The Whispers is the second novel by Ashley Audrain. I have reviewed her first novel, The Push, on this blog. Like The Push, The Whispers is a story about motherhood with a central mystery involving a child. Ten-year-old Xavier has fallen from his third story bedroom window and is in a coma with a traumatic head injury. But how did he fall out of the window? Did he jump? Or was he pushed – by his mother? Sounds thrilling, but The Whispers is not a thriller. The mystery of Xavier’s fall is a catalyst for exploring the different roles that women are expected to take on, and what little satisfaction women get out of juggling these different roles. It also leads to an implosion in the female relationships in the novel.

The Whispers is told from the perspective of four different women who are all neighbours: Whitney, mother to Xavier; Blair, Whitney’s supposed best friend; Rebecca, a doctor who works at the hospital that Xavier is taken to after the fall from the window; and Mara, a much older woman who keeps to herself. None of these women are happy, for various reasons. Whitney gives the illusion of successfully juggling being a high-powered businesswoman and a mom to three kids, but the truth is that Whitney does not like being a mother. The Whispers opens on a neighbourhood BBQ being hosted by Whitney and her husband in their backyard, and it is at this BBQ that Whitney’s carefully crafted façade breaks when everyone hears her screaming at Xavier. Nine months later when Xavier falls out the window, everyone cannot help but suspect that maybe Whitney is the reason why he fell.

Blair is a stay-at-home mom with a seemingly perfect daughter. Blair constantly compares herself to Whitney, which leads her to feeling inadequate for simply being a stay-at-home mom while other mothers work. Blair also has reason to suspect that her husband, who she contemplates leaving, is having an affair with Whitney.

Rebecca is also having issues with her husband. They are drifting apart because she cannot carry a baby to term. After five miscarriages, her husband puts his foot down and says he does not want to try to have a baby anymore because it is too heartbreaking to get their hopes up and then lose the baby. But Rebecca is so desperate to become a mother, she plans a pregnancy without her husband’s knowledge. Little does Rebecca know, her life is more entwined in Xavier’s fall than she could ever realize.

Mara, who knows more about what is going on in their neighbourhood than the other women, is married to a man that she hates because of his cruel behaviour towards their only child, a son with behavioural issues who died tragically when he was young.

The Whispers makes me think about that research that was done a few years ago that suggested that unmarried and childless women are the happiest population subgroup. While reading this novel, all I could think about is why do women bother getting married and having children? That is the bigger mystery to me than why Xavier fell out the window.

Like The Push, The Whispers was interesting enough to hold my attention, but it has the same kind of twist at the end like The Push that I think cheapens the whole novel. Still, if you like The Push, you will like The Whispers as well.