Our score
Outstanding
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Beartown Audiobook by Fredrik Backman— narrated by Marin Ireland
Fredrik Backman's Beartown hands a dying Swedish forest town's entire future to a junior ice hockey team, then asks what the town will sacrifice to keep it. His darkest novel and his best: a slow-building small-town drama about loyalty, class, and the price a community charges a fifteen-year-old girl for telling the truth.
Why the audiobook wins
Marin Ireland is one of the few narrators who can hold a whole town, and Beartown needs exactly that. Backman moves between a dozen viewpoints — the general manager, the teenage players, the parents who will choose the team over the truth — and Ireland gives each one enough separation that you never lose the thread, without ever tipping into performance.
The novel builds slowly and then breaks, and audio suits that shape. Ireland resists the temptation to signal what is coming, so the turn lands with the same flat shock it has on the page. Thirteen hours is a week of commutes or a long weekend, and the short chapters make it easy to stop and hard to.
This is Backman's darkest book and his best. One Audible credit gets you the whole town, and the two sequels are waiting.
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Audiobook questions
- Who narrates the Beartown audiobook?
- Marin Ireland narrates the audiobook edition of Beartown.
- How long is the Beartown audiobook?
- The audiobook runs 13 hr 11 min.
- Is the Beartown audiobook worth listening to?
- We scored Beartown 4.5 out of 5. Marin Ireland is one of the few narrators who can hold a whole town, and Beartown needs exactly that. Backman moves between a dozen viewpoints — the general manager, the teenage players, the parents who will choose the team over the truth — and Ireland gives each one enough…
- Can I listen to Beartown free with an Audible trial?
- Eligible new Audible members can use a free-trial credit to listen in the Audible app. Eligibility and current offer terms are set by Audible.Listen to Beartown free with an Audible trial
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- How much does Beartown cost?
- On Amazon: Kindle $13.99, Paperback $10.78, Hardcover $34.93. Prices as of August 26, 2026 at 3:46 AM EDT and may change.
