Absolutely brilliant, loved it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me an advance copy, I will definitely be recommending.

A group of women living in the same neighbourhood become friends but are very different. Whitney seems to have it all- she is beautiful, has a successful career and an aspirational lifestyle, but dislikes being a mother to her three children, preferring to sit in her car in the drive to interacting with them when she gets home early. Blair has devoted herself to being a full-time mother to her daughter, but is bored and unhappy in her marriage. Rebecca, a respected doctor, longs to have a child but her inability to sustain a pregnancy is putting a huge strain on her relationship. Elderly Mara, on the edge of the group, sees more than the others imagine, and carries her own sorrow. When Whitney’s 10-year-old son Xavier falls from a window and lies in an induced coma, the whispers begin- a few months earlier at a party, she was heard screaming at her son. Did she harm him, accidentally or otherwise? Secrets begin to leak out as rumours fly, and lives will be changed forever. This is an absorbing read, which examines the challenges modern women face, the nature of motherhood and the work/home balance. Audrain is perceptive about how women face the pressures of combining these things, while also being affected by their own childhoods and family backgrounds, and how hard it is to meet the needs of children and husbands without losing their own identities. It is also a riveting thriller as the truth slowly emerges about Xavier’s fall and we wait to see if he will survive. A good, juicy read with some interesting reflections on the demands of modern life.

Great story keeping you trying to work out what happened and by who. Some shockers thrown in there to keep it twisted up really well for you making it impossible to put down!

I had not read the authors previous book (which I have now bought!). So this was my first experience of her writing. Wow! The book focusses on the women in the street and their relationships with husbands and children and it is a rollercoaster of a ride. There is empathy for the flaws of the characters and the writing is tight and engaging. Thoroughly recommend! I am off to read the authors debut book!

Judgement just oozes off the pages of this book with the ideal vision of motherhood being held up for closer examination.
The book is fast paced, centered around an awful accident in a small community full of flawed individuals afraid to show their real selves.
Non of the characters are particularly likeable, with the exception of Maya, but nevertheless you find yourself pulled into their world of secrets and lies.
Prepare to be up late into the night as you will always want to read "just one more chapter"!

The Whispers is a gripping domestic thriller. Audrain dives deep into the psychology of four women who live on the same street, exploring themes of motherhood, identity and purpose.

It’s a tense read: guilt and anxiety bubble just below the surface of the narrative. As a reader you get caught up in the characters’ spiralling, their secrets and their shifting suspicions, never knowing quite what to believe until the final, devastating line.

A fitting follow-up to The Push, The Whispers is astute, compelling and heartbreaking.

Wholly Compelling..
Those whispers. Everyone wonders when exactly they began..but everyone knows full well when they were shouted out. When they became too impossible to ignore. The night of the appalling accident. For within this small community, within this group of women, there are secrets and lies and truths just screaming to be heard. Emotionally charged suspense, keenly and astutely observed with a stellar cast of supremely well crafted characters. Wholly compelling.

Wow. What an absolutely brilliant book. I was blown away by this one. Ashley Audrain weaves together a gripping story that kept me racing through the pages until that final, devastingly brilliant ending. This book is a searing portrayal of motherhood, and the unique challenges faced by women everywhere. I finished this book filled with a sense of righteous anger at just how difficult life can be!
I also loved - loved - the sensitive portrayal of Maya, the older female character in this book. As a woman in my mid-fifties, I am only too aware of the sudden way women become invisible - not just to men, but to other women too.
This book is fantastic and I will be encouraging all my female friends to read it. And as for that ending... ka-pow! An absolute gut-punch of an ending that was perfect and utterly unexpected. Bravo!

A young boy lies in a coma after a catastrophic fall from his open bedroom window. Moving between two time periods, events prior too, and after the fall are relayed in punishing detail. Several women all living on the same street struggle in different ways with the reality of juggling marriage, children and for some a busy career. The debate over choice, ability to balance demands, and how much a partner accepts equal share of responsibilities , are all subtly threaded into the repercussions of the assumed accident against potentially illicit interactions , secrets and lies by the residents. The claustrophobic atmosphere of jealousies, small mindedness, revenge and petty scoring of points all in their own way minor, build up to a day of reckoning and dramatic conclusion for everyone involved. Many thanks to author, publisher and Netgalley for this rewarding ARC.

#TheWhispers #NetGalley
Loved it.
Was it after the party when Whitney screamed blue murder at her son?
Or after neighbour Blair started prowling Whitney's house, uninvited? Or once Rebecca and Ben's childlessness began challenging their marriage? But on the terrible night of the accident, the whispers grow louder, more terrifyingly insistent. Drawing them all into darkness.
Because you can't hide the truth forever. Your secrets are never entirely your own. The lies you tell will catch up with you .
I really loved her first book and this book is better than that one. Don't miss it.
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Michael Joseph UK for giving me an advance copy.

Sorry I just fidnt find the story original and seemed like alot of other books I've read. DNF for me, sorry cx

Woah, what a wild ride! This book kept me guessing from page one. The suspense was top-notch, and the twists were gasp-worthy. I loved reading the different points of view, I feel like it gave me more insight into who these women really were. This book felt very much like Big Little Lies and Little Fires Everywhere and I kept hoping it would someday be made into a movie! The ending was absolutely perfect. I've read the Push as well and I think it's safe to say that Ashley Audrain never disappoints!

This is a brilliant book. Shocking and vivid - full of deliciously awful characters.

There is a lot here which could potentially be triggering, with particularly graphic descriptions of miscarriage, but these are well written, albeit hard hitting.

I will definitely be looking out for more by this author.

Another powerful novel from Ashley Audrain exploring the lives of 4 women and their families living in the same neighbourhood
One morning they wake up to the news that one woman's son has fallen out of his bedroom window and is seriously ill in hospital .
How did he fall ? What are the events leading up to this fall ? Who -if anyone -is to blame ?
And as seems to be Ms Audrain's signature -a brilliant last paragraph that makes you go WOW

Thankyou NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review

I haven't yet read Ashley Audrain's debut 'The Push' but after reading The Whispers it's definitely on the top of my to read list.
The Whispers is an intense, insightful and emotional read and the author skilfully portrays the lives of 4 woman in a middle class suburb; Whitney who has a demanding full time career and struggles to connect with her children, Rebecca a doctor who is experiencing infertility issues, Blair a stay at home mum imagining what life would be like without her husband and Mara, grieving and on the edge of the lives of the other women.
I started The Whispers with no preconceptions and found it to be an immensely compelling and immersive read that I am sure will be one of my books of the year.
The author writes so beautifully and honestly about motherhood and marriage, voicing the thoughts of the characters that are so often kept hidden and seen as shameful.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

After The Push I was eager to get to read this.

Harlow Lane, an area on the rise. In the past it was predominantly home to the Portuguese immigrant community, but during recent years the houses have been taken over by young couples keen to make their mark. There is Whitney, Jacob and their three children, Blair and Aidan with Chloe, Rebecca and Ben, no children but desperate to have them, and then there is Mara and Albert, the last Portuguese couple on the street. Now in her 80’s, there’s not much that Mara doesn’t see, but to the newcomers she is as good as invisible with only Rebecca treating her as a member of the community. But not is all as it seems amongst the newbies, and after a terrible incident late one night, the secrets start to unfurl. Everyone has a theory as to what happened to Xavier, but only one of them is worried the truth will out.

An excellent last line!

Another terrific book from Ashley Audrain. Dark, intriguing, compelling and totally absorbing, this will be on the best seller lists for sure.

After her brilliant debut, The Push, Ashley Audrain doesn’t disappoint with The Whispers. Set in an affluent neighborhood, the story covers three couples, led by the Alpha Mum Whitney, whose mask slips scandalously in the first chapter. The book is told from several points of view and it works very well. There’s Blair, Whitney, and Rebecca, all ostensibly happily married but with their own problems behind closed doors. When a dramatic accident takes place, it opens a can of worms that throws up a lot of twists and surprises.
In parts,

The Whispers is reminiscent of Liane Moriarty’s early books, and with a dash of Desperate Housewives. However, where Audrain really excels is letting the reader into the most intimate thoughts of her characters, whilst contrasting their public faces with their darker inner lives. I am already planning on reading her next book and I don’t think she’s even written it yet. An original voice that flinches from nothing, Ashley Audrain has a loyal fan in me already. Five stars.

NB Trigger warning- there are miscarriage descriptions.

4.5 rounded up

I loved ‘The Push’ so eagerly open the pages of this one and I’m so not disappointed!! It all starts at a party in the Loverly’s backyard, the most expensive house on the street. Three children belong here, three year old twins - one of each - and an older boy of 10. He looks a bit of a scruff but Whitney’s husband Jacob wisely counsels her to let it go but Xavier sure knows how to push her buttons. She tolerates him as long as she can and then let’s rip and oh boy, does she ever. Unfortunately for her every single person at the party hears her profane tirade. Fast forward to nine months later and Xavier is brought to hospital having fallen from his bedroom window. He’s in a medically induced coma. What happens? How and why did this happen? Is Whitney responsible? Every key female character has their own theory. There’s Blair, her neighbour, bored and very alone with her thoughts a jumbled mess and Rebecca a doctor. She has a lot going on in her own life alongside her concerns for Xavier. Finally, there’s elderly Mara, who at 82 is largely invisible but sees all and feels much. These three give their perspective and tell their own story which runs alongside Whitney, Before and After.

Phew! Can Ashley Audrain ever write! It’s so intense that you become wrapped up in these characters lives and put the book down with utmost reluctance. It’s an exceptionally well written and accomplished novel which is perceptively observed. All the characters are acutely and deftly portrayed with their interactions and silences telling us a great deal. It’s a powerful and at times chilling psychological domestic/ neighbourhood thriller with a plot that mesmerises me. There’s the white noise of many internal whispers that characters desperately try to combat and the more audible whispers of judgements. There are some uncomfortable moments where you feel the dark thoughts and emptiness of loss or feeling lost or you catch the sadness and raw despair which is very moving. There are several key moments where it’s an emotional heart tugger with everything from tragedy to cruelty. As the pressure builds you find you are anticipating the inevitable explosion but are uncertain of its likely source but are certain in the knowledge that it will detonate lives. When the truth emerges it’s a gut puncher and the ultimate ending is so, so good.

Overall, it must be obvious by now that this is another immersive winner for me. Ashley Audrain is an immensely gifted and talented writer and I look forward to reading her next tour de force. Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Michael Joseph for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

I absolutely loved The Push and so was very much looking forward to this new book.

One morning the normal small suburban neighbourhood of Harlow Lane four families lives will completely change forever.

This book is full of drama, twists and turns. There is lots of suspense and intrigue to keep you guessing along the way. This book could also be triggering for some people with some of the subjects it covers.

Another terrific character drama from this author who does reality, especially the realities of women, so very well.

Neighbourhood drama, hidden secrets and differing perceptions form the heart of this psychological thriller, which is easily a one sitting read and manages a clever and thought provoking plot brilliantly.

Plenty of emotion and some unexpected moments The Whispers is a terrific read. Recommended