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We Spread is a 2022 literary novel[2] by Canadian writer Iain Reid. It was published in the United States on September 27, 2022, by Scout Press, and in the United Kingdom on September 29, 2022, by Scribner UK, both imprints of Simon & Schuster. The book has been described as a psychological thriller and horror fiction,[1] and is about an elderly woman living in an assisted living facility where all is not as it appears.

Key Information

Plot summary

[edit]

Penny is an elderly woman living on her own in an apartment. She once shared it with her partner, a professional painter, but when he died, she elected to remain to hold onto her memories of him. Penny was a painter herself and dabbled in surrealism, but never showed her work. She is determined to manage on her own and rejects all offers of help. One day she falls and hurts herself, and her landlord takes her to an assisted living facility called Six Cedars. When she questions his decision to take her there, he tells her that she and her partner had decided that Six Cedars would be where they would go when they needed help. Penny has no memory of that arrangement.

Six Cedars is an 1843 mansion set in a forest, but it has only three other elderly patients and two helpers. Initially Penny resists being uprooted, but soon is surprised at how quickly she starts to enjoy her new home. She eats well, sleeps better than she has in years, and enjoys the company of the other residents. But after a while it all seems too good to be true and Penny begins to observe strange things. The passage of time becomes distorted and her memories start to fragment. No one is allowed to go outside the house, and its corridors seem to change shape from time to time. Even her fellow companions appear to change, and Penny begins to suspect that the facility's director has sinister motives.

Background

[edit]

We Spread originally began as a screenplay.[3] Reid said that while working on the screenplay for the film adaptation of his previous novel, Foe, an idea for a new story came to mind. "It didn’t feel like a novel, it was very visual. I tried it as an exercise."[3] The resulting screenplay impressed one of the producers of Foe, but Reid started becoming "obsessed with exploring these characters in a literary realm", and he ended up turning the screenplay into a novel.[3]

Reid explained that We Spread is not about dementia, and "it's not even clear whether or not Penny has dementia. We are seeing ... things through Penny's lens as an artist ... that is the filter through which she sees the world."[1] Readers have to decide for themselves what is going on. Reid said, "I know what I think, but I won't tell anyone what it is. I want people to make their own interpretations."[1]

We Spread dwells on the elderly, and Reid's contact with his grandmother was influential in the development of the story.[3] She had been moved to a long-term-care facility, and Reid visited her often. He said he became very familiar with "that world", and "felt very grateful to the people who worked there. They were wonderful."[1] Six Cedars is very different from the place Reid visited, but he said he hopes We Spread will make people more aware of the elderly in society. Reid remarked, "We have such a cultural fear of life at that stage and of dying when maybe we shouldn't feel that way".[1]

The cover of We Spread was designed by Chelsea McGuckin. She said:

This book deserved something both beautiful and haunting for its cover, just like Iain’s writing ... Our editor emphasized the importance of feeling the words and roots spreading. I wanted someone to pick this up and think, ‘Is something nefarious going on, or am I just imagining it?’ It needed to toe the line between creepy and elegant, and as the design process went on it became clear that a relatively simple, type-driven cover was the best way to achieve that.[4]

Reid was very impressed with the cover and remarked:

Whatever hazy possibilities or speculations I had running through my mind were immediately (and willingly) dashed after seeing Chelsea’s striking design. There’s so much to like and admire about it. It’s both specific and still open to interpretation. I don’t think there is one correct way to interpret this cover, and I would say that fits the story.[4]

Reception

[edit]

In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called We Spread an "exquisite novel of psychological suspense".[5] While Penny's unreliable narration leaves many unanswered questions, the reviewer felt the novel still "feels complete". They concluded that its exploration of "fears about growing old and losing control is unforgettable."[5]

Writing in the Toronto Star, Steven W. Beattie said the fragmented, sparse text of We Spread mirrors Penny's surrealist and disjointed style of painting, while the book's large chunks of white space are analogous to her memory loss and confusion.[2] Beattie opined that "on a thematic level, the overlap between surrealism and the discontinuity of creeping dementia is nicely subtle and understated."[2] He added that despite the book's exploration of "heady" topics like aging and mortality, it "never feels lugubrious or preachy".[2]

In another starred review in Quill & Quire, Robert J. Wiersema wrote that We Spread is "powerful and puzzling", reminiscent of Robert Aickman's short story, "The Hospice", which has a similar "dreamlike narrative" and setting.[6] Wiersema said Penny's "fragility and uncertainty" makes the narrative unstable, which is emphasized by Reid's use of poetry-like line breaks. While it is never clear whether what Penny is experiencing is because of her declining faculties, or if there really is something strange about the house, Wiersema stated that We Spread is not a mystery to be solved, it is an experience in itself.[6] He added that this is "a powerful approach to storytelling, and a courageous one: to commit to ambiguity requires a leap of faith on the part of the reader, and a trust in the writer."[6]

Kirkus Reviews was a little more critical of We Spread.[7] It said the story is "creepy", but not very subtle. Besides Penny, the other characters "function more as props", and speak "ominous[ly]" to "hammer home the point that things aren’t quite right in the facility".[7] The review stated, "the novel has the tone of a horror movie directed by someone desperately afraid the audience is going to miss the point."[7] It concluded that Reid's previous novels were "taut, original thrillers", but "[We Spread] is not one of them."[7]

The novel was shortlisted for the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction at the 2023 Governor General's Awards.[8]

Film adaptation

[edit]

In February 2022, seven months before We Spread was published, Anonymous Content acquired the film rights for the novel. The film will be directed by Minhal Baig and produced by Kerry Kohansky Roberts. Baig and Reid will co-write the film's screenplay.[9][10]

References

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We Spread

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We Spread is a 2022 psychological horror novel by Canadian author Iain Reid. The story centers on Penny, an 88-year-old artist who has lived for decades in the Toronto apartment she once shared with her late husband, Karl, who died under mysterious circumstances. After a series of unsettling incidents, Penny relocates to the upscale long-term care facility known as Six Cedars, where she intends to continue her painting and enjoy a comfortable retirement. However, as days begin to blur and inconsistencies emerge in her surroundings, Penny grapples with paranoia, memory lapses, and the fear that something more malevolent may be at work. Reid's third novel, We Spread was published in hardcover on September 27, 2022, by Gallery/Scout Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, in the United States, and by Knopf Canada in Reid's home country. Drawing from personal experience, the book is dedicated to Reid's grandmother, who spent her final years in a nursing home before passing away at age 101. Through Penny's first-person perspective, Reid employs his signature spare and hypnotic prose to delve into profound themes including aging, autonomy, identity, conformity, and the value of art in later life. The narrative blends elements of suspense, philosophical inquiry, and subtle horror, echoing the unsettling atmospheres of Reid's earlier works such as the film-adapted I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2016) and Foe (2019). Upon release, We Spread received critical acclaim for its atmospheric tension and insightful exploration of elderly isolation, earning a nomination for the 2022 Goodreads Choice Award in the Horror category. It was also shortlisted for the 2023 Governor General's Literary Award for English-language fiction. Reviewers praised its ability to evoke dread through everyday details, with The Guardian describing it as "a fine piece of weird fiction" that meditates on trauma and the loss of self. The novel's reception underscores Reid's reputation as a master of psychological unease, solidifying his place in contemporary literary horror.

Background and influences

Personal inspirations

Iain Reid drew significant inspiration for We Spread from his grandmother's experiences in a long-term care facility, where she resided in her late nineties after living independently for two decades following her husband's death. At age 99, she moved into the home due to the onset of dementia, and Reid visited her regularly over the subsequent two years until her passing at 101, observing the profound adjustments required in such environments.[1][2] During these visits, Reid noted the daily routines in the facility, including the dedicated efforts of personal support workers and nurses who managed residents' needs amid often subtle institutional shifts, such as changes in room assignments or communal activities that could disorient individuals. He also witnessed interactions among residents, marked by a pervasive sense of isolation, which was exacerbated for families during the COVID-19 pandemic when visits were restricted. These observations of quiet, enforced communal living influenced his depiction of the emotional undercurrents in aging populations.[3][4] Reid's reflections on his grandmother's declining health centered on her remarkable resilience and lack of gloom despite losing independence, portraying her demeanor as fearless and impressive even as cognitive challenges mounted. He contemplated broader societal attitudes toward the elderly, critiquing the cultural obsession with youth and the tendency to view aging with disdain or fear, which he saw as diminishing the privilege of extended life. These personal insights shaped the protagonist's inner emotional world, emphasizing regrets over unfulfilled connections and the quiet erosion of autonomy without overt despair.[1][4] Anecdotes from Reid's family life, such as his grandmother's adaptation to the care home where once-familiar elements turned unfamiliar and potentially unsettling, underscored the subtle psychological toll of institutionalization. Their close bond, explored further in his 2013 memoir The Truth About Luck—which recounts a road trip and staycation with her—provided foundational reflections on familial loss and the value of cherishing elderly perspectives amid health decline. The novel is dedicated to her memory, reflecting these intimate influences.[1][2][3]

Conceptual development

The conceptual development of We Spread began during Iain Reid's work on the screenplay adaptation of his previous novel, Foe, in collaboration with director Garth Davis. As Reid, who was writing his first screenplay, grappled with the visual demands of the medium, an unexpected idea emerged for a new story centered on end-of-life isolation in a care facility, which he initially envisioned as a screenplay due to its cinematic potential.[1] This initial concept drew brief inspiration from Reid's family experiences, particularly his grandmother's time in long-term care, where he observed her adjustment to institutional life after years of independence.[1] From there, Reid explored foundational philosophical questions about reality, the perception of time, and the dynamics of institutional control, using the narrative framework to probe how these elements shape an individual's sense of self and mortality at life's end.[4] These inquiries formed the core of the story's intellectual structure, emphasizing ambiguity and introspection over straightforward resolution.[5] Reid ultimately decided to transform the screenplay elements into prose, recognizing that the novel form would better accommodate deeper internal monologues and layers of uncertainty that a script's visual constraints might limit.[1] He began without a formal outline, starting instead from a compelling image of the protagonist in her environment and a central question about extended life, allowing the non-linear elements—such as fragmented recollections and shifting timelines—to evolve organically through obsessive revision and expansion.[1] This approach enabled a more immersive examination of the protagonist's psyche, aligning with Reid's preference for discovery-driven writing over pre-planned plotting.[4]

Publication

Release details

We Spread was first published on September 27, 2022, in the United States by Scout Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.[6] The novel appeared in hardcover format with an ISBN of 978-1982169350, alongside digital ebook and audiobook editions released simultaneously.[7] The audiobook, produced by Simon & Schuster Audio, is narrated by Robin Miles and runs approximately 5 hours and 58 minutes.[8] In Canada, the book received its release on the same date through Scribner Canada, another Simon & Schuster imprint, under ISBN 978-1982165055 for the hardcover edition.[9] This edition maintained consistency with the U.S. version in terms of content and formatting, ensuring broad accessibility across North America.[10] Internationally, the United Kingdom edition followed shortly after, published on September 29, 2022, by Scribner UK with ISBN 978-1398504134.[11] Subsequent paperback editions emerged in 2023, including a U.S. trade paperback from Gallery/Scout Press on May 30, 2023 (ISBN 978-1982169367), expanding availability to a wider readership.[12]

Marketing and cover

The cover art for We Spread was designed by Chelsea McGuckin, featuring a minimalist, type-driven composition where the title's letters appear to grow roots, balancing elegant and creepy elements to evoke a sense of spreading unease and ambiguity. McGuckin aimed to create something beautiful yet haunting, mirroring the novel's philosophical suspense and prompting readers to question the boundaries between reality and perception.[13] Pre-release marketing included an exclusive cover reveal on Literary Hub in February 2022, advance reader copies distributed to reviewers in horror and literary thriller genres, and social media campaigns by Simon & Schuster highlighting Iain Reid's established reputation from bestsellers like I'm Thinking of Ending Things. These efforts positioned the book as a continuation of Reid's unsettling narrative style, with publisher posts emphasizing its genre-defying suspense.[13][14][15] Promotions tied to Reid's prior works featured online announcements and excerpts that referenced his film-adapted novels, encouraging fans to explore his oeuvre through bundled reading recommendations on retailer sites like Amazon and Barnes & Noble.[16][7]

Content and analysis

Plot summary

We Spread follows Penny, an 88-year-old artist grieving the death of her longtime partner, with whom she shared an apartment for over five decades.[17] After suffering a fall while changing a lightbulb in her increasingly dilapidated home, Penny is discovered by her landlord and relocated to Six Cedars Residence, a small assisted living facility housed in an 1843 mansion nestled in the woods.[10] Although she is told that she and her late partner had previously arranged for her stay there, Penny has no recollection of this decision.[18] Upon arrival at Six Cedars, Penny initially adjusts well to the structured environment, enjoying communal meals, improved sleep, and the opportunity to resume painting in a sunlit studio space.[10] She forms tentative connections with other residents and observes the attentive care provided by the staff, led by director Shelley, a former scientist who emphasizes extending quality time for the elderly.[2] However, as days blend together, Penny begins to notice unsettling anomalies: time seems to distort, with hours passing unnoticed; physical spaces within the facility shift inexplicably, such as elongating hallways; and interactions with staff and residents carry an undercurrent of vagueness that heightens her isolation.[19] These observations are compounded by fleeting glimpses of familiar items from her past life appearing in unexpected places, prompting her to question the boundaries between memory and the present.[10] As her time at Six Cedars progresses, Penny's suspicions deepen regarding hidden motives behind the facility's operations, particularly Shelley's scientific expertise and the emphasis on "more time" for residents.[2] Interwoven with these concerns are her introspective reflections on past regrets, including unfulfilled artistic ambitions overshadowed by her partner's career and the emotional weight of her solitude.[19] This internal turmoil builds toward an ambiguous confrontation with the nature of her reality, leaving the narrative's progression open to interpretation as Penny grapples with trust, autonomy, and the inexorable passage of time.[18]

Themes

"We Spread" delves into the profound anxieties surrounding aging and societal invisibility, portraying the elderly as increasingly marginalized figures whose voices and agency are systematically diminished. Through the protagonist Penny, an aging artist, the novel examines her deep-seated regrets over fractured relationships, including the emotional voids left by her late husband and unfulfilled connections with others, which underscore a life marked by isolation rather than fulfillment.[2] Her fading autonomy is depicted as a gradual erosion, where personal choices yield to institutional oversight, highlighting how society renders the elderly "not ruined, helpless, a burden" but still effectively invisible in daily life.[2] This theme is amplified by Penny's reflections on her artistic legacy, questioning the value of her creative output in a world that prioritizes youth and productivity over accumulated wisdom.[1] Central motifs of memory, loss, and love weave through the narrative, creating a tension between cherished personal history and the erasure imposed by institutional environments. Memory serves as a haunting force, with past events—such as intimate moments of love and companionship—intruding upon the present, blurring the lines between recollection and delusion, and emphasizing how loss amplifies the ache of what has been forgotten or suppressed.[19] Penny's enduring love for her husband, despite their relational complexities, contrasts sharply with the impersonal dynamics of the care facility, where individual histories risk dissolution amid collective routines.[1] These elements illustrate a broader philosophical undercurrent: the struggle to preserve one's narrative identity against forces that homogenize and diminish it, evoking a poignant sense of existential loss.[20] The novel offers a incisive critique of end-of-life care systems, exposing ethical dilemmas around control, paranoia, and the ambiguous boundary between compassionate care and subtle confinement. In the setting of the Six Cedars facility, the narrative probes how such institutions can foster paranoia through opaque protocols and authority figures like the director Shelley, whose "quest for knowledge" masks potential exploitation and overreach.[2] This blurring of benevolence and restriction raises questions about resident autonomy, as routines designed for safety inadvertently strip away personal freedoms, reflecting real-world concerns over neglect and abuse in elder care.[19] Ultimately, these themes underscore the novel's exploration of dignity in decline, urging a reevaluation of how society manages the vulnerabilities of its aging population.[1]

Style and structure

We Spread employs a first-person narrative perspective through its protagonist, Penny, an elderly artist, which fosters an intimate yet unreliable viewpoint that immerses readers in her subjective experience of confusion and doubt. This approach heightens the sense of personal vulnerability, as Penny's observations blur the line between reality and perception, drawing readers into her disorienting mindset.[2][21] The novel's structure features short, fragmented chapters that often consist of brief paragraphs separated by ample white space, some reduced to a single sentence on otherwise blank pages, effectively mimicking the protagonist's memory lapses and fragmented recollections. This stylistic choice creates a disjointed rhythm, reflecting Penny's artistic background in surrealism and her potential cognitive decline, while compelling readers to piece together the narrative alongside her. The non-linear incorporation of flashbacks to Penny's earlier life further enhances this fragmentation, interweaving past and present to amplify philosophical ambiguity and invite open-ended interpretations of events.[21] Atmospheric suspense is constructed through subtle horror elements, relying on ambiguous descriptions of time, space, and interpersonal dynamics rather than explicit scares, to evoke a pervasive unease in the confined setting of the Six Cedars care facility. Contrasts between the lush, enveloping forest outside and the sterile interior underscore isolation and subtle menace, while patronizing interactions from staff contribute to a creeping paranoia that builds tension gradually. This technique aligns with the novel's exploration of perception, prioritizing psychological disquiet over visceral frights.[2][21]

Reception

Critical reception

Publishers Weekly praised We Spread as an "exquisite novel of psychological suspense," highlighting its suspenseful ambiguity in teasing unresolved secrets that enhance the mystery and its emotional depth in exploring fears of aging and loss of control.[22] Quill & Quire similarly lauded the novel as a "powerful and puzzling" work that masterfully blends literary thriller and horror elements, drawing comparisons to Robert Aickman's strange stories for its liminal, dreamlike tone and refusal to provide narrative stability.[10] Kirkus Reviews offered a more mixed assessment, noting that the book lacks the subtlety of Reid's earlier works like I'm Thinking of Ending Things, as it "doesn't so much drop hints as scream them," and critiquing the uneven pacing that deprives the story of the tautness found in his previous thrillers.[20] Critics reached an overall consensus on Reid's skill in building psychological tension, with The Toronto Star emphasizing the eerie portrayal of the Six Cedars facility through accumulating details such as overly attentive staff who shower with residents and serve sludgelike tea, which heighten the sense of inexplicable and sinister phenomena.[21]

Awards

We Spread was shortlisted for the 2023 Governor General's Literary Award for English-language fiction, with the finalists announced on October 25, 2023, by the Canada Council for the Arts.[23] The other shortlisted works included A History of Burning by Janika Oza, Chrysalis by Anuja Varghese, In the Upper Country by Kai Thomas, and The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr.[24] Anuja Varghese's Chrysalis was announced as the winner on November 8, 2023.[25] The novel also appeared on the longlist for the 2023 Canada Reads competition, revealed on January 12, 2023, by CBC Books, placing it among 15 notable Canadian titles selected for their potential to inspire national conversations.[26] No nominations in major horror or thriller genre awards, such as the Bram Stoker or Shirley Jackson Awards, were recorded for We Spread between 2023 and 2025. The Governor General's Literary Awards, established in 1936 and administered by the Canada Council for the Arts, represent one of Canada's oldest and most prestigious honors for literary achievement, awarding $25,000 to winners and $1,000 to each finalist while highlighting excellence in Canadian writing.[27] The shortlisting elevated We Spread's profile, amplifying its reach among readers and within literary communities, as evidenced by increased media coverage and discussions in Canadian outlets following the announcement.[28]

Adaptations

Screenplay origins

The origins of We Spread trace back to an initial screenplay draft developed by Iain Reid during his work on the film adaptation of his novel Foe between 2018 and 2021. While co-writing the Foe screenplay with director Garth Davis, Reid conceived the concept for We Spread as a cinematic exercise, driven by a visual idea centered on horror elements of isolation in a long-term care facility. This screenplay emphasized stark, atmospheric visuals of confinement and disconnection, capturing the unsettling disorientation of an elderly protagonist amid temporal and spatial isolation.[1] The screenplay format imposed inherent constraints that shaped its early structure, limiting it to approximately 100 pages focused on dialogue and practical production considerations like cost and visual efficiency. In contrast, expanding it into a novel allowed Reid to shift from these dialogue-heavy scenes to more introspective prose, enabling deeper exploration of the characters' inner worlds—such as extended passages of reflection that could span 50 pages without the need for overt action or spoken exchanges. This transition highlighted fundamental differences between the media, where scripts prioritize external visuals and brevity, while novels afford room for subtle psychological layering.[1] Reid's decision to adapt the screenplay into a full novel stemmed from his growing obsession with delving into the internal psychological depth of the characters, which the script form could not fully accommodate. He explained that after initially selling the screenplay to a producer, he chose to restart the project in prose to remove screenwriting limitations and pursue a literary exploration of themes like aging and existential unease. This expansion transformed the work from a concise visual horror outline into a philosophical suspense narrative.[1]

Film adaptation

In February 2022, prior to the September publication of Iain Reid's novel We Spread, production company Anonymous Content acquired the film rights for adaptation into a feature film.[29][30] The project is being directed by Minhal Baig, whose directorial debut Hala premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, with Baig co-writing the screenplay alongside Reid.[29][30] Reid's direct involvement in the screenplay marks a continuation of his collaboration on adaptations of his works, building on the foundational script elements that influenced the novel's development.[31] As of June 2025, the adaptation remains in development under Anonymous Content, with no casting or production start date announced.[31]

References

  1. Books - We Spread: Reid, Iain: 9781982169350 - Amazon.com
  2. We Spread by Iain Reid review – a fine piece of weird fiction
  3. We Spread | Book by Iain Reid - Simon & Schuster
  4. Book Review: We Spread by Iain Reid | Steve Stred
  5. We Spread by Iain Reid, Paperback | Barnes & Noble®
  6. We Spread by Iain Reid | Goodreads
  7. “We Spread” by Iain Reid – highly recommended | Mike Finn's Fiction
  8. How Iain Reid became Hollywood's favourite Canadian novelist
  9. Across generations with Bonnie Stern, Anna Rupert and Iain Reid
  10. Iain Reid talks about aging in his novel 'We Spread' - York University
  11. Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022: Iain Reid, Jully Black and more | CBC Radio
  12. New Book Releases, Bestsellers, Author Info and more at Simon & Schuster
  13. https://www.audible.com/pd/We-Spread-Audiobook/B09TX2K7KL
  14. https://www.simonandschuster.ca/books/We-Spread/Iain-Reid/9781982165055
  15. We Spread - Quill and Quire
  16. We Spread
  17. Exclusive cover reveal: Iain Reid's We Spread. - Literary Hub
  18. We Spread by Iain Reid : r/horrorlit - Reddit
  19. We're so excited to share the cover of WE SPREAD, the ... - Instagram
  20. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/We-Spread/Iain-Reid/9781982169350
  21. Gretchen answers “Can someone please explain the ending ...
  22. We Spread Summary - eNotes.com
  23. We Spread: by Iain Reid - Spectrum Culture
  24. WE SPREAD - Kirkus Reviews
  25. Iain Reid's new book 'We Spread': a thriller on aging - Toronto Star
  26. We Spread by Iain Reid
  27. The 2023 GGBooks finalists are revealed by the Canada Council for the Arts
  28. The finalists for the 2023 Governor General's Literary Award for fiction
  29. The 2023 GGBooks winners are revealed by the Canada Council for ...
  30. Governor General's Literary Awards | Canada Council for the Arts
  31. Suzette Mayr, Iain Reid among finalists for $25K Governor General's ...
  32. 'We Spread': Iain Reid Novel Set for Movie Adaptation
  33. The Hollywood Reporter Exclusively Announces the film adaptation ...
  34. DEAL NEWS – Unreal by Iain Reid and Ellie Foumbi!
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