We Spread

By: Iain Reid

Narrated by: Robin Miles

The author of the “evocative, spine-tingling, and razor-sharp” (Bustle) I’m Thinking of Ending Things that inspired the Netflix original movie and the “short, shocking psychological three-hander” (The Guardian) Foe returns with a new work of philosophical suspense.

Penny, an artist, has lived in the same apartment for decades, surrounded by the artifacts and keepsakes of her long life. She is resigned to the mundane rituals of old age, until things start to slip. Before her longtime partner passed away years earlier, provisions were made, unbeknownst to her, for a room in a unique long-term care residence, where Penny finds herself after one too many “incidents.”

Initially, surrounded by peers, conversing, eating, sleeping, looking out at the beautiful woods that surround the house, all is well. She even begins to paint again. But as the days start to blur together, Penny—with a growing sense of unrest and distrust—starts to lose her grip on the passage of time and on her place in the world. Is she succumbing to the subtly destructive effects of aging, or is she an unknowing participant in something more unsettling?

At once compassionate and uncanny, told in spare, hypnotic prose, Iain Reid’s genre-defying third novel explores questions of conformity, art, productivity, relationships, and what, ultimately, it means to grow old.

©2022 Iain Reid (P)2022 Simon & Schuster Audio

Critic reviews

“I loved this book and couldn’t put it down—a deeply gripping, surreal, and wonderfully mysterious novel. Not only has Reid given us a brilliant page-turner, but a profoundly moving meditation on life and art, death and infinity. Reid is a master.”—MONA AWAD, author of Bunny and All’s Well

“A taut and frightening read, perhaps best called a thriller. But the true thrill is in how so slender a book tackles such big questions—What does it mean to make art? What happens as we near death?—with such grace.”—RUMAAN ALAM, author of Leave the World Behind

“Reid masterfully gets into the psyche of his characters and readers all at once. What a gift.”—ALMA HAR’EL, director of Bombay Beach and Honey Boy

Maudlin and devoid of purpose

This dystopian tale of Dr Frankenstein and Egor has no resolution, no purpose. As a study in depression this aggregation of chapters of words is truly unfortunate. Now to go take a walk in reality.