Audiobooks have exploded in popularity in recent years. With the ease of listening on your phone with headphones wherever you go, they’ve become many people’s preferred way to “read” a book. A YouGov survey found that 21 percent of people in the UK prefer audiobooks or like them just as much as a physical book, while audiobook sales hit £268 million in 2024, according to the Publishers Association.
Although reading a book allows you to imagine different characters’ voices in your own head, the listening experience with an audiobook is defined by the style and delivery of the person narrating it. And audiobook narration is a real art. Many of the most famous or popular narrators are high-profile actors (all the way up the likes of Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks), but plenty more are acclaimed simply for their storytelling skills. Vocal delivery, of course, is a matter of personal preference; some listeners love a narrator who does lots of voices and dramatically brings a story to life, while others prefer a reader who takes a more subtle, fluid approach.
Becoming a voice actor and narrating audiobooks can be a flexible, well-paid, and satisfying part of any actor’s career, but it’s worth doing your research and listening to a wide range of performers to see what sort of direction you may take. Here are some of the best audiobook narrators, and what they can teach you.
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The legendary British actor and writer will, for many millennials and Gen Zers, have been a voice they grew up with thanks to his narration of the entire Harry Potter series. His plummily well-spoken voice is the perfect blend of comfortingly cosy and archly erudite – and that, it seems, is a combo that works perfectly for many Great British literary institutions. Fry also narrates P. G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster stories, Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes mysteries. In the world of audiobooks, it doesn’t get more legendary than Stephen Fry.
What to listen for: Pace and rhythm. Fry reads with a satisfying, measured gait. Neither too fast nor too slow, his narration has a soothing rhythm and cadence.
If you love listening to thrillers, then you’re sure to have heard the velvety tones of Scott Brick in your ears. The hugely prolific American audiobook narrator – who has over 800 titles under his belt – is best-known for reading seriously popular thrillers, from Tom Clancy to Clive Cussler to John Grisham, as well as for the epic undertaking of narrating the entire Dune series. His approach to thrillers is to swerve the vocal histrionics. He explains that he’s “not a big character voice guy.… My philosophy has always been, whoever the main character of the book is, is me – just maybe a little bit more heroic.” Perhaps it’s that approach that has made him so successful.
What to listen for: Tension without theatrics. Brick is masterful at keeping the listener gripped, delivering drama while maintaining a controlled vocal performance.
Better known as a luminous stage and screen actress – star of Hamnet, Wild Rose, and The Lost Daughter – Jessie Buckley’s Irish tones have also narrated a selection of audio books. Her reading of Colm Toibin’s Long Island attracted notable attention and praise across broadsheet newspapers when it was released last year – still all too rare for audiobooks, which are often overlooked – and she’s narrating a new version of Hamnet to accompany the film. Buckley also appears as Caroline Bingley opposite Bill Nighy, Glenn Close, and Marisa Abela in an all-star, multivoiced new audiobook version of Pride and Prejudice.
What to listen for: Character and accents. Buckley is an innately confident, authoritative narrator, but she’s also brilliant at jumping among character voices, imbuing both men and women with depth and authenticity.
She may be less famous than some people on this list, but Cathleen McCarron knows what she’s talking about when it comes to vocal performance. A trained vocal coach, she is Head of Voice at the National Theatre and previously spent six years training actors at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her gorgeously soft Scottish accent has also made her a favourite with audiobook listeners. She won an Audie Award – the highest accolade in the industry, the audiobook equivalent of an Oscar – for her narration of Gail Honeyman’s Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, and she gives varied performances across more than 80 titles.
What to listen for: Intimacy. McCarron excels at a soft, chatty, inviting tone, which makes you feel like you’re in the company of a close friend, pouring confidences into your ear.
The kind of audiobooks you associate with actor Arthur Darvill will likely divide readers. For some, he is the consistent voice of Doctor Who novels and stories over the past 15 years; for others, he’s the heartbroken narrator of Dolly Alderton’s megahit Good Material. The twain rarely meet, but Darvill’s skill shines in both directions. He’s praised for his character work on Doctor Who – and, let’s face it, finding voices for that many aliens is definitely a talent – but he was drily funny, self-deprecating, and all too human when playing a sad-sack comedian in Good Material.
What to listen for: Versatility. From the high-octane register of sci-fi to the conversational tone of a relationship novel, Darvill always sounds like himself while fitting the material.
Julia Whelan’s own novel, My Oxford Year, was recently made into a Netflix show, but such is her renown as an audiobook reader that she still opens her Instagram bio with, “The voice in your head.” She’s one of a handful of narrators whose presence will actively help sell a book, and she’s narrated over 600 books of all genres – including Gone Girl and all of Emily Henry’s novels. (Henry has even credited her with helping listeners get her characters’ humour.) Whelan has won numerous awards, including an Audie Award for Best Female Narrator in 2019 and AudioFile magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Golden Voice Award in 2020. The accolades keep on coming too: In 2025, she netted Audible’s Best Audiobook of 2025 alongside co-narrator Kristen DiMercurio for their work voicing Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Atmosphere.
What to listen for: Polish. Whelan always sounds smooth and assured, with a low and even tone. There’s a fluency there that comes from putting in the hours.