Audiobooks narrated by Gilli Messer

For fans of Kate Quinn and The Nightingale, a gripping story of a young Jewish girl who joins an elite Russian sniper unit and embarks on a mission targeting the highest prize of World War II: Adolph Hitler. With the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, Elena Bruskina’s world collapses. The ambitious university student and her Jewish family are quickly forced into the Minsk ghetto where thousands are immediately murdered, including her father and brother. Then her younger sister is publicly executed on false charges and her mother is shot. Alone with her grief, Elena escapes the ghetto, determined to avenge her family’s deaths. Heading to Moscow, she enrolls in the Red Army’s newly created Central Women’s Sniper Training School. After rigorous training, she becomes a member of an all-female sniper platoon, a community of brave young women willing to give their lives to defend their country. Then Elena is chosen for a secret mission—a daring and highly dangerous plan to capture the face of evil itself: Hitler. Inspired by the real-life female snipers and interpreters in the Red Army during World War II, The Night Sparrow is a portrait of friendship, resilience, courage, and sacrifice under extraordinary circumstances.

Shelly Sanders (Author), Gilli Messer (Narrator)

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Misophonia: A Novel

In the vein of Fleishman is in Trouble and Elif Batuman—an insightful, heartfelt, and hilarious debut exploring cultural diaspora through one teenager’s summer across Berlin, Jerusalem, and Chicago It’s another scorching summer in Chicago, and fifteen-year-old Margarita is spending her vacation as usual, under the not-so-watchful eyes of her aging maternal grandparents. All told, the plucky teen would much rather be at home in Germany, exploring Berlin with her best friend, Anna, or with Avi, her doting Israeli father, a cantor at their local synagogue with whom she has shared a special bond ever since her mother, Marsha, abandoned the family. Instead, she’s stuck halfway around the world, homesick and tortured by the sound of her grandparents’ chewing. But when arrangements are made behind her back for her to meet Marsha in Israel before returning to Germany, Margarita is blindsided. She wants no part of this overdue reconciliation with a mother she hardly knows/ When her mother fails to show, however, things go awry. Meanwhile, in Germany, Avi tries to fill the hole left by Margarita’s absence with a trip of his own, embarking on a personal journey, both hope-inducing and despairing.Expertly straddling the two narratives of daughter and father, Misophonia is a graceful exploration of imperfect family relationships and larger cultural displacement. Translated from the German by Adrian Nathan West

Dana Vowinckel (Author), Gilli Messer (Narrator)

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The Rock 'N' Roll Haggadah: Your Guide to a Seder That Rocks!

A rock-and-roll infused Haggadah that brings the intertwined history of Judaism and music to your Seder table. Passover is one of the most celebrated Jewish holidays. Families all over the world gather around the dining table to recite the story of the Exodus from Egypt, honor the freedom of the Jewish people, and look toward the future. The Rock 'N' Roll Haggadah shares the traditional biblical stories and rituals of a standard Haggadah, but it also includes a rich tapestry of anecdotes that speak to the influence of Judaism on artists and their music, and its culinary, historical, and anthropological impact. Throughout the book, which features English, Hebrew, and transliterations, you'll find vibrant illustrations and little-known rock and roll references that lightheartedly tie into the narratives of the "Ten Plagues," "Forty Years in the Desert," "Elijah's Cup," and more. It also includes fun DIY projects such as making a rock-and-roll Egyptian centerpiece and a record album Seder plate, as well as suggestions for a Passover playlist that will enhance any Seder. Whether you're hosting or attending a Seder, the book's wide range of musicians and songs will spark conversations among all generations at the table and provide a fantastic soundtrack for any Passover celebration.

Kay Miller, Meredith Ochs (Author), Fred Sanders, Gilli Messer, Kay Miller, Meredith Ochs (Narrator)

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The Anatomy of Exile: A Novel

The Abadi Family saga begins when a modern-day Romeo and Juliet story between a Palestinian and a Jew ends in predictable tragedy. The family flees to America to mend, but encounters only more turmoil that threatens to tear the family apart. In the wake of the 1967 Six Day War, Tamar Abadi's world collapses when her sister-in-law is killed in what appears to be a terror attack but what is really the result of a secret relationship with a Palestinian poet. Tamar's husband, Salim, is an Arab and a Jew. Torn between the two identities, and mourning his sister's death, he uproots the family and moves them to the US. As Tamar struggles to maintain the integrity of the family's Jewish Israeli identity against the backdrop of the American 'melting pot' culture, a Palestinian family moves into the apartment upstairs and she is forced to reckon with her narrow thinking as her daughter falls in love with the Palestinian son. Fearing history will repeat itself, Tamar's determination to separate the two sets into motion a series of events that have the power to destroy her relationship with her daughter, her marriage, and the family she has worked so hard to protect. This powerful debut novel explores Tamar's struggle to keep her family intact, to accept love that is taboo, and grapples with how exile forces us to reshape our identity in ways we could not imagine.

Zeeva Bukai (Author), Gilli Messer (Narrator)

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A Traitorous Heart

A noblewoman in the scandalous French court finds herself under the dangerous and watchful eye of the Parisian royalty when she falls in love with the handsome king who is betrothed to her former lover in this bisexual The Three Musketeers by way of Bridgerton and F.T. Lukens. Paris, 1572. Seventeen-year-old Jacqueline "Jac" d'Argenson-Aunis is lady-in-waiting to her best friend and former lover, the French Princess Marguerite "Margot" de Valois, but she dreams of more. If Jac plays her cards right, one day, she'll become a full member of the Societas Solis, a secret society of spies—just like her uncle and guardian, Viscount Gabriel d'Argenson-Aunis. But it's hard to think about her own ambitions while France is on the brink of war, and the only thing that might save the country is an alliance—a marriage between the Catholic Princess Margot and Henry, the awful son of the Huguenot queen. Who would be the perfect person to play matchmaker? Jac, of course. Jac resents lying to her best friend almost as much as she resents the brazen and arrogant King Henry, but it's her one chance to prove to the Societas Solis that she belongs among their ranks before her uncle can marry her off or worse. The more time Jac spends in the French Court's clandestine corners, though, the more she starts to wonder if Henry is…not as terrible as she once believed. And the Societas Solis may not be what they seem. Politics. Spies. Chaos in the French court. Perhaps even witchcraft? Everything's more dangerous when love is involved.

Erin Cotter (Author), Gilli Messer (Narrator)

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The Lodge: A Novel

From the author of The Reunion, a cozy rom-com about a writer who decamps to a Vermont lodge for work but finds herself distracted by the charming ski instructor next door. Alix Morgan just got her big break as the ghostwriter of a memoir by Sebastian Green, a former member of the boy band True North. And when he offers her a penthouse at a luxurious resort in Vermont, she jumps at the chance to work far away from her noisy, cramped apartment. Her career as an entertainment journalist has been building toward this dream job—after all, she used to cover True North and was one of the last people to interview former front man Jett Beckett before he disappeared. As she combs through her client's voice memos, the specter of the missing lead singer remains, and fans are desperate to know the full story. But Alix also has time for some fun at this glamorous resort, where she begins ski lessons with a handsome instructor named Tyler. As Alix and Tyler fall in love on the slopes, Alix's work takes a complicated turn—and the mystery of True North's downfall may be hers to solve.

Kayla Olson (Author), Andi Arndt, Gilli Messer, Graham Halstead (Narrator)

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The Last Fashion House in Paris

Renee Ryan (Author), Gilli Messer, Hope Newhouse, Jane Oppenheimer, TBD (Narrator)

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Night Owls

In this thrilling paranormal YA romance debut steeped in folklore, two estries—owl-shifting female vampires from Jewish tradition—face New York's monstrous underworld to save the girl one of them loves with help from the boy one of them fears before they are, all of them, lost forever. Clara loves rules. Rules are what have kept her and her sister, Molly, alive—or, rather, undead—for over a century. Work their historic movie theater by day. Shift into an owl under the cover of night. Feed on men in secret. And never fall in love. Molly is in love. And she’s tired of keeping her girlfriend, Anat, a secret. If Clara won’t agree to bend their rules a little, then she will bend them herself. Boaz is cursed. He can’t walk two city blocks without being cornered by something undead. At least at work at the theater, he gets to flirt with Clara, wishing she would like him back. When Anat vanishes and New York’s monstrous underworld emerges from the shadows, Clara suspects Boaz, their annoyingly cute box office attendant, might be behind it all. But if they are to find Anat, they will need to work together to face demons and the hungers they would sooner bury. Clara will have to break all her rules—of love, of life, and of death itself—before her rules break everyone she loves. In this stand-alone debut, A. R. Vishny interweaves mystery, romance, and lore to create an unputdownable story about those who have kept to the shadows for far too long.

A. R. Vishny (Author), Gilli Messer, Josh Bloomberg (Narrator)

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Next Stop

For readers of Leave the World Behind and Exit West, an astonishingly resonant novel that explores the precariousness of Jewish American life through one family after a black hole consumes the State of Israel and similar strange events occur in major cities around the world, ushering in a time of chaos as well as miracles. When a black hole suddenly consumes Israel and as similar anomalies spread across the globe, a conspiracy takes hold: will the holes swallow the Jews, or will they swallow the earth? Against a backdrop of antisemitic paranoia, restrictions on Jewish life, and spasms of violence, Ethan and Ella, Jewish citizens of a nameless American city, meet and fall in love. Ella, a photojournalist, documents the changes in daily life, particularly among the city's Jewish residents. Some Jews, feeling inexplicably drawn to the unusual events, go underground to an abandoned subway system that seems to connect the entire world. Others leave for the south, forming militias and stockpiling weapons. But most, like Ethan, Ella, and her young son Michael, stay and try to make their way amid the hostility and small joys of the ever-changing landscape. But then thousands of commercial planes are sucked from the sky. Air travel stops. Borders close. Refugees pour into the capital. Eventually all Jews in the city are forced to relocate to the Pale, an area sandwiched between a park and a river. There, under the watchful eye of border guards, drones, and robotic dogs, they form a fragile new society. Suspenseful, thought-provoking, and brilliantly conceived, Next Stop is an enthralling novel that explores the fault lines between our collective, national, and individual memories and how our deepest bonds can be unexpectedly reshaped in moments of crisis.

Benjamin Resnick (Author), Gilli Messer, TBD (Narrator)

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In the Shadow of the Greenbrier

A poignant multigenerational Jewish family saga inspired by remarkable, yet little-known, true events that shaped America's history. Nestled in the hills of West Virginia lies White Sulphur Springs, home to the Greenbrier Resort. Long a playground for presidents and film stars, the Greenbrier has its own gravitational pull. Over ten decades, four generations of the Zelner family must grapple with their place in its shadow . . . and within their own family. In 1942, young mother Sylvia is desperate to escape her stifling marriage, especially when it means co-running Zelner's general store with her husband. When the Greenbrier is commandeered for use as a luxury prison, Sylvia finds her fidelity strained and her heart on the line. Seventeen years later, Sylvia's daughter, Doree, struggles to fit in, eagerly awaiting the day she'll leave for college and meet a nice Jewish boy. But when a handsome stranger comes to town and her brother Alan's curiosity puts him and Sylvia at risk, Doree is torn between loyalty and desire. An immersive family saga rich with historical detail, In the Shadow of the Greenbrier explores the inevitable clash between past and future and the extraordinary moments in ordinary lives.

Emily Matchar (Author), Gilli Messer (Narrator)

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The Wolves of Eternity

Brought to you by Penguin. The future is no more, and eternity has begun. It's 1986 and a nuclear reactor has exploded in Chernobyl. Syvert Løyning returns home from military service to live with his mother and brother on the outskirts of a town in Southern Norway. One night, he dreams of his late father, and can't shake him from his mind. Searching through his father's belongings for clues and connections, he finds a cache of letters that lead to the Soviet Union. In present-day Russia, Alevtina is trying to balance work and family. She has always sought the answers to life's big questions, but is preoccupied with care of her young son. Her friend Vasilisa offers some nourishment: she is writing a book about an ancient feature of Russian culture, the belief in eternal life. Meantime, Alevtina is heading towards a meeting that will redraw the contours of her world. A searching and humane novel, The Wolves of Eternity is an intimate journey into the experiences of a half-brother and half-sister in their two different - yet deeply connected - lives. The second novel in Karl Ove Knausgaard's extraordinary new series, it expands the universe of The Morning Star in the decades before the blazing and mysterious star descends. ©2023 Karl Ove Knausgaard (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Karl Ove Knausgaard (Author), Edoardo Ballerini, Gilli Messer, Natasha Soudek, Vas Eli (Narrator)

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Happily: A Personal History-with Fairy Tales

A beautifully written memoir-in-essays on fairy tales and their surprising relevance to modern life, from a Jewish woman raising Black children in the American South-based on her acclaimed Paris Review column "Happily" "One of the most inventive, phenomenally executed books I've read in decades."-Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy The literary tradition of the fairy tale has long endured as the vehicle by which we interrogate the laws of reality. These fantastical stories, populated with wolves, kings, and wicked witches, have throughout history served as a template for understanding culture, society, and that muddy terrain we call our collective human psyche. In Happily, Sabrina Orah Mark reimagines the modern fairy tale, turning it inside out and searching it for the wisdom to better understand our contemporary moment in what Mark so incisively calls "this strange American weather." Set against the backdrop of political upheaval, viral plague, social protest, and climate change, Mark locates the magic in the mundane and illuminates the surreality of life as we know it today. She grapples with a loss of innocence in "Sorry, Peter Pan, We're Over You," when her son decides he would rather dress up as Martin Luther King, Jr., than Peter Pan for Halloween. In "The Evil Stepmother," Mark finds unlikely communion with wicked wives and examines the roots of their bad reputation. And in "Rapunzel, Draft One Thousand," the hunt for a wigmaker in a time of unprecedented civil unrest forces Mark to finally confront her sister's cancer diagnosis and the stories we tell ourselves to get by. Revelatory, whimsical, and utterly inspired, Happily is a testament to the singularity of Sabrina Orah Mark's voice and the power of the fantastical to reveal essential truths about life, love, and the meaning of family.

Sabrina Orah Mark (Author), Gilli Messer (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Gilli Messer