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's short stories have appeared in major literary magazines including Hazlitt, Five Dials, Room, Maisonneuve, Matrix, Geist, The New Quarterly, and Indiana Review. Her fiction has been shortlisted for the CBC Literary Awards, selected for a Journey Prize anthology, and nominated for a National Magazine Award. Her chapbook Those Girls was published by Greenboathouse Books in 2006. Her novel Pulpy & Midge, published by Coach House Books in 2007, was nominated for a ReLit Award. Her critically acclaimed short story collection And Also Sharks, published by Cormorant Books in 2011, was a Globe and Mail Top 100 Book, a nominee for the CBC Bookie Awards and a ReLit Award, one of Kobo's Best Ebooks of 2011, and a finalist for the Danuta Gleed Short Fiction Prize. CBC Books has called her one of the "10 Canadian women writers you need to read now." Jessica lives in Toronto with her husband and daughter.

Jessica Westhead's profile page

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

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

“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.”
— Meg Wolitzer, bestselling author of The Interestings

“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

“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

“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