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Title details for The Whispers by Ashley Audrain - Available

The Whispers

A Novel

by Ashley Audrain
Jill Winternitz
Audiobook
4 of 7 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
4 of 7 copies available
“Expertly, subtly and powerfully rendered….[The Whispers] delivers a sucker-punch ending you’ll have to read twice to believe.”—The New York Times Book Review
“[An] electrifying…razor-sharp page-turner.” —Carley Fortune, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Every Summer After

Featured in summer reading recommendations by Good Morning America, TIME, ELLE, The Washington Post & more
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 women's fiction talent.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    June 6, 2023

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593452196
      • File size: 296214 KB
      • Duration: 10:17:06

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from April 24, 2023
      Audrain (The Push) takes a deep dive into the secret lives of women in this standout work of literary suspense. Everything will change for four families in an upscale neighborhood after 10-year-old Xavier Loverly falls from his bedroom window and ends up in the hospital in critical condition. The ER physician handling his case is neighbor Rebecca Parry, who runs interference between police and Xavier’s overwhelmed mother, Whitney, whose seeming ability to juggle a corporate consulting firm, a husband, and three kids has made her the envy of the neighborhood. As Whitney maintains a vigil at her son’s bedside, whispers swell about what might have led to Xavier’s fall, and the truth emerges twist by twist from a quartet of narrators. In addition to Whitney and Rebecca, whose professionalism masks private sorrows, Audrain takes readers inside the minds of Whitney’s best friend, Blair Parks, a stay-at-home mom who suspects her husband is straying, and octogenarian Mara Alvaro, a relic from pre-gentrification days when the neighborhood was full of Portuguese immigrants. 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. Agent: Maddy Milburn, Madeleine Milburn Ltd.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Jill Winternitz captures the strain of maintaining facades in her portrayals of four neighboring women who are forced to confront unearthed truths. From the first crack in the veneer at a neighborhood barbecue to a tragic incident befalling one of their children, each woman's world starts to unravel and affect the others in the group. Listeners will feel the panic as the "perfect" wife and mother, Whitney, has her faults revealed. They will feel Rebecca's desperation for a child after a series of miscarriages and Mara's quiet, all-knowing observations about the other women's lives. They will feel Blair's determination to uncover secrets that may destroy her family. Motherhood and passion pull these women together but may also tear them apart. L.M.G. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      Starred review from June 10, 2024

      "Something terrible happened." When Whitney's young son falls from a third-story window in the middle of the night, their community is devastated by the tragedy. While doctors work to bring him out of a coma, friends and neighbors begin to shift from sympathetic to suspicious, recalling the party where Whitney's picture-perfect facade cracked as she lost her composure and screamed at her son. Chipping away at the neighborhood's idyllic appearance reveals a tangled web of abuse and infidelity that leaves no one untouched. Audrain (The Push) creates stirring and suspenseful domestic fiction in which multiple timelines and perspectives meld into an intricate and unsettling examination of motherhood and marriage. Narrator Jill Winternitz gives an emotive and engaging performance. Though it's difficult at times to distinguish between the quartet of female leads, the captivating nature of the narrative ensures that listeners will not get lost. VERDICT This audio will appeal to those seeking haunting psychological suspense about envy, attraction, and the illusion of perfection. Recommended for fans of Colleen Hoover, A.J. Finn, and Gillian Flynn.--Lauren Hackert

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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