Books

16 Audiobooks To Enjoy For Free With Your Amazon Prime Subscription

You won’t be able to press pause on these compelling reads.

by The Editors
Updated: 
Originally Published: 
White headphones, to use while listening to free audiobooks available on Amazon Prime.
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Audiobook fans who are also Amazon Prime members: you’re very lucky! Amazon Prime members can listen to free audiobooks — and below, we've picked out 16 fantastic options from the hundreds available, so you can start listening now.

Prime members do indeed have access to free Audible content, thanks to Prime Reading: a service that provides Amazon Prime members with a rotating library of books and magazines to enjoy as part of their membership. Now, subscribers just have to look for Books with Audible Narration in Prime Reading, rather than Channels, when seeking out free audiobooks. The collection includes hundreds of Kindle Short Reads, Singles, and eBooks, at the time of this writing.

Below, check out 16 great audiobooks, novels, essays, and short stories that are currently available for free with Prime.

Zikora by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, narrated by Adepero Oduye

Zikora — a powerful lawyer from Nigeria, working in Washington D.C. — tells her similarly ambitious lover that she’s pregnant, only to have him leave her. If that weren’t devastating enough, her difficult mother arrives to help with the birth. Soon, all of Zikora’s long-buried issues come bubbling to the surface.

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, narrated by Victoria McGee

Jane Austen’s classic novel, Sense and Sensibility, follows the Dashwood sisters — Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret — and their mother as their world is upended. In the wake of their father’s death, the girls’ half-brother inherits the only home they’ve ever known, placing the women in financial jeopardy. Now, the girls’ only option is to make a good match.

Oh. What. Fun. by Chandler Baker, narrated by Donna Postel and Brian Holden

This story from the author of The Whisper Network and The Husbands centers on the three Clauster siblings, who are in for a rather eventful holiday. Claire Clauster has always gone above and beyond to make sure her family has the perfect Christmas, but this year, she may have reached her breaking point.

Treasure by Oyinkan Braithwaite, narrated by Adepero Oduye

From the author of My Sister the Serial Killer comes this short story about an aspiring Nigerian influencer whose biggest fan is about to become her worst nightmare.

The Memory of Us by Camille Di Maio, narrated by Fiona Hardingham

Julianne’s life is about to change forever. The young debutante has just uncovered a heartbreaking family secret: She has a deafblind twin, Charles, who has spent his entire life in an institution. As she works to build a relationship with Charles, Julianne finds herself falling in love with priest-in-training. But will the coming war shatter her life all over again?

There Is Confusion by Jessie Redmon Fauset, narrated by Tovah Ott

This 1924 novel of manners centers on three young people — Joanna, a wealthy and talented performer; Maggie, an aspiring social climber; and Peter, a mixed-race man with dreams of becoming a doctor — who find their burgeoning lives shaped by racism and classism in early-20th century New York.

Graceful Burdens by Roxane Gay, narrated by Samira Wiley

Part of Audible’s Out of Line collection, Roxane Gay’s Graceful Burdens is a standalone short story about a woman who spends her days cuddling the infants she checks out from a “baby library” after she’s legally banned from having children.

Emergency Skin by N.K. Jemisin, narrated by Jason Isaacs

In this 2020 Audie Award winner, a man returns to his ancestral homeland, Earth, to study the planet’s past and present. He thought that climate change had destroyed civilization, but finds that humanity has persisted on the “graveyard world,” even if the residents look nothing like the people he’s used to.

Kind of Hindu by Mindy Kaling, narrated by the author

Mindy Kaling’s memoir-in-stories is available on Kindle and Audible in six volumes. The first installment, Kind of Hindu, sees Kaling wondering how much of a role Indian culture should play in her children’s lives.

Parsnips in Love by Porochista Khakpour, narrated by Neil Shah

From the author of Sick comes Parsnips in Love, an Amazon Original Story about a rural Iranian farmer who discovers two parsnips that have grown together. For awhile, he keeps the treasure to himself — but when he finally decides to share his discovery with the world, he finds his life changing in ways he’d never imagined.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos, narrated by Patrice O’Neill

The basis for the Marilyn Monroe film of the same name, Anita Loos’ Gentlemen Prefer Blondes presents itself as the diary of Lorelei Lee — a spirited young career woman who leaves Little Rock behind to pursue her high-flying dreams, and takes her best friend along for the ride.

Candace by Michelle Miller, narrated by Samara Naeymi

The first of eight stories in The Fairer Sex collection, Candace follows its eponymous heroine on her umpteenth blind date. After 10 years of searching for Mr. Right, Candace is used to being disappointed. Strangely, though, Patrick is the opposite of disappointing. He can’t really be that perfect, can he?

My Dear Friend Janet by Keke Palmer and Jasmine Guillory, narrated by Keke Palmer

The five stories in Keke Palmer and Jasmine Guillory’s Southern Belle Insults series center on Janet: a quiet young woman whose life goes from drab to fab when she obtains a magical wig that allows her to harness the charisma of a fierce alter ego.

Still Waters by Viveca Sten, narrated by Angela Dawe

The first novel in Viveca Sten’s Sandhamn Murders series, Still Waters introduces readers to childhood friends Thomas Andreasson and Nora Linde, a detective and a successful lawyer, respectively. When two cousins from mainland Sweden are found dead — one washed in with the tide, the other at a bed-and-breakfast — on the island of Sandhamn, Andreasson and Linde must solve the case... while working through their own fraught history with one another.

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