A review by starrysteph
The Whispers by Ashley Audrain

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This made my stomach churn from start to finish (complimentary!!). Ashley Audrain has done it again - she’s created a compelling, unsavory psychological drama that zeroes in on the most painful aspects of motherhood.

The Whispers centers around a group of women who neighbor each other in suburbia. Their lives are altered when a young boy falls from his bedroom window in the middle of the night and ends up fighting for his life in the hospital. Each narrator hides their own secrets & desires & uncomfortable truths - and they eventually have to confront their own roles leading up to the events of that tragic night. 

It’s about the transformational power of motherhood, sacrifices made for partners and children, uncontrollable envy, and those intuitive ‘whispers’ that we often try to silence. 

I would call the story both slow burn and character-driven, but I was reading FRENETICALLY. I couldn’t part from the book, even when it made me nauseated or horrified or furious. Audrain writes these perspectives so intimately, carefully, and compassionately that it’s hard not to place yourself in their shoes (and cross your fingers that you would make different choices). 

None of these women can have it all - career-wise, love-wise, child-wise - and it breaks them one by one. 

It’s messy and terrible and you may want to climb into the book and shake some of these women (Whitney, I’m looking you dead in the eyes). I felt raw after reading the final words. 

CW: child death, child abuse, graphic miscarriages, pregnancy, infertility, infidelity, ableism, medical trauma, suicidal thoughts, grief, toxic friendship, bullying, sexual content

Follow me on TikTok for book recommendations!

(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)

Expand filter menu Content Warnings