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Sophie Bennett

I’m Sophie Bennett, a digital culture critic and podcaster exploring how technology is reshaping storytelling. With a background in digital media and communications, I analyze trends in new media, social platforms, and the creator economy. Whether through writing, podcasting, or online discussions, I break down complex ideas in an engaging way—making sense of the ever-evolving digital narrative.

Handmaid’s Tale Audiobook: Why This Performance Redefines Dystopian Fiction – Free Download

Brought to you by Penguin.

Shortlisted for Audiobook of the Year at the British Book Awards 2020.

Winner of Best Audiobook (Fiction) at the New York Festival Radio Awards 2020.

Read by Elisabeth Moss, star of the hit Channel 4 TV series.

Go back to where it all began with the dystopian novel behind the award-winning TV series.

‘I believe in the resistance as I believe there can be no light without shadow; or rather, no shadow unless there is also light.’

Offred is a Handmaid in The Republic of Gilead, a religious totalitarian state in what was formerly known as the United States. She is placed in the household of The Commander, Fred Waterford – her assigned name, Offred, means ‘of Fred’. She has only one function: to breed. If Offred refuses to enter into sexual servitude to repopulate a devastated world, she will be hanged. Yet even a repressive state cannot eradicate hope and desire. As she recalls her pre-revolution life in flashbacks, Offred must navigate through the terrifying landscape of torture and persecution in the present day, and between two men upon which her future hangs.

Masterfully conceived and executed, this haunting vision of the future places Margaret Atwood at the forefront of dystopian fiction.

‘As relevant today as it was when Atwood wrote it’ Guardian

‘A fantastic, chilling story. And so powerfully feminist’, Bernardine Evaristo, author of Girl, Woman, Other.

©2011 O W Toad Ltd (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Still Life: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel Audiobook: Why Cosham’s Narration Elevates the Mystery – Free Download

In Still Life, bestselling author Louise Penny introduces Monsieur L’Inspecteur Armand Gamache of the Surete du Quebec, a modern Poirot who anchors this beloved traditional mystery series

Winner of the New Blood Dagger, Arthur Ellis, Barry, Anthony, and Dilys awards.

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal. Jane Neal, a local fixture in the tiny hamlet of Three Pines, just north of the U.S. border, has been found dead in the woods. The locals are certain it’s a tragic hunting accident and nothing more, but Gamache smells something foul in these remote woods, and is soon certain that Jane Neal died at the hands of someone much more sinister than a careless bowhunter.

Still Life introduces not only an engaging series hero in Inspector Gamache, who commands his forces

and this series

with integrity and quiet courage, but also a winning and talented new writer of traditional mysteries in the person of Louise Penny.

Secret House Audiobook Free: Why This 1917 Thriller Still Electrifies – Free Download

A stranger and foreigner arrives at the offices of a small publication in London only to be faced by the “editor” whose face is completely swathed in a veil. Nothing is as it seems, and it quickly becomes evident that both are bent on more than lively gossip about the elite. Blackmail and opportunism is the order of the day. When two men are found shot to death outside the door of Mr. Farrington the millionaire who just happens to live a few doors from T. B. Smith, the head of the secret police, the connections to blackmail are not long in coming. Were these men shot by the blackmailer? Who is actually what he seems to be? (Summary by Don W. Jenkins)

People of the Abyss Audiobook Free: A Haunting Descent into Victorian Poverty – Free Download

Jack London lived for a time within the grim and grimy world of the East End of London, where half a million people scraped together hardly enough on which to survive. Even if they were able to work, they were paid only enough to allow them a pitiful existence. He grew to know and empathise with these forgotten (or ignored) people as he spoke with them and tasted the workhouse, life on the streets, … and the food, which was cheap, barely nutritious, and foul.

He writes about his experiences in a fluid and narrative style, making it very clear what he thinks of the social structures which created the Abyss, and of the millionaires who live high on the labours of a people forced to live in squalor. “… The food this managing class eats, the wine it drinks, … the fine clothes it wears, are challenged by eight million mouths which have never had enough to fill them, and by twice eight million bodies which have never been sufficiently clothed and housed.”

(Summary by Peter Yearsley)

Animal Farm Audiobook: Patrick Tull’s Masterful Narration of Orwell’s Classic – Free Download

Animal Farm, one of the great social satires of our century, is based upon modern Eastern European history. First published in 1945, it is the classic fable of the utopian dream and the corruptive influences of power. When the animals at Manor Farm revolt against their master, Mr. Jones, their goal is to take over the farm and establish an ideal community based on hard work, honesty, and the equality of all animals. Guided by the memory of Old Major’s utopian vision and the seven commandments, Animal Farm, as the animals have renamed it, briefly fulfills the ideal. Memories are short, however, and soon-through manipulation and aggression by those who assume power-the farm’s founding principles are slowly eroded and abolished. Decades after its debut, Animal Farm is still a relevant and powerful tale of how blind allegiance to political leaders leads to ruin.

Racketeer Audiobook: How JD Jackson Redefines Legal Thriller Narration – Free Download

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • “The Racketeer is guilty of only one thing: keeping us engaged until the very last page.”—USA Today • In the history of the United States, only four active federal judges have been murdered. Judge Raymond Fawcett has just become number five.

His body is found in his remote lakeside cabin. There is no sign of forced entry or struggle. Just two dead bodies: Judge Fawcett and his young secretary. And one large, state-of-the-art, extremely secure safe, opened and emptied.

Who is the Racketeer? And what does he have to do with the judge’s untimely demise? His name, for the moment, is Malcolm Bannister. Job status? Former attorney. Current residence? The Federal Prison Camp near Frostburg, Maryland.

On paper, Malcolm’s situation isn’t looking too good these days, but he’s got an ace up his sleeve. He knows who killed Judge Fawcett, and he knows why. The FBI would love to know. And Malcolm Bannister would love to tell them. But everything has a price—especially information as explosive as the sequence of events that led to Judge Fawcett’s death. And the Racketeer wasn’t born yesterday.

Nothing is as it seems and everything’s fair game in this wickedly clever novel from John Grisham, the undisputed master of the legal thriller.

Don’t miss John Grisham’s new book, THE EXCHANGE: AFTER THE FIRM!

No Plan B: A Jack Reacher Novel Audiobook: Why Scott Brick’s Narration Elevates the Thriller – Free Download

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The gripping new Jack Reacher thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling authors Lee Child and Andrew Child

“No Plan B is not to be missed. A perfectly plotted, fast-paced thriller, with bigger twists than ever before. It’s no wonder Jack Reacher is everyone’s favorite rebel hero.”—Karin Slaughter

In Gerrardsville, Colorado, a woman dies under the wheels of a moving bus. The death is ruled a suicide. But Jack Reacher saw what really happened: A man in a gray hoodie and jeans, moving stealthily, pushed the victim to her demise—before swiftly grabbing the dead woman’s purse and strolling away.

When another homicide is ruled an accident, Reacher knows this is no coincidence. With a killer on the loose, Reacher has no time to waste to track down those responsible. 

But Reacher is unaware that these crimes are part of something much larger and more far-reaching: an arsonist out for revenge, a foster kid on the run, a cabal of powerful people involved in a secret conspiracy with many moving parts. There is no room for error, but they make a grave one. They don’t consider Reacher a threat. “There’s too much at stake to start running from shadows.” But Reacher isn’t a shadow. He is flesh and blood. And relentless when it comes to making things right.

For when the threat is Reacher, there is No Plan B.

Abduction: A Psychological Thriller Audiobook: A Masterclass in Audio Suspense – Free Download

A heart-wrenching kidnapping thriller. Perfect for fans of Cara Hunter, Liane Moriarty, LJ Ross, and Lisa Jewell.

What do you do when the unthinkable happens?

8 August, 2000: A carefree birthday party goes horribly wrong. The children scatter to play hide and seek. But one little girl never returns.

Three-year-old Grace has vanished without a trace.

Fourteen years later: With the case long-since gone cold, Grace’s family have done their best to move on. But her sister, Elise, has never given up hope. And now Elise thinks she may have found her . . .

Is Elise going crazy? Could Grace really have returned? And if she has, where was she taken?

Abduction is a must-listen kidnapping mystery which confronts every parent’s worst nightmare. This emotional psychological thriller will stay with you long after the book ends.

Heartbreak House Audiobook Free: Shaw’s Timeless Satire Unpacked – Free Download

On the eve of World War I, Ellie Dunn, her father, and her fiancé are invited to one of Hesione Hushabye’s infamous dinner parties. Unfortunately, her fiancé is a scoundrel, her father’s a bumbling prig, and she’s actually in love with Hector, Hesione’s husband. This bold mix of farce and tragedy lampoons British society as it blithely sinks towards disaster. (Summary by Wikipedia)