition of the newsletter, we have a bonus recommendation, a poem, a playlist and some reading links, all in keeping with this month’s theme of great audiobooks. I hope you find something to surprise and delight you.

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Okay, let’s dive in!

Bonus recommendation: Apprentice: Scarlet City by Rebecca Gablé

“There are only two ways to achieve unimaginable wealth: one is to inherit it, through royal blood or your ancestors’ hard work; the other is to trade.”

So what’s it about? Apprentice: Scarlet City is a full cast audio production set in the mediaeval England, during the Hundred Years’ War and the Black Death. It’s also the first in a trilogy of novels by Rebecca Gablé, originally written in German, of which the audiobooks are currently the only English translation available.

Our hero is Jonah Durham, a young boy who lifts himself from poverty by becoming an apprentice to a cloth merchant in London. As he grows older and gains wealth, power and status, Jonah becomes embroiled in the political and social struggles of the time, navigating personal challenges, family loyalties, and the treacherous world of commerce. The story explores Jonah’s journey from naive apprentice to resourceful and influential merchant, all while dealing with love, betrayal, and the ever-present threat of war and plague. The audio production and acting cast, which includes the inimitable Miriam Margolyes, Alison Steadman and Douglas Booth, do an amazing job of bringing the story to life and make it a real joy to listen to.

What’s great about it? This is both a great story and an amazingly vivid and detailed evocation of mediaeval London. The workings of trade, social issues and the class system become fascinating in Gablé’s hands and with plague, war and danger never far away, there’s an emotional depth to the story that goes beyond a simple historical adventure narrative. It brilliantly evokes what it’s like to live in such a dangerous and unstable time where life is so uncertain.

Jonah is a flawed yet relatable character, someone you can genuinely root for. His rags-to-riches journey is deeply satisfying, enriched by vivid historical detail and plenty of drama. As he navigates challenges both timeless and universal, from family and love to finding his place in society, the story resonates on a deeper and more human level. The issues he faces are as relevant today as they would have been then, making his struggles all the more compelling.

Give it a try if: you love historical fiction; you’re interested in mediaeval England; you love books that bring their settings vividly to life; you love character-driven narratives; you love great audiobooks; you like books set in London; you love books which form part of a series; you love rags-to-riches tales.

Honourable mentions

There are quite a few great audiobooks amongst my previous recommendations - and, I’m sure, even more which are great but which I haven’t listened to - but here are the ones where I’ve listened to the audiobook and really rated it.

The audiobooks of Vivian Shaw’s wonderful Dr. Greta Helsing series are a great way to follow Greta’s adventures treating her non-human patients and solving mysteries. In Five Books For When You Need To Escape The Real World you’ll also find a recommendation for Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series, narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, my favourite audiobook narrator of all time (yes, he’s even better than Stephen Fry, I promise).

Speaking of Stephen Fry, no list of audiobook recommendations could be complete without his edition of Sherlock Holmes: The Definitive Collection, not only one of the best audiobooks of all time but one of the greatest books too (well, strictly speaking it’s a collection of books and short stories, but you know what I mean), recommended here in Five Books For Mystery Lovers. It has a lovely long run time of almost 72 hours so if you have a long car journey or just want something to really focus on for a while it’s a great choice, especially as the fact it’s a collection with plenty of short stories also allows you to dip in and out as necessary without losing the flow.

Audible has a whole series of Charles Dickens novels which are read by various famous and brilliant actors. The incredible Kobna Holdbrook-Smith narrates Nicholas Nickleby and manages to bring it to life in the best possible way, with all of the drama and humour that make it one of Dickens’ most beloved novels. Read the full recommendation in the first ever edition of Five Books For (!) here.

In Five Books About Families, I recommended The Cactus by Sarah Haywood. One of the things I loved about it is that it’s set in Birmingham, where I grew up, and Katherine Manners, who narrates the audiobook, does the perfect Birmingham accent.

If you like thrillers with substance and want a great audiobook to try out, Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty is a great choice, with top-notch narration by Juliet Stevenson.

This month’s poem

Leda and the Swan

By William Butler Yeats

This seemed especially apropos given this month’s recommendation of Stephen Fry’s Mythos.

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A sudden blow: the great wings beating still
Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed
By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill,
He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.

How can those terrified vague fingers push
The feathered glory from her loosening thighs?
And how can body, laid in that white rush,
But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?

A shudder in the loins engenders there
The broken wall, the burning roof and tower
And Agamemnon dead.
                                  Being so caught up,
So mastered by the brute blood of the air,
Did she put on his knowledge with his power
Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?

Source.

This month’s music and podcasts

If you’d like something shorter or more musical to listen to this month, I’ve compiled some podcasts and music into a playlist for you. There are two interviews with Imogen Hermes Gowar, an interview with Louis Nowra, a discussion of Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty and, interestingly, a profile of the real-life criminal who is said to have inspired Conan-Doyle’s eponymous villain.

Music-wise, I’ve included Jóhan Jóhansson’s album Orphée, which was inspired by the Orpheus myth and has some hauntingly beautiful pieces. I’ve also included The Mythos Suite by Stephen Fry and composer Debbie Wiseman. This concept album includes extracts from the audiobook, where Fry relates the story of one of the myths, scored by Wiseman, and then followed by a standalone track inspired by each story. It’s a fascinating way to appreciate some of the stories and also allows you to dip your toe into audiobooks without yet committing to the full experience immediately.

Thanks for reading!

As always, I’m grateful to each and every one of you who subscribes, free or paid. I know we all have such crowded inboxes these days and I feel so lucky to be sharing the joys of reading with you like this. I would love to hear from you - what have you been reading recently? Have you listened to any of the auidobooks I’ve covered this month? Let me know in the comments. I’ll be back next month with a new theme and more reading joy.

Happy reading!

Kate

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