I really enjoyed reading "The Push" by Ashley Audrain so was delighted to be able to read an ARC of "The Whispers". Once again, she looks at the dark side of motherhood but unfortunately this book didn't seem to have the same edge as her first novel. Despite the seemingly simple set up of characters, I struggled to remember which husband belonged to which wife, and I'm still not entirely sure what happened to Mara's son. A good story but just lacking something.

After having read the debut novel from this author, ‘The Push’, I was keen to read the next title from Ashley Audrain and was pleased to receive an advanced readers copy of ‘The Whispers’.

One morning on Harlow Lane, a normal suburban neighbourhood, four families lives are changed forever. Whitney, the professional business woman with the seemingly perfect life is sat by her 10 year old son’s bed after he’s fallen from his bedroom window in the middle of the night. Her best friend Blythe doesn’t know what to do to help, or even if she should when she discovers what Whitney is hiding? Rebecca, the newest arrival to the neighbourhood and the doctor treating the boy, is desperate for a child and can relate to losing a child after suffering several miscarriages but is there something she’s missing with her husband now she’s pregnant again? And what about the elderly couple across the street? Silently watching the comings and goings, how do they fit in?

This was a book that throws you to the drama right from the very beginning, from the first introduction to all the characters you know that something is underlying with them all and the suspense and intrigue is built through each chapter. It does discuss some events quite graphically and would warn this could be triggering for some readers , specifically in relation to miscarriages. This is a title that will definitely stay with you long after you’ve read it, another powerful read from this author and would continue to read more from her.

I loved this authors first book ‘The Push’ so was looking for more of the same with this one. If I am completely honest I struggled to get to grips with this one for awhile due to the amount of characters. Once I got it into my head who was who is improved a lot.

All the neighbours are gathered at the barbecue on an Harlow Street, the neighbourhood couples and their children are enjoying food and drinks late into the night. Everything seems to be going so well until the hostess explodes in fury when her son disobeys her. Later that night that same young boy falls from his bedside window and is now in hospital. His mother, Whitney Loverly sits close to her son and refuses to speak to anyone as her son’s life hangs by a thread.

Over the next three days the women try to deal with what happened on that terrible night.

This is story of friendships, envy, desire and secrets, there is a lot going on to keep you interested.

I enjoyed it in the end but not as much as ‘The Push’ but that was an hard act to follow.

I would like to thank both Netgalley and Michael Joseph UK for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first book by this author, however I was really excited to read it after hearing great things about “the push”.
I really enjoyed this book. The writing is very accomplished but the style remains engaging. It’s a great domestic thriller that I’m sure will stick with me and one that I’ll definitely recommend to others.

I enjoyed the author's writing style and I admire her determination to write about the grittier, unspoken side of motherhood, like she does in The Push. Motherhood is not always easy or pretty or rainbows and unicorns..... It can be selfish, ugly, resentful and many many more things. The Whispers does indeed paint a bright light on this topic and how different women parent. I do feel that many of the characters felt like similar characters The husbands were also not really memorable. .

Too many POV's, too similar, too much story I think....or maybe too much background to the story? I don't know, but I just could not connect with this story or the characters. In addition I found the graphic sexual content unnecessary for the type of book that this was.

Miscarriage is also featured and very graphically, so please ensure you're aware of that as a trigger warning!

2.5 stars

I was delighted to be sent an ARC of this book from Netgalley as I loved Ashley Audrain's The Push. This book has a similar premise, the dark side of parenthood, a neighbourhood full of secrets....but this felt highly contrived and a but underwhelming. An entertaining read but not one I'd be recommending to all and sundry!

Always read a 2nd book by a writer with a fantastic debut with trepidation. But another triumph. Absolutely gripping. Most characters are flawed with one standing out as tragic and wronged and it’s just a matter of waiting to see who that is. However, the rest are all people we know.
I’m going to buy it on release for everyone. And if you’ve not read the first book….go, go, go!

This was completely unputdownable, much like THE PUSH. Also like THE PUSH, it is not an easy read for parents, and I found parts of it quite upsetting. But it's unbelievably gripping, and I would definitely recommend.

A brilliant read. What happened on the night when Whitney Loverly's son falls from his bedroom window is the question that everyone needs to know the answer to. Her neighbours who are also supposedly her friends all became involved in one way or another due to the problems they all have in their own lives but will the truth finally come out and will any of them be involved in any way. A story that keeps you gripped from the beginning with great characters many of whom are struggling with many emotional and guilty secrets. I really enjoyed it

A really tense read and an excellent follow up to The Push - The Whispers is a brilliant domestic thriller.
3.5 stars.

The Whispers, in many ways, feels like it could be a companion novel to The Push but I'm not sure I'll be recommending it quite as widely. I found it gripping, but where The Push was a sharp punchy thriller as well as a character-driven psychological drama, this one is firmly the latter.

Audrain writes in such a raw, honest and emotive way that I feel sure she must have experienced what she's describing herself, yet each character, each experience of motherhood and womanhood is so vastly different that she cannot possibly have been all these characters. It's a true talent that she can make them so wholly convincing, so deeply-flawed and often unlikable and yet still make us care about them.

This book follows four very different women who live in the same neighbourhood, whose lives intersect in various ways. Whitney is a working parent, causing both envy (for being the woman who "has it all") and judgement (for not being there full-time for her kids); Blair is a stay-at-home parent who often feels taken for granted, unappreciated, unmoored; Rebecca desperately wants a baby but a series of miscarriages have left her heartbroken; Mara had a neurodivergent son and blames herself for what happened to him.

Audrain shows why different women make the choices they do and depicts how they punish themselves (and each other) for those choices. She shows women pushed to the brink in their desperation to be the perfect mother, or a mother at all. So many times I would read a sentence in this book and my heart would clench because I could feel exactly what the author was describing; it struck me as such an accurate, if horrible, depiction of what someone would feel in those circumstances.

The stories of these women revolve around the event at the centre of the story-- that of Whitney's son fighting for his life in a hospital bed after he plummeted from his bedroom window. Everyone has a theory as to what happened and most of them are hiding something themselves.

I can't wait for the author's next book.

I loved The Push and was delighted to be approved to read The Whispers.

The story centres around a street on which live 4 couples, whose lives are interlinked in some way together. Whitney and her family live next door to Mara and Albert, an older couple who keep themselves to themselves. Rebecca and Ben are a childless couple, but not for want for trying. Blair and Aiden live across the road with their daughter Chloe, a good friend of Xavier who’s the eldest child of Whitney and Jacob.

The lives of the people on the street are changed forever after Xavier is found unconscious below his bedroom window in the middle of the night. Just how did he get there? Why is Whitney not speaking to anyone? Just what is the truth behind the lives of the families on Harlow Lane?

I would highly recommend this book - I couldn’t put it down and am already looking forward to more from this author.

Non of these characters is having an easy time, and non of them are what they seem on surface level.
This is very much a story of the females in the neighbourhood, the husbands are bit part actors.
Some of the scenes, especially with Rebecca , pulled on my heart strings just a bit.
An interesting look at how everyone is coping (or not) with their own troubles.
Their is a mystery in here, what did happen the night one of the children fell, but for me, it was very much secondary to the domestic dramas.

If you liked Ashley Audrains previous book the push, you will love her newest release the whispers. A domestic thriller that makes you question whether a mother would hurt their child.

Ashley Audrain does it again! Another incredible domestic thriller, if you loved THE PUSH, prepare to be totally captivated by THE WHISPERS. This book was like the lovechild of Liane Moriarty and THE SLAP, exposing the devastating secrets of three ‘normal’ suburban families. A proper page-turned and a must read!

WOW!!!! What an amazing book. This was a superb read with excellent characters. Whitney Mara ,& Blair are so well wrtitten & their stories are brilliant. This book is SUPERB! I wish I could give it more then 5 stars

I was obsessed with The Push so very excited to read The Whispers. The characterisation was so flawless that I could feel the pain, regrets and conflicts of each of the protagonists as if it were my own. I did feel it was a little 'woe is me' - motherhood is hard but it isn't selfless (in most cases there is a choice, and the ultimate decision to be a mother is all too often selfish - humans are at their core self motivated) so I found myself unable to sympathise with that aspect. I also wasn't as enamoured by the plot, it was somewhat predictable and the ending didn't take me by surprise, but it was still a brilliant novel with stunning, raw writing and expert characterisation.

I wondered after The Push if Audrain could come up with something just as good, and the answer is a resounding yes.

I love the author's writing style. It's direct and unembellished, never heavy-handed, so we get to know the three couples whose lives intertwine not through lengthy descriptions but slowly but surely through what they say and what they do. Every character in the book has secrets and, living so close as they do, tension simmers throughout the novel. There are little insights on every page into their emotions, their relationships, their suspicions, their insecurities.

On the sidelines are Mara and Albert with a whole sad history of their own, treated almost as outsiders by the three younger couples. Mara is a fascinating character and we really get to the heart of her story despite her being a relatively minor player.

As in The Push, motherhood is a strong theme, explored sensitively and in detail, one woman desperate for the babies she cannot carry, another whose career means more to her than her children, and the third seemingly doing everything right.

I could not have foreseen the ending. It left my imagination working overtime wondering what the future would hold. Of all the last lines in all the books I've ever read this is up there with the very best.

What next from this brilliant author?

After the push, I was so keen to jump straight into this new release and even with such high expectations, I was blown away! It's so twisty and there are so many secrets and subplots that I coukdnt get enough. It gives big little lies type vibes. The secrets that all these families are keeping behind closed doors and that eventually find a way to spill out into the light. I didn't find it terribly thrilling but I did love the psychological aspect. Another winner!!

I give it all the stars. Ashley had a lot to live up to in my expectations following ‘The Push’ but Oh Em Gee she smashed it out the ballpark with this one. It’s a blinder of a book that follows a group of neighbours all facing challenges in the wake of a tragic event. It’s quite dark and gritty but handled lightly, if that makes sense? Ashley writes hauntingly well which pulls her reader into the centre of the story wondering how it is all going to unravel and then pull back together again. That last page is a right old sucker punch - what a great way to finish it!