The Whispers
A Novel
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4.2 • 301 Ratings
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
“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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
Customer Reviews
Love
Ashley Audrain has held a special place in my heart ever since The Push, and I am not sure anything can touch that book for me but I still loved this read. She truly has a way with words with such vivid descriptions and emotions that pull on the heart strings. Her writing is so relatable in one way or another which keeps me coming back for more. I truly love this author.
Hated the ending
This book definitely kept me interested. Lots of drama going on behind the scenes of these couples seemingly normal lives. I thought the ending was unrealistic but overall a good book
Real Characters !!
These characters she creates - they’re so very vulnerable. So very real and raw and believable! It swallows you and won’t let you go