The highly anticipated new literary suspense novel from Scotiabank Giller Prize–winning author Lynn Coady.
After her mother’s sudden death, Karen finds herself back in her childhood home in Nova Scotia for the first time in a decade, acting as full-time caregiver to Kelli, her older sister. Overwhelmed with grief and the daily needs of Kelli, who was born with a developmental disability, Karen begins to feel consumed by the isolation of her new role. On top of that, she’s weighed down with guilt over her years spent keeping Kelli and their independent-to-a-fault mother, Irene, at arm’s length. And so when Trevor — one of Kelli’s support workers — oversteps his role and offers friendly advice and a shoulder to cry on, Karen gratefully accepts his somewhat overbearing friendship. When she discovers how close Trevor was to Irene, she comes to trust him all the more. But as Trevor slowly insinuates himself into Karen and Kelli’s lives, Karen starts to grasp the true aspect of his relationship with her mother — and to experience for herself the suffocating nature of Trevor’s “care.”
Scotiabank Giller Prize–winning author Lynn Coady delivers a creepy and wholly compelling novel about the complex relationship between mothers and daughters and sisters, women and men, and who to trust and how to trust in a world where the supposedly selfless act of caregiving can camouflage a sinister self-interest.
The highly anticipated new literary suspense novel from Scotiabank Giller Prize–winning author Lynn Coady.
After her mother’s sudden death, Karen finds herself back in her childhood home in Nova Scotia for the first time in a decade, acting as full-time caregiver to Kelli, her older sister. Overwhelmed with grief and the daily needs of Kelli, who was born with a developmental disability, Karen begins to feel consumed by the isolation of her new role. On top of that, she’s weighed down with guilt over her years spent keeping Kelli and their independent-to-a-fault mother, Irene, at arm’s length. And so when Trevor — one of Kelli’s support workers — oversteps his role and offers friendly advice and a shoulder to cry on, Karen gratefully accepts his somewhat overbearing friendship. When she discovers how close Trevor was to Irene, she comes to trust him all the more. But as Trevor slowly insinuates himself into Karen and Kelli’s lives, Karen starts to grasp the true aspect of his relationship with her mother — and to experience for herself the suffocating nature of Trevor’s “care.”
Scotiabank Giller Prize–winning author Lynn Coady delivers a creepy and wholly compelling novel about the complex relationship between mothers and daughters and sisters, women and men, and who to trust and how to trust in a world where the supposedly selfless act of caregiving can camouflage a sinister self-interest.
| Published By | House of Anansi Press Inc — Oct 1, 2019 |
| Specifications | 376 pages | 5.25 in x 8 in |
| Keywords | caregivers; stalker; gaslighting; family and family relationships; developmental disability; small town; sacrifice; coming of age; Nova Scotia; character driven; saga; lives of women; personal safety; grief and loss; canlit; women's literature; women's studies; women's writing; women's literature; award-winning author; Hellgoing; The Antagonist; Little Fires Everywhere; Everything I Never Told You; Celeste Ng; The Perfect Nanny; Leila Slimani; suspense; literary thriller; gift for her; |
|
Supporting Resources
(select item to download) |
Excerpt Guide |
| Written By | Lynn Coady is the author of the bestselling novel The Antagonist, which was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, as well as the novels Mean Boy, Saints of Big Harbour, and Strange Heaven and the short story collection Play the Monster Blind. Website: http://www.lynncoady.com/ Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lynn_coady |
| Written By |
| Lynn Coady is the author of the bestselling novel The Antagonist, which was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, as well as the novels Mean Boy, Saints of Big Harbour, and Strange Heaven and the short story collection Play the Monster Blind. Website: http://www.lynncoady.com/ Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lynn_coady |
Long-listed, Scotiabank Giller Prize, 2020
Short-listed, Forest of Reading Evergreen Award, 2019
Commended, A Quill & Quire Book of the Year, 2019
Commended, A Now Magazine Book of the Year, 2019
“Moments of genuinely unnerving violence and aggression . . . What works so well in Coady’s new novel is not so much the moments when she tightens the narrative screws, but rather when she lingers on the warped material they are being screwed into.” —Globe and Mail
“An enticing and propulsive two-bodies-on-a-collision-course plot . . . Coady has a surgical hand with the mechanics of suspense.” —Toronto Star
“A taut, intense story about love and manipulation from one of Canada’s best writers.” —Now Magazine
“Thank God for Lynn Coady’s singular voice and deliciously skewed worldview. Every book of hers is an occasion to celebrate!” —
“Watching You Without Me is both a suspenseful, deeply creepy page-turner and a beautifully subtle character study of a grieving woman slowly unravelling while trying to understand how to care for her sister, and herself, in an ableist world. Another masterpiece from the singular Lynn Coady.” —Zoe Whittall
“Watching You Without Me is like a Lorrie Moore book suffering a Patricia Highsmith fever dream. You slide right along on Coady’s witty and endearing style, and meanwhile the trap has closed over you without your ever standing a chance.” —Jonathan Lethem