Ashley Audrain
{{short description|Canadian writer|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=February 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Ashley Audrain
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| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1982}}
| birth_place = Newmarket, Ontario, Canada
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| occupation = writer
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Ashley Audrain (born 1982) is a Canadian writer. She is known for two novels, The Push (2021) and The Whispers (2023), which were each published as part of a high-profile contract.
Career
Prior to turning her hand to writing, Audrain was publicity director for Penguin Canada, which is now an imprint of the Canadian division of Penguin Random House. In 2015 a health crisis with her youngest child caused her to retire.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}} She found writing was an occupation she could undertake at home.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}
The Bookseller reported that her UK book deal with Michael Joseph Limited, an imprint of the UK division of Penguin Random House, was worth approximately {{Currency|1,000,000|GBP}}, while her US book deal was in "the high seven figures". The first book of the two-book deal, The Push, was released for sale in US and Canada on January 5, 2021.{{cite web |title=The Push Written by Ashley Audrain |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/625327/the-push-by-ashley-audrain/9780735239890 |website=PenguinRandomHouse.ca |publisher=Penguin Random House |access-date=January 6, 2021}}
During a July 2019 interview with the Toronto Star Audrain had described The Push as a "psychological drama told through the lens of motherhood." The story is about a woman who is unsure whether or not there is something wrong with her daughter, Violet. This causes strain in her marriage to a man named Fox Connor.{{Cite web |last=Woods |first=Paula L. |date=January 14, 2021 |title=Review: In a debut thriller, a 'bad mother' story you can actually believe |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2021-01-14/the-push-by-ashley-audrain-bad-mother-thriller |access-date=July 8, 2024 |website=Los Angeles Times}} Kirkus Reviews called it "finely wrought psychological study of motherhood and inherited trauma", and concluded that it is "written for and about mothers but not for the faint of heart; it offers no easy answers." Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review for the "twisty, harrowing ride to the dark side of motherhood Audrain pilots so skillfully... a sterling addition to the burgeoning canon of bad seed suspense."{{Cite web |date= |title=The Push by Ashley Audrain |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781984881663 |access-date=July 8, 2024 |website=www.publishersweekly.com}} The book was also reviewed in The Guardian{{Cite news |last=Kent |first=Christobel |date=January 2, 2021 |title=The Push by Ashley Audrain review – the dark side of motherhood |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jan/02/the-push-by-ashley-audrain-review-the-dark-side-of-motherhood |access-date=July 8, 2024 |work=The Guardian |issn=0261-3077}} and The New York Times Book Review.{{Cite news |last=Martin |first=Claire |date=January 5, 2021 |title=When the Hand That Rocks the Cradle Is Suspicious of the Baby Inside |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/05/books/review/the-push-ashley-audrain.html |access-date=July 8, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}} It was nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award for Debut and Mystery & Thriller. It was selected as a Richard & Judy Book Club in Spring 2022 and won the Arthur Ellis Award for First Novel, presented annually by the Crime Writers of Canada.{{Cite news |date=May 26, 2022 |title=Toronto author Ashley Audrain among the winners of 2022 Crime Writers of Canada Awards |url=https://www.cbc.ca/books/toronto-author-ashley-audrain-among-the-winners-of-2022-crime-writers-of-canada-awards-1.6466694 |access-date=March 3, 2023 |work=CBC Books}}
Audrain's second book, The Whispers, was published June 6, 2023.{{Cite news |last=Pochoda |first=Ivy |date=June 3, 2023 |title=What You Don't Know About Your Neighbors Can Hurt You |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/03/books/review/the-whispers-ashley-audrain.html |access-date=June 25, 2025 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news |last=Meloan |first=Becky |date=June 1, 2023 |title=10 Noteworthy books for June |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/06/01/notable-books-june-summer/ |access-date=June 25, 2025 |work=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}
Works
- The Push (2021)
- The Whispers (2023)
References
{{Reflist|refs=
|url = https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2019/07/10/meet-ashley-audrain-the-toronto-author-who-has-the-publishing-world-buzzing.html
|title = Meet Ashley Audrain, the Toronto author who has the publishing world buzzing
|work = Toronto Star
|author = Raju Mudhar
|date = July 10, 2019
|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20190711012047/https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2019/07/10/meet-ashley-audrain-the-toronto-author-who-has-the-publishing-world-buzzing.html
|archivedate = July 11, 2019
|accessdate = July 11, 2019
|url-status = live
|quote = Viking U.S. also quickly bought the book. This is almost unheard of in the industry, as it's an unpublished debut novel, it was sold outside of a book fair and the summer is generally considered a quiet time in the publishing world.
}}
|url = https://quillandquire.com/omni/former-penguin-publicist-lands-record-breaking-deal-for-debut-novel/
|title = Former Penguin publicist lands record-breaking deal for debut novel
|work = Quill & Quire
|author = Ryan Porter
|date = July 11, 2019
|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20190711221357/https://quillandquire.com/omni/former-penguin-publicist-lands-record-breaking-deal-for-debut-novel/
|archivedate = July 11, 2019
|accessdate = July 11, 2019
|url-status = live
|quote = Penguin Canada, which bought the Canadian rights as part of a two-book deal, didn't have to look far for Audrain – the 37-year-old worked as the publisher's in-house publicity director until 2015.
}}
|url = https://www.thebookseller.com/news/ashley-audrain-s-debut-thriller-nets-almost-3m-global-prh-deals-1037821
|title = Audrain's debut thriller nets £1m in UK deal
|work = The Bookseller
|author = Heloise Wood
|date = July 10, 2019
|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20190711075653/https://www.thebookseller.com/news/ashley-audrain-s-debut-thriller-nets-almost-3m-global-prh-deals-1037821
|archivedate = July 11, 2019
|accessdate = July 11, 2019
|url-status = live
|quote = The Bookseller understands the UK deal is worth £1m ($1.2m) while the subsequent deal with Pamela Dorman Books/Viking in the US is a higher seven-figure deal. Milburn did not disclose the figures. The Bookseller sourced the figures from third parties.
}}
}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Audrain, Ashley}}
Category:21st-century Canadian novelists
Category:21st-century Canadian women writers
Category:Canadian women novelists