I really enjoyed listening to Whale Fall (2024) by Elizabeth O’Connor, and at just 4 hours, you can finish it one afternoon or on a weekend road trip! The story is set in 1938 on a remote island off the coast of Wales and focuses on 18-year-old Manod, who lives with her fisherman father and younger sister, and has a growing desire to explore the world beyond her island home. War is looming in Europe, and it feels like an ominous portent when a dead whale washes ashore, sparking the imaginations of all the islanders. Everyday life is further upended when two English ethnographers unexpectedly arrive to study the island culture. They hire Manod, who speaks both English and Welsh, to help with translation and to be a sort of go-between with the locals. Manod begins to further dream of a life beyond the island, maybe even have a career in academia, but she also grows uncomfortable with the way the ethnographers are exoticizing the island culture. The audio version really brings the story alive, and I loved hearing the proper pronunciations of all the Welsh names and words. A bonus to the audio version is that, in addition to the main narrator, there are additional performers who sing the folk song snippets included in the book.