The Whispers by Ashley Audrain

A pageturner about four suburban families whose lives are changed when the unthinkable happens–and what is lost when good people make unconscionable choices

The Loverlys sit by the hospital bed of their young son who is in a coma after falling from his bedroom window in the middle of the night; his mother, Whitney, will not speak to anyone. Back home, their friends and neighbors are left in shock, each confronting their own role in the events that led up to what happened that terrible night: the warm, altruistic Parks who are the Loverlys’ best friends; the young, ambitious Goldsmiths who are struggling to start a family of their own; and the quiet, elderly Portuguese couple who care for their adult son with a developmental disability, and who pass the long days on the front porch, watching their neighbors go about their busy lives.

The story spins out over the course of one week, in the alternating voices of the women in each family as they are forced to face the secrets within the walls of their own homes, and the uncomfortable truths that connect them all to one another. Set against the heartwrenching drama of what will happen to Xavier, who hangs between death and life, or a life changed forever, THE WHISPERS is a novel about what happens when we put our needs ahead of our children’s. Exploring the quiet sacrifices of motherhood, the intuitions that we silence, the complexities of our closest friendships, and the danger of envy, this is a novel about the reverberations of life’s most difficult decisions.

Published by Pamela Dorman Books
on June 6, 2023

Review:

Is it just me, or are the hijinks of messy, rich women – especially messy rich white women – endlessly entertaining? I love me some Real Housewives, and honestly Atlanta and Potomac are probably two of my faves because they are so damned petty and it is hilarious, but it’s the white women on Beverly Hills, New Jersey and Salt Lake City that have me watching with one eye open and keep me muttering, “Girl, don’t do that!” the entire episode. Maybe that is why I love these juicy books about rich white people making a mess and then stepping in their own shit. I read Dirty Laundry a few months ago and loved it, and the same goes for The Whispers. Before I started this book, I had seen on social media that several people were disappointed because it wasn’t as good as her first book, “The Push”. Having not read “The Push” I went into this completely blind to her style, and I was not disappointed, so I’m excited to check out The Push if it really is better than this one.

The book begins with a party in an upper-class white neighborhood in early September. Whitney – mother of three (a set of twins and a precocious 10-year-old) completely loses her shit on her 10-year-old during the party. As soon as she has finished screaming at him, she realizes his bedroom window was open and everyone at the party heard the awful things she’s screamed at him.

A few months later, Whitney is in the Emergency room with her son. Her husband was out of town and Whitney was home alone with the kids. Her son fell out of his window and is now lying in a coma on the verge of death. Whitney won’t speak to anyone regarding what happened, which leads the neighbors to wonder if Whitney had something to do with it.

The book alternates between the points of view of Whitney, Blair, Rebecca and Alma. As well as being a mom of three and the loving wife of an art dealer, Whitney is a workaholic who connects more with her job and her friend/neighbor Blair than she does with her kids, and also enjoys the delights of men who are not her husband. Blair, on the other hand, is a natural homemaker. Her daughter is everything to her, and she is certain her husband is having an affair and she’s afraid it just might be with her bff Whitney. Rebecca is a pediatric ER doctor who has been trying to get pregnant, but she and her husband have suffered several heartbreaking miscarriages, and her husband made the decision that they need to stop trying, but Rebecca is hiding something from her husband that could make or break them. Lastly, Alma is an older, Portuguese woman in her 80s who has lived in the neighborhood for years, refusing to sell, and watching the bigger homes go up around her – and keeping an eye on her neighbors and their antics.

I loved the character dynamics in this book. In the beginning, it took me a while to figure out who was who and who was married to who, but once I settled in, I enjoyed every juicy tidbit. Whitney is downright dirty, and I loved to hate her. Blair was also hiding some dirty secrets of her own and I loved the juxtaposition of what she showed on the outside versus her crazy, irrational thoughts and the dirty things they led her to do (hello black negligee!)

Rebecca and Alma were definitely more sympathetic characters and both ones I rooted for and felt sorry for. I know a lot of people have complained about the ending of the book, but I thought it was perfect. I don’t think I would have wanted it to end any other way.

This is one I can’t say too much more about because it’s certainly one to experience. I will say that if you hate questionable, morally corrupt characters, you probably won’t want to pick up this book, but if you want a juicy book about rich people doing bad things, I would definitely recommend this one.