Worry: A Novel

A CBC BOOKS BEST FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR

A riveting novel about a mother’s all-consuming worry for her child over forty-eight hours at a remote cottage with old friends and a mysterious neighbour, for fans of Little Fires Everywhere and Truly Madly Guilty

Ruth is the fiercely protective mother of almost-four-year-old Fern. Together they visit a remote family cottage belonging to Stef, the woman who has been Ruth’s best friend—and Ruth's husband’s best friend—for years. Stef is everything Ruth is not—confident, loud, carefree—and someone Ruth cannot seem to escape. While Fern runs wild with Stef’s older twins and dockside drinks flow freely among the adults, they’re joined by Stef’s neighbour Marvin, a man whose frantic pursuit of fun is only matched by his side comments about his absent wife. As day moves into night and darkness settles over the woods, the edges between these friends and a stranger sharpen until a lingering suspicion becomes an undeniable threat.

“Jessica Westhead is one of the finest prose writers in this country.” - Zoe Whittall, bestselling author of The Best Kind of People

“I read Worry in one sleepless, unbroken gulp. Jessica Westhead renders parenthood as a riveting high-wire act, and imbues a seemingly ordinary lakeside vacation with suspense and menace that lingers long after reading, as a chair with the shadow of a monster is never again just a chair in the daylight. An irresistible novel from its first pages to its devastating end.” - Kim Fu, author of The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore

“I read Worry in one sleepless, unbroken gulp. Jessica Westhead renders parenthood as a riveting high-wire act, and imbues a seemingly ordinary lakeside vacation with suspense and menace that lingers long after reading. . . An irresistible novel from its first pages to its devastating end.” - Kim Fu, author of The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore

“An eerie, twist-filled story. With striking precision, Westhead dissects parenting and relationships in the age of anxiety. A riveting read.”   - Katrina Onstad, acclaimed author of Everybody Has Everything

“In Worry, Jessica Westhead deftly plumbs the anxiety that can arise from attachment. This compelling novel explores not only the tensions between dependence and freedom, but also the tricky, shifting nature of love itself.”

“Westhead is a concise wordsmith; Worry is a quick and engrossing read…” - Quill & Quire

“Jessica Westhead packs a lifetime of maternal anxiety into this propulsive thriller, which unfolds over the course of 48 hours in a secluded cottage…Westhead is a master of misdirection—you’ll want to devour Worry in a single, heart-thudding night.” - Apple Books

LONGLISTED FOR CBC CANADA READS 2020 A CBC BOOKS BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

“Worry does a masterful job of building tension, and the reader is constantly torn between eager anticipation and dread of finding out what is happening next.” - Ottawa Review of Books

“In Worry, Westhead demonstrates that leaping is precisely what she knows how to do, and her novel delivers with the most assured and powerful landing.” - Pickle Me This