A novel of unnerving intimacy, sensory precision, dark wit, and fierce observation.
Made to be lived with. Intended to be read by candlelight.

Content Note

This novel contains themes of grief and loss, references to sensory sensitivity, intimate and erotic/sensual scenes between adults, and emotionally intense interpersonal dynamics. Intended for readers 18+.

Description

Remember Lo? Too bright. Too much. Too sensitive. Too hard to look at for long.

The woman who noticed everything. Sound. Scent. Energy. Timing. The almost imperceptible shift in someone’s voice. The feeling in a room before anyone said what had changed.

She used to know how to make the world quiet.

Now it’s the only thing she can hear.

In Too Quiet, Anne Laurette returns to Lo in a house that has become much too good at keeping the rest of the world out.

The groceries arrive at the door. The candle studio sits untouched. First Friday dinners happen without her. Someone shovels the driveway before she can object. Her judgmental cat remains committed to both surveillance and disapproval. Even writing, the place Lo has always gone to make sense of herself, has stopped answering.

Over the next charged season, solstice to solstice, the boundaries of Lo’s life begin to move again.

There is grief that has taken up residence in her body. Desire that returns without particularly good timing. Food she didn’t ask for. Messages she may or may not answer. A greenhouse table where no one has considered giving away her chair.

And beneath all of it, the relentless company of her own mind.

For someone who once needed quiet to hear herself, Lo is beginning to discover that there are worse things than noise.

Through all of it, she remains unmistakably Lo: funny, particular, sensual, observant, occasionally impossible, deeply feeling. Still noticing everything. Still capable of finding meaning in things other people would walk straight past.

Laurette returns with the unnerving intimacy, sensory precision, and dark wit of Too Bright, turning her attention toward grief, embodiment, solitude, and the peculiar ways human beings keep reaching for one another.

Too Quiet is intimate, strange, tender, and emotionally immersive—a novel about what remains when the noise disappears, and what might be heard when the world begins finding its way back in.

The second novel in the Still as a Woman quartet.

The Reading Experience

Rooted in women's friendships, queer community, chosen family, and quiet domestic intimacy, Too Quiet is a character-driven literary fiction built through observation, sensory detail, and nervous system accumulation.

Anne Laurette writes with extraordinary attention to the tiny gestures that carry the greatest emotion weight. The shift in a voice, the feeling in a room, the things people notice and choose not to say.

Now includes a reading group guide for book clubs and deeper discussion. 

Inside the Novel

Character-driven literary fiction.
Sensory, emotionally immersive prose.
Women's friendship and chosen family.
Quiet sensuality and dark wit.
Sentences that linger like perfume.

Pairing Recommendation

For an immersive reading experience, Too Quiet pairs beautifully with Neurotica and Matriarch — the Cloverland candles created for the world of this book.

Candles can be purchased separately at www.cloverlandhome.com.

If purchasing an eBook edition, your eBook includes an EPUB file, a universal eBook format that works across most devices. All purchases will be delivered as a digital EPUB format via email. (Please check your spam or promotions folder before contacting us, as delivery emails may be filtered there.)

Compatible with:

- Apple Books and most reading apps.
- Kindle users can upload the file to their device using Amazon's tools.

Series: Still as a Woman (Book Two)
Length: Approx. 88,000 words
Format: EPUB
Publication date: Expected December 30, 2026

Legal Note

Cherry Coke® is a registered trademark of The Coca-Cola Company. Mentioned here for descriptive purposes only. No affiliation or endorsement implied.