When mystery author D. B. Ziegler is late delivering her book, Abi Schore steps in to help. Surely she can give her favorite author moral support over the holiday break and get the manuscript to her boss at Tea & Sympathy Publishing in time for the new year. When Abi shows up on Ms. Ziegler’s doorstep bearing holiday treats, she’s met by the author’s handsome grandson Dov, who reveals a startling plot twist. His grandmother isn’t able to finish the book and Dov promised he’d complete it so fans won’t be disappointed—a task that’s harder than he ever imagined.

Two little girls stand with their heads bowed in my living room. I’m told they’re my granddaughters. Daisy is nine, and Alice seven. Daisy is the spitting image of her mother. This is the first time I’ve met them since my daughter and I fell out after she married that waste of space, Vince. They’ve come to live with me because their mother — my daughter — was murdered. In her own home while they slept close by. I think Vince killed her. But the police can’t prove it. I’ve always known he was no good. He treated my daughter like dirt. I said he’d cheat on her — but she wouldn’t listen.

There's no place like home for the holidays ... especially for Lesley Carver. Life in the big city just wasn't her jam and now she's back in Hickory Falls, working at the family diner and helping her mom after she took a tumble. Lesley longs to build a life here, working at the cafe, selling her handmade ornaments and ... er, apparently reviving her high school crush on her best friend’s older brother. Only one problem, her mom wants her to leave Hickory Falls far behind.

Tilly Farriday isn’t feeling very jolly this season. Recently divorced and broke, she’s squatting in one of her rental agency’s properties until her new home is ready. The sprinkles on top of the burnt Christmas cookie that is her life? The new owner shows up early, forcing Tilly to hide in the attic to save her job…and what remains of her dignity.

First published in 1843, it tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a mean and unpleasant man who dislikes people generally and Christmas especially. One Christmas Eve he is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come and given a glimpse of the many homes and lives which Scrooge has touched in his wretched life to date. After their visits, Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man.

It’s 1984, and life has changed beyond recognition. Airstrip One, formerly known as Great Britain, is a place where Big Brother is always watching, and nobody can hide. Except, perhaps, for Winston Smith. Whilst working at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history, he secretly dreams of freedom. And in a world where love and sex are forbidden, where it’s hard to distinguish between friend and foe, he meets Julia and O’Brien and vows to rebel.

Clark Griswold was onto something...at least with his annual holiday meltdown. And since the last three weeks of my life have been riddled with humbug—another breakup, a broken toe, an office promotion I deserved and didn’t get—I’m not at all in the mood to celebrate nor have the happ, happ, happiest Christmas EVER.

My fiancé brought me tea and scrambled eggs in bed that morning, and we snuggled together, talking about buying our rings, and about our perfect wedding next year. Then we headed into town. He held my hand and gazed at the ring I liked best, a smile spreading slowly over his face. Then a glass of bubbly to celebrate. I felt flushed, excited and ready for the rest of my life with the man I loved. We race to get on the train home. It screams to a halt and I run towards its open doors. Made it. I think he’s right behind me — but when I turn around, he’s gone.

Lucas knows the perfect night entails just three things: video games, wine, and pad thai. Peanuts are a must! Other people? Not so much. Why complicate things when he’s happy alone? Then one day the apartment board, a vexing trio of authority, rings his doorbell. And Lucas’s solitude takes a startling hike. They demand to see his frying pan. Someone left one next to the recycling room overnight, and instead of removing the errant object, as Lucas suggests, they insist on finding the guilty party. But their plan backfires. Colossally.

Johnnie Rico never really intended to join up—and definitely not the infantry. But now that he’s in the thick of it, trying to get through combat training harder than anything he could have imagined, he knows everyone in his unit is one bad move away from buying the farm in the interstellar war the Terran Federation is waging against the Arachnids. Because everyone in the Mobile Infantry fights. And if the training doesn’t kill you, the Bugs are more than ready to finish the job.

In George Orwell: The Man and the Mind Behind 1984, Professor Michael Shelden will show you how 1984 presents a plausible reality of thought control and totalitarian power that feels contemporary even as it reflects its own time.

Join Dr. Jaime Kurtz in Personality Tests and What They Can Tell Us to get the information you need to critically evaluate what the most popular personality tests measure and which ones are best suited for your goals. Dr. Kurtz will lead you through the history of personality testing to bring you to the most used tests today, such as the Myers-Briggs, the Enneagram, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, and the five-factor model. You’ll learn how these surveys were developed, what they can tell you, and the underlying science behind the study of personality.

Satisfy the financial skeptic in you with The Skeptic’s Guide to Investing, a six-lecture Audible Original where you’ll learn how financial markets operate so you can become a wiser, savvier, safer investor. Along with a deep look at the inner workings of these powerful markets, Professor Ramon P. DeGennaro offers a wealth of insight into investment strategies, whether you’re already a stockholder or thinking of investing for the first time.

In the 12 fascinating lectures of Warping Reality: Inside the Psychology of Cults, you will learn about some of the most widely known cults of modern times. But unlike any standard news reporting or documentary about the Peoples Temple, The Manson “Family,” The Branch Davidians, Heaven’s Gate, Children of God, the Unification Church, and NXIVM, your expert, Dr. Wind Goodfriend, will help you explore the psychology of these cults. How could these cult leaders have committed such heinous crimes under the guise of “helping” members in their development?

Join Katherine Walker for a six-lecture exploration of astrology in the global West, beginning with its ancient roots and following its permutations across history as it adapted to the needs and interests of its many practitioners.

Monster stories aren’t just meant to entertain. They’re meant to inform, even educate. Above all, they ask us to question our own humanity. Nowhere is this truer than in stories of serial killers. What are the origins of this monstrous archetype? Why are we so fascinated with such gruesome terror? What do they reveal about our fears and anxieties? Explore these and other questions in Serial Killers: Real and Imagined, where public scholar Emily Zarka looks at the serial-killer trope across history, from murky 17th-century legends to 21st-century true-crime obsessions.

After Romeo and Juliet, Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy might just be the world’s most famous fictional couple. The story of how they fall in love—Pride and Prejudice—has left an indelible imprint on popular culture. Readers, novelists, playwrights, filmmakers, and even zombies can’t leave Pride and Prejudice alone. Which raises the question: Why has this novel, of all Jane Austen’s works, remained the general favorite?

Holding boundaries and asserting yourself are crucial skills for maintaining healthy relationships and a sense of self-respect. In Push Back: Assert Yourself in Relationships, professional clinical psychologist Dr. Monica Johnson teaches you how to clearly define your limits, communicate those limits to others, and foster mutual respect and understanding in your everyday interactions.

The 24 revealing lectures of Unsung Heroes of the Ancient World reconstruct over a dozen biographies from the classical world—most of them little-known, some of them quite unlikely heroes. With Professor Emeritus Gregory Aldrete as your expert guide, you will meet the ambitious travel writers, dedicated engineers, careful cartographers, diligent farmers, woman philosophers, devoted wives, skilled military generals, African rebels, Persian kings, and impressive athletes who stood out among their peers centuries ago.

Lunar New Year, or the first new moon of the lunar calendar, is celebrated by people around the world and across different cultures. Within Chinese culture, the ushering in of a new year is celebrated through one of 12 distinct zodiac animals, each of which is known for its power to map a person’s behavior, character, and fate. In The Chinese Zodiac in Cultures and Traditions, you’ll gain insights into how cultures make sense of the passing of time and our relationship to it.

The rituals and pageantry of courtship in the 19th century can seem foreign to us today. Some of us may look back and see a more romantic age, while others will see a minefield of strict rules and stuffy protocol. Either way you look at it, it was worlds away from what dating is in the 21st century. In the six lessons of A Courtly History: Romance in the 19th Century, Professor Stephanie Insley Hershinow gives you a look at the complex and ever-evolving rules of romance in 19th-century Britain. Along the way, you will see why this fascinating era keeps drawing us back to novels and Netflix.

Maybe you’ve always considered writing your own romance story, or you’ve just landed on that perfect idea, or you’re curious about what makes a successful romance novel. Regardless of where you are in the process, New York Times best-selling author Laurelin Page offers invaluable tips to help you in her Audible Original When Love Strikes: Reading and Writing Romance.

In the six lessons of Why Memoir Matters: Learning from the Lives of Others, associate professor and author Tahneer Oksman guides you through enduring categories and themes within the genre of memoir, exploring how these deeply personal stories work and why they are so impactful. The course also addresses the ethical responsibilities of the memoir writer, in terms of writing about personal life details and what it means to tell the truth as a writer while sharing personal memories, shocking events, and even family secrets.

In six lectures, Dr. Shumway and Dr. Wendler will help you understand the nature of neurodiversity, a growing school of thought that seeks to embrace the range of differences in individual brain function and behaviors rather than “correct” them, with a focus on empathy, acceptance, and accommodation.

Meet Agatha Christie, the best-selling novelist in human history. Her writing career spanned six decades, during which time she wrote 66 crime novels, 6 non-crime novels (including romances), and over 150 short stories. Not only was she a phenomenally successful novelist, but she is also the most successful female playwright of all time - her play “The Mousetrap” is the longest-running show in history. As you learn about Christie’s experiences and her storied career, you will better understand how the circumstances of her life shaped her work and vice versa.