We spread : a novel

FINALIST FOR THE GOVERNOR GENERAL'S LITERARY AWARDS 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. Penny, an artist, has lived in the same apartment for decades, surrounded by the artefacts 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, unbeknown 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 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 ageing or is she an unknowing participant in something more unsettling? "From Iain Reid, the bestselling author of I'm Thinking of Ending Things and Foe, comes another mind-bending, genre-fusing novel about age, memory, and the creeping encroachment of nature."-- Provided by publisher