The Whispers

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INSTANT #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Push, a propulsive page-turner about four families whose lives are changed when the unthinkable happens—and what is lost when we give in to our own worst impulses

On Harlow Street, the well-to-do neighborhood couples and their children gather for a catered barbecue as the summer winds down; drinks continue late into the night.

Everything is fabulous until the picture-perfect hostess explodes in fury because her son disobeys her.  Everyone at the party hears her exquisite veneer crack—loud and clear.  Before long, that same young boy falls from his bedside window in the middle of the night.  And then, his mother can only sit by her son’s hospital bed, where she refuses to speak to anyone, and his life hangs in the balance.

What happens next, over the course of a tense three days, as each of these women grapple with what led to that terrible night?

Exploring envy, women’s friendships, desire, and the intuitions that we silence, The Whispers is a chilling novel that marks Audrain as a major fiction talent.INSTANT #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER

Praise for The Whispers:

“[A] standout work of literary suspense. . . . The novel soars via Audrain’s clever revelations of the ways her protagonists’ lives are linked in ways they never suspected. Both artful and pulse pounding, this isn’t easily shaken.”
—Publishers Weekly

“An instant legend in Canadian publishing, The Push is a tough act to follow. . . . But Ashley needn’t worry—The Whispers lives up to the hype.”
—Hello! Canada

“Rage unites [the women in The Whispers]—rage that is expertly, subtly and powerfully rendered by Audrain. They suffer quietly, buffeted by an undertow of anger at subtle accommodations to husbands and children. . . . Audrain is unwilling to court her readers’ sympathies, allowing her characters to be imperfect, vulnerable, furious and unrepentant. She examines their fury and presents their unvarnished emotions without passing judgment or apologizing. . . . [A]fter Audrain has lulled you into a sense of resignation over her characters’ fates, she delivers a sucker-punch ending you’ll have to read twice to believe.”
—The New York Times

“No one mines motherhood angst like Ashley Audrain. . . . [She is] the master of internal maternal conflict.”
—Zoomer Magazine

“Razor-sharp. . . . A powerful, immersive story, with a surprising level of tension and suspense. Audrain has discovered the truth that many writers overlook: the highest stakes often seem tiny, or inconsequential, rooted in intimacy and domesticity. In The Whispers, words carry the force of a blow, or a blade, and secrets tick away in the shadows, like time-bombs, waiting to go off.”
—Toronto Star

“Enticing, nuanced, and unflinching, The Whispers opens a secret portal into the private lives of women in suburbia. A narrative portrait of motherhood and marriage, of loneliness and longing, of loss and desire, this is a novel where the characters are so recognizable, it’s nearly impossible to feel they are strangers. Rather, through the course of the deeply thrilling and provocative pages, one comes to feel they’re as real as neighbours, colleagues, and friends. A truly masterful novel.”
—Nita Prose, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid

“The Whispers is spellbinding, a shimmering, visceral ride through the dark side of family, of community, of womanhood and mothering. Nobody delves as deep into the guts of motherhood as Ashley Audrain, she really is in a league of her own.”
—Lisa Jewell, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Family Remains

“No one understands the secret lives of women like Ashley Audrain. In her electrifying new novel, The Whispers, the unspoken fears, desires, and shame of four neighbours threaten the lives they’ve so carefully constructed. It’s a razor-sharp page-turner. Masterful!”
—Carley Fortune, New York Times bestselling author of Every Summer After

“The Whispers is a masterwork: a page-turner, a searing emotional rollercoaster and a beautifully-written hymn to the pain, the love, the fury of motherhood. I could think about nothing but Ashley Audrain’s perfectly-drawn characters in the three days it took me to tear through this novel, and I suspect they will live on in my mind for a long time to come. Sensational.”
—Rosie Walsh, New York Times bestselling author of Ghosted

“Driven by desire, jealousy, and revenge, everyone is under suspicion and guilty of something in this powerful, edgy, and addictive novel by the queen of psychological drama, Ashley Audrain. An honest, uncensored look at women and motherhood in the wake of a mysterious tragedy, The Whispers is a must-read.”
—Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of Just the Nicest Couple

“The Whispers is a chilling story and a beautifully observed exploration of what it means to be a woman, highlighting the sacrifices involved and the often frightening choices that have to be made. The knowledge that something awful is looming lends the narrative a compelling sense of unease that builds to a thickening dread as Audrain ratchets up the tension.  A quietly revelatory and unnerving novel that works on so many levels—I couldn’t put it down.”
—Sarah Pearse, New York Times bestselling author of The Retreat

“Ashley Audrain writes about motherhood and how it feels to be a woman today with a fearlessness few can muster. Every time I turned a page, I thought: yes! This is why I read—to connect, to feel seen, to be confronted with my deepest fears, and, of course, to go on a breathtakingly suspenseful ride while doing it.”
—Chandler Baker, New York Times bestselling author of The Husbands

“Ashley Audrain has a profound understanding of how thin the line between good and evil can be. The Whispers leads readers past the carefully composed facade of Harlow Street to dig, unflinchingly, into themes of motherhood, fidelity, privilege and complicity, resulting in a novel that not only delivers on the promise of its taut, explosive and page-turning plot—but redefines the very idea of what a thriller is and can be. Daring, incisive, and exquisitely written, Audrain has proven herself a force like no other.”
—Courtney Summers, New York Times bestselling author of Sadie

“Ashley Audrain is the master of simmering resentment and paranoia, mental load and motherhood. This slow-burn thriller is gripping and horrifying and with a perfectly shocking ending. It’s going to be huge, absolutely unmissable.”
—Catherine Cooper, author of The Chalet and The Cruise

“A beautifully written, twisty and thought-provoking novel about the demands of modern women, motherhood and how our own past shapes us. The Whispers is packed with suspense, tension and unforgettable characters and I couldn’t read it fast enough. I adored it!”
—Claire Douglas, bestselling author of The Girls Who Disappeared

“Riveting . . . a fearless deep dive into the real internal lives of women. The Whispers is a brilliant, deeply affecting novel you won’t soon forget.”
—Shari Lapena, bestselling author of Someone We Know

“I absolutely loved this book.”
—Miranda Cowley Heller, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Paper PalaceASHLEY AUDRAIN’s debut novel, The Push, was an instant New York Times bestseller. She previously served as the publicity director of Penguin Books Canada, and prior to that, worked in public relations. She lives in Toronto, where she and her partner are raising their two young children. The Whispers is her second novel.US

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