Listen To Me (Paperback)
Staff Reviews
"When a couple's caring thoughts cannot make the transition to speech, how long do the two people have until misunderstandings and annoyances break them? Mark and Maggie travel across state lines for their annual summer hiatus from city bustle, but they seem to have reverted to near-strangers. After police show Maggie photos of a fatal mugging to learn of any connections to her own brutal mugging, the car trip offers run-ins with strangers and storms to reveal how concerned Maggie's become for her safety. Mark worries the woman beside him has become dull and weak, and he ponders what it means to remain faithful--and how damning recent email flirting with a student really is. The novel realistically depicts what it is like to know that sustaining a partnership requires choosing to sustain it."
— Todd WellmanDescription
A page-turning modern gothic about a marriage and road trip gone hauntingly awry
A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice
“Pittard deserves the attention of anyone in search of today’s best fiction.” — Washington Post
“Revelatory.” — The New Yorker
“[Listen to Me] gripped me completely and even gave me nightmares, which is high praise in my book.” — Chicago Tribune
Mark and Maggie’s annual drive east to visit family has gotten off to a rocky start. By the time they’re on the road, it’s late, a storm is brewing, and they are no longer speaking to each other. Adding to the stress, Maggie—recently mugged at gunpoint—is lately not herself, and Mark is at a loss about what to make of the stranger he calls his wife. When the couple is forced to stop for the night at a remote inn completely without power, Maggie’s paranoia reaches an all-time and terrifying high. But as Mark finds himself threatened in a dark parking lot, it’s Maggie who takes control.
“Pittard proves herself a master of ordinary suspense.” — New York Times
“Listen to Me elides so many genres that it’s Houdini-like, bursting through constraints. It moves between its two characters’ inner lives as effortlessly as an Olympic swimmer strokes through water.” — Ann Beattie, Paris Review blog
“A psychologically complex, addictive, and quick-moving read. I didn’t want it to end!” — M.O. Walsh, author of New York Times best-selling novel My Sunshine Away
About the Author
HANNAH PITTARD was born in Atlanta. She is the author of four novels, including Listen to Me and The Fates Will Find Their Way. Her work has appeared in the Sewanee Review, the New York Times, and other publications. She is a professor of English at the University of Kentucky, where she directs the MFA program in creative writing.
Praise For…
A New York Times Book Review "Editors' Choice"? An Entertainment Weekly “Seriously Scary Summer Read” A Washington Post “Best Summer Thriller” A The Millions "Most Anticipated" Book A Lit Hub "Buzz Book" A Refinery29 "Best Book of 2016 So Far" A New Yorker “Book We Loved 2016” "We continue to love thrillers and especially love this one. In Pittard’s unconventional novel, a couple on a road trip deal with raging storms and their own fraying marriage." —The New York Times Book Review “Hannah Pittard’s 'Listen to Me' is a quiet, revelatory novel that exposes the inner workings of a marriage along a harrowing road trip.”—The New Yorker "Hannah Pittard's captivating third novel, Listen to Me, focuses on a smart, attractive couple who have reached that point, not unknown in marriage, when partners fear that the person they love is driving them crazy. Pittard, having introduced these troubled lovers, sends them on a journey across America that soon places their lives in peril. You won't put this story down...Pittard is operating at a level few writers attain. [She] deserves the attention of anyone in search of today's best fiction." —The Washington Post "[Listen to Me] gripped me completely and even gave me nightmares, which is high praise in my book."—The Chicago Tribune "The book is an examination of trauma, perseverance, and trust in both yourself and the people you love; to read it is to be at once engrossed and unsettled.” —Buzzfeed “Thrilling and suspenseful, Listen to Me digs into the ways in which the person you trust the most can fast become a stranger—forcing you to question whether you knew them at all to begin with.” —Refinery29 "You won’t be able to put down this thrilling, quick read." —Real Simple “Mark and Maggie's relationship is as strained as can be, fraught after Maggie's world was shattered by a mugging at gunpoint. But when the couple goes on their annual trip, Maggie's newfound paranoia may be the thing that saves them from certain danger. Pittard writes with a unique gusto, and you'll be riveted the entire way through.” —Bustle "Winner of the Amanda Davis Award from McSweeney’s and author of the novels Reunion and The Fates Will Find Their Way, Pittard now brings us the story of a young married couple, Mark and Maggie, on a road trip gone wrong. Maggie’s recently been robbed at gun point, and by the time they stop for the night at an out-of-the-way inn (without power), the two aren’t even speaking to one another. Frederick Barthelme calls it 'a positively Hitchcockian misadventure.’" —The Millions "Listen to Me elides so many genres that it’s Houdini-like, bursting through constraints. It moves between its two characters’ inner lives as effortlessly as an Olympic swimmer strokes through water.”—Ann Beattie, The Paris Reviewblog “Listen To Me reminds us that even good marriages are hard work. And that the world can be a scary p —
