The Starless Sea: A Novel Audiobook

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Night Circus, a timeless love story set in a secret underground world—a place of pirates, painters, lovers, liars, and ships that sail upon a starless sea.

Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student in Vermont when he discovers a mysterious book hidden in the stacks. As he turns the pages, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, key collectors, and nameless acolytes, he reads something strange: a story from his own childhood. Bewildered by this inexplicable book and desperate to make sense of how his own life came to be recorded, Zachary uncovers a series of clues—a bee, a key, and a sword—that lead him to a masquerade party in New York, to a secret club, and through a doorway to an ancient library hidden far below the surface of the earth. What Zachary finds in this curious place is more than just a buried home for books and their guardians—it is a place of lost cities and seas, lovers who pass notes under doors and across time, and of stories whispered by the dead. Zachary learns of those who have sacrificed much to protect this realm, relinquishing their sight and their tongues to preserve this archive, and also of those who are intent on its destruction. Together with Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired protector of the place, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliances, Zachary travels the twisting tunnels, darkened stairwells, crowded ballrooms, and sweetly soaked shores of this magical world, discovering his purpose—in both the mysterious book and in his own life.

Read by Dominic Hoffman, with a full cast:

Dominic Hoffman reading the Zachary Ezra Rawlins storyline

Dion Graham reading the Sweet Sorrows storyline

Bahni Turpin reading excerpts from the Secret Diary of Katrina Hawkins

Fiona Hardingham reading The Ballad of Simon and Eleanor

Allan Corduner reading Fortunes and Fables

Jorjeana Marie reading Another place, another time

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"I loved, loved the Night Circus by the same author, but Erin Morgenstern came through again with this second novel. I work at my desk all day in a very technical job, and I just can't wait to get off work, take a walk and delve into a deep fantasy that's so well written and totally makes me forget I'm exercising. Can't wait for a third."

— cmacmil (5 out of 5 stars)