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… truly masterful. –Nita Prose 

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 neighbourhood 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.  Soon after, 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, including her best friend who lives across the street.

What follows is the unravelling of four families on this street, as they try to understand what happened that night, and what secrets are being kept between friends and neighbours, ones that connect them all in ways they don’t know.

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

GET THE BOOK

Shelf Life Books | Calgary Public Library | Audible

BE CURIOUSER

• Video: Ashley Audrain on her latest thriller novel The Whispers – Global News
• Podcast: Writing process, the path to success, and The Whispers with Ashley Audrain (Note: contains spoilers beginning halfway through) – The Best Hang Podcast
• Wordfest Presents Ashley Audrain & Karma Brown – Wordfest Imagine on Air
• What you don’t know about your neighbors can hurt you – The New York Times
• Ashley Audrain’s new book The Whispers a razor-sharp thriller examining contemporary morality and beliefs – The Toronto Star