A stunning, propulsive novel following one woman as she treads the fine lines between faith, conspiracy and mania. While lying in bed next to her husband one night, Claire Devon hears a low hum that he cannot detect. And, it seems, no one else can either. This innocuous noise begins causing Claire headaches, nosebleeds, insomnia, gradually upsetting the balance of her life, though no obvious source or medical cause can be found.
When Claire discovers that a student of hers can also hear the hum, she and the boy strike up an unlikely and intimate friendship. Finding themselves increasingly isolated from their families and colleagues, they fall in with a disparate group of neighbours who can also pick up the sound. What starts as a neighbourhood self-help group gradually transforms into something far more extreme and with far-reaching, devastating consequences for all of them.
The Listeners is a gripping, exhilarating novel exploring the seductive pull of the unknown, the rise of online conspiracy culture and the desire for community and connection in our increasingly polarised times.
Tannahill serves up enormous ideas in delicious slices. Who do we trust? Is skepticism better than belief? Jordan Tannahill is a Canadian living in London and is already an internationally acclaimed playwright.
Two of his plays have won a Governor General's Literary Award, Canada's highest state honour for literature. Jordan Tannahill b. His plays explore themes of gender politics, youth culture, and marginalized identity through the playful combination of documentary elements and magic realism. The Globe and Mail recently called Tannahill " In collaboration with William Ellis, Jordan runs the alternative art-space Videofag, out of a defunct barbershop in Toronto's Kensington Market.
