Shocking family secrets have the power to destroy—or unite—an estranged mother and daughter in an emotional and gripping novel by the author of A Gracious Neighbor.
Mayree and Paula are a mother and daughter drifting apart, separated by grief and more, after the death of Mayree’s husband.
Mayree faces a future with no income, career, or social life. Even ties with her best friend have been severed. Paula, feeling abandoned by the father she loved, is left with only a bitter mother. When Paula reveals that she narrowly escaped a violent assault, Mayree’s initial reaction is dismissal and disbelief. But as details unfold, it’s clear that it was real and not just one random night gone horribly wrong—someone is out to destroy their lives.
With each new threat from Paula’s assailant, harrowing family secrets reemerge that force the mother and daughter to confront the shared traumas of their pasts. Drawing on courage and hope, they must save the relationship they never realized they’d lost.
Reflective, suspenseful, and moving, The Young of Other Animals explores the psychic intergenerational damages that can alter relationships with loved ones forever.
Genre: Mystery
Mayree and Paula are a mother and daughter drifting apart, separated by grief and more, after the death of Mayree’s husband.
Mayree faces a future with no income, career, or social life. Even ties with her best friend have been severed. Paula, feeling abandoned by the father she loved, is left with only a bitter mother. When Paula reveals that she narrowly escaped a violent assault, Mayree’s initial reaction is dismissal and disbelief. But as details unfold, it’s clear that it was real and not just one random night gone horribly wrong—someone is out to destroy their lives.
With each new threat from Paula’s assailant, harrowing family secrets reemerge that force the mother and daughter to confront the shared traumas of their pasts. Drawing on courage and hope, they must save the relationship they never realized they’d lost.
Reflective, suspenseful, and moving, The Young of Other Animals explores the psychic intergenerational damages that can alter relationships with loved ones forever.
Genre: Mystery
Praise for this book
"The Young of Other Animals is a gut punch of a novel - a deeply suspenseful, profoundly moving exploration of the aftermath of trauma, set in an atmospheric Austin of years past and featuring an unforgettable mother-daughter duo. I couldn't turn pages fast enough, though I wanted to savor every line. Chris Cander is a true talent." - Katie Gutierrez
"Several dark and twisty rivers run through Chris Cander's latest engrossing novel - a compelling crime mystery, a deft exploration of flawed mother-daughter relationships, and an intimate view of violent childhood trauma. The Young of Other Animals delivers as a suspense novel and as an homage to the resilience of female relationships." - Julia Heaberlin
"Love and loss, in Cander's powerfully addictive new novel, unearth dark secrets and a shared trauma that threaten to earthquake an already shaky bond between a mother and daughter. Cander's usual eloquence with characters is in full force here, as is her understanding that feelings are not facts, love is persistent, and what we think might kill us can be the very thing to save us." - Caroline Leavitt
"Chris Cander made my heart pound in this gripping tale of womanhood, trust, friendship, consent, fear, and, at its core, a woman's enduring strength." - Zibby Owens
"The Young of Other Animals is chilling, moving, and urgent, one of those books that demands your full attention until you've finished the very last page. Chris Cander's propulsive, beautifully layered prose tackles cycles of violence and the complicated shame of survival, but this is also a story full of hope - a novel about resiliency, growing up, mothers and daughters, and above all, the way women love and care for one another." - Kimberly King Parsons
"The Young of Other Animals is an addictively moving and suspenseful novel with family secrets fueling the narrative. Cander presents a complex study of the ways in which women respond to trauma, and how those scars can be passed down from mother to daughter. Cander excels in writing richly drawn women characters and complicated family relationships. Paula and Mayree are characters that will stay with me for a long time." - Lara Prescott
"Chris Cander's blazing and beautifully written novel The Young of Other Animals opens with an astonishing attack on a young woman. What follows is a meditation on the trauma of violence - the push and pull of vulnerability and resilience - a mind-bending whodunit, and a thrilling conclusion. Superbly crafted, the story grabbed me from the start, carried me deep into the hearts of its characters, and by the last page, I didn't want to let go. I'll be unpacking this one for a long while." - C J Washington
"The Young of Other Animals is unlike any book I've read before - an intense, distinctive novel about mothers and daughters, generational trauma, and redemption. Part family drama, part mystery, and part dark comedy, this book is gutting in the way only the best literature, written by an author with immense skill, wisdom, and compassion, can be. What a knockout." - Ashley Winstead
"Several dark and twisty rivers run through Chris Cander's latest engrossing novel - a compelling crime mystery, a deft exploration of flawed mother-daughter relationships, and an intimate view of violent childhood trauma. The Young of Other Animals delivers as a suspense novel and as an homage to the resilience of female relationships." - Julia Heaberlin
"Love and loss, in Cander's powerfully addictive new novel, unearth dark secrets and a shared trauma that threaten to earthquake an already shaky bond between a mother and daughter. Cander's usual eloquence with characters is in full force here, as is her understanding that feelings are not facts, love is persistent, and what we think might kill us can be the very thing to save us." - Caroline Leavitt
"Chris Cander made my heart pound in this gripping tale of womanhood, trust, friendship, consent, fear, and, at its core, a woman's enduring strength." - Zibby Owens
"The Young of Other Animals is chilling, moving, and urgent, one of those books that demands your full attention until you've finished the very last page. Chris Cander's propulsive, beautifully layered prose tackles cycles of violence and the complicated shame of survival, but this is also a story full of hope - a novel about resiliency, growing up, mothers and daughters, and above all, the way women love and care for one another." - Kimberly King Parsons
"The Young of Other Animals is an addictively moving and suspenseful novel with family secrets fueling the narrative. Cander presents a complex study of the ways in which women respond to trauma, and how those scars can be passed down from mother to daughter. Cander excels in writing richly drawn women characters and complicated family relationships. Paula and Mayree are characters that will stay with me for a long time." - Lara Prescott
"Chris Cander's blazing and beautifully written novel The Young of Other Animals opens with an astonishing attack on a young woman. What follows is a meditation on the trauma of violence - the push and pull of vulnerability and resilience - a mind-bending whodunit, and a thrilling conclusion. Superbly crafted, the story grabbed me from the start, carried me deep into the hearts of its characters, and by the last page, I didn't want to let go. I'll be unpacking this one for a long while." - C J Washington
"The Young of Other Animals is unlike any book I've read before - an intense, distinctive novel about mothers and daughters, generational trauma, and redemption. Part family drama, part mystery, and part dark comedy, this book is gutting in the way only the best literature, written by an author with immense skill, wisdom, and compassion, can be. What a knockout." - Ashley Winstead
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