The Things You’ll Never Know

A woman’s sudden death unleashes a slew of secrets for those left behind. No one writes women—their lives, their struggles, and their secret desires—better than Ashley Audrain. A masterclass in tension – Shari Lapena, #1 bestselling author of The Couple Next Door
An astounding novel: wildly original, truthful, tender, and devastating. It is The Lovely Bones for a new generation. Audrain’s storytelling is so assured and so utterly mesmerising, I devoured it in a single weekend – Clare Leslie Hall, bestselling author of Broken Country
Ashley Audrain writes like a blade, with just that sharpness, precision, and danger. The Things You’ll Never Know is her best novel yet. Its insights into motherhood are so frank, so brutal, that at times they made me wince. But they’re paired, as ever, with a compulsive mystery and an irresistible concept. This is a stunning, elegant thriller – Abigail Dean, bestselling author of The Death of Us
Ashley Audrain is an astonishingly rare talent. The Things You’ll Never Know had me torn between ripping through the pages to find out what happened and soaking up every poignant observation about the beauty and burden of being a wife and mother. Audrain treats her characters with deep empathy while cutting straight to the bone. I felt the book in my body. I cried, my heart raced, and sometimes I was so overcome, I had to set it down. Obviously, I loved it! – Carley Fortune, bestselling author of One Golden Summer
A daring, fiery novel about motherhood, womanhood, and desire. Audrain has an uncanny ability to render the female experience with aching precision. Filled with jaw-dropping twists and peopled with characters so real they could be blood relatives or neighbours, this electrifying novel will haunt you in the very best ways – Nita Prose, #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of The Maid series
Ashley Audrain’s ingenious third novel will hold you tightly in its arms until the very last word, and then haunt you when it ends. With her singular touch—spare, loaded, deliciously astute, elegant, and unflinching—Audrain explores a mother’s love and devotion, but also her secret desires and murky inner world. As coiled and complex as its protagonist, The Things You’ll Never Know made my head spin and split my heart open – Emma Knight, New York Times bestselling author of The Lifecycle of the Common Octopus
The Things You’ll Never Know is sharp, unsettling, and impossible to look away from. Ashley Audrain writes with such precision about family, womanhood, and the violence of expectation that even the smallest moments feel charged. A tense, intelligent novel that lingers long after the final page – Kate Baer, #1 New York Times bestselling author of What Kind of Woman
Intoxicating, mesmeric and deeply moving, The Things You’ll Never Know is a spellbinding masterclass in suspense; as chillingly relatable as it is tender and true. Ashley Audrain writes about motherhood with a blade-sharp and entirely unparalleled precision, and this heartbreaking tribute to a mother erased by the demands on her own life may just be her best yet. In the final few lines I found myself crying out with shock—just as I sobbed over the first few pages—and it was only then, at the devastating finale, that I was able to appreciate the depth and weight of the title. Ashley Audrain is peerless – Rosie Walsh, New York Times bestselling author of The One Day You Were My Husband
No one has their finger closer to the pulse of the dark side of motherhood than Ashley Audrain, and The Things You’ll Never Know is another triumph: dark, addictive, totally original and impossible to put down. Audrain writes about the pressures of womanhood, marriage and motherhood with such extraordinary insight and creates characters so vivid you feel you could reach out and touch them. Fiona’s nightmare—both in her stifling marriage and her battles with desire, then in death, forced into the role of spectator as the lives of her family carried on, secret after secret unfolding before her eyes—felt so horrifyingly real to me. I devoured it! – Katherine Faulkner, author of The Break In

Ashley Audrain’s debut novel, The Push, was a New York Times, Sunday Times, and number-one international bestseller, and a Good Morning America Book Club pick. It has sold in more than forty territories, and a limited television series is currently in development.

Her second novel, The Whispers, is also a number-one international bestseller. The Things You’ll Never Know is forthcoming in January 2027.

Audrain previously worked as the publicity director of Penguin Books Canada, and prior to that she worked in public relations. She lives in Toronto.

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