Audiobooks Like The Bell Jar

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If you loved The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, these audiobooks share similar qualities — same genre, sometimes the same narrator, comparable length, and the kind of ratings that signal a great listen. Fans of Maggie Gyllenhaal's narration will find familiar voices here too.

10 audiobooks for fans of The Bell Jar

  1. 1
    The Correspondent cover

    The Correspondent

    by Virginia Evans

    Narrated by Maggi-Meg Reed, Jane Oppenheimer, Carly Robins, Jeff Ebner, David Pittu, Chris Andrew Ciulla, Mark Bramhall, Petrea Burchard, Robert Petkoff, Kimberly Farr, Cerris Morgan-Moyer, Peter Ganim, Jade Wheeler, Various

    ★ 4.81 ABR Score (383.3K ratings)
    ★ 4.53 Goodreads (364.9K) ★ 4.8 Audible (18.3K)
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    Through discovered letters, the life story of a remarkable woman unfolds across decades of love, loss, war, and artistic passion. This epistolary novel examines how written words preserve and transform our understanding of both ordinary and extraordinary lives.

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  2. 2
    James cover

    James

    by Percival Everett

    Narrated by Dominic Hoffman

    ★ 4.76 ABR Score (552.1K ratings)
    ★ 4.42 Goodreads (533.5K) ★ 4.77 Audible (18.6K)
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    Jim's perspective on the Huckleberry Finn story reveals the brutal realities of slavery through brilliant code-switching between dialects. Dominic Hoffman's performance captures every nuanced layer of survival and dignity.

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  3. 3
    Anna Karenina cover

    Anna Karenina

    by Leo Tolstoy

    Narrated by Maggie Gyllenhaal

    ★ 4.39 ABR Score (958.4K ratings)
    ★ 4.11 Goodreads (944.0K) ★ 4.46 Audible (14.4K)
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    Maggie Gyllenhaal narrates Anna with such intelligence and vulnerability that Tolstoy's century-old tragedy feels like a story unfolding in real time.

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  4. 4
    The Color Purple cover

    The Color Purple

    The Color Purple Collection • Book 1

    by Alice Walker

    Narrated by Alice Walker

    ★ 4.68 ABR Score (764.1K ratings)
    ★ 4.28 Goodreads (758.4K) ★ 4.81 Audible (5.7K)
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    Celie's letters to God chronicle brutal abuse and gradual empowerment in rural Georgia. Walker herself reads this Pulitzer winner, adding an intimacy that matches the epistolary format.

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  5. 5
    I Must Betray You cover

    I Must Betray You

    by Ruta Sepetys

    Narrated by Edoardo Ballerini, Ruta Sepetys

    ★ 4.56 ABR Score (103.0K ratings)
    ★ 4.4 Goodreads (101.3K) ★ 4.77 Audible (1.7K)
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    Ballerini's dual narration captures the suffocating paranoia of Cold War Romania so viscerally you'll feel the weight of every impossible choice Cristian makes. A gripping true-stakes thriller about resistance that refuses easy heroics.

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  6. 6
    The Body cover

    The Body

    by Robin Waterfield, Stephen King

    Narrated by Wil Wheaton

    ★ 4.52 ABR Score (45.7K ratings)
    ★ 4.3 Goodreads (45.7K)
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    King's coming-of-age tale about four boys searching for a dead body captures the raw terror and wonder of childhood friendships on the brink of dissolving.

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  7. 7
    Their Eyes Were Watching God cover

    Their Eyes Were Watching God

    by Zora Neale Hurston

    Narrated by Ruby Dee

    ★ 4.47 ABR Score (402.9K ratings)
    ★ 3.99 Goodreads (390.8K) ★ 4.66 Audible (12.1K)
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    Janie Crawford searches for love and independence across three marriages in 1930s Florida. Ruby Dee's luminous performance captures both Hurston's rich dialect and Janie's evolving voice as she claims her own story.

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  8. 8
    The Picture of Dorian Gray Novel cover

    The Picture of Dorian Gray Novel

    by Oscar Wilde

    Narrated by Russell Tovey

    ★ 4.46 ABR Score (1.9M ratings)
    ★ 4.14 Goodreads (1.9M) ★ 4.54 Audible (9.0K)
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    Wilde's only novel follows a beautiful young man whose portrait ages while he remains untouched by decades of moral corruption.

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  9. 9
    Forever a Hustler's Wife cover

    Forever a Hustler's Wife

    A Hustler's Wife • Book 2

    by Nikki Turner

    Narrated by Bahni Turpin

    ★ 4.30 ABR Score (3.6K ratings)
    ★ 4.46 Goodreads (3.1K) ★ 4.73 Audible (457)
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    Yarni uses her legal skills to defend husband Des against murder charges in this sequel that proves street smarts and law school make a lethal combination. Bahni Turpin captures every nuance of urban fiction's dialogue.

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  10. 10
    The Road cover

    The Road

    by Cormac McCarthy

    Narrated by Tom Stechschulte

    ★ 4.29 ABR Score (1.1M ratings)
    ★ 4 Goodreads (1.1M) ★ 4.36 Audible (23.9K)
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    A father and son trek across post-apocalyptic America, scavenging for food while avoiding cannibals in this haunting meditation on survival and love.

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How We Rank Audiobooks

Rankings are driven by listener ratings and review counts from Audible and Goodreads. Books with high ratings across a large number of listeners rank higher — a 4.5 with 50,000 ratings says more than a 4.8 with 200.

Unlike most book lists, we weight audiobook-specific factors: narrator performance, production quality, and how well a story translates to audio. A great book with a poor narration isn't a great audiobook.

We don't accept paid placements or prioritize new releases. These rankings reflect what listeners actually enjoy, not what's being promoted.

Rankings update periodically as new ratings come in and new titles are added to the collection.

Read our full ranking methodology →