Unless is the final novel by Canadian writer Carol Shields, first published by Fourth Estate, an imprint of HarperCollins in 2002.

The book proceeds as a linear series of reflections by Reta, elliptically coming to the thematic center of the story: the seemingly arbitrary decision of Reta's college-aged daughter Norah to drop out of university and live on the street with a cardboard sign affixed to her chest that reads "Goodness".

Although the novel does not in any way proceed like a mystery, the reasons for Norah's departure from the normal world are Reta's primary motivation in writing.

Late in the novel, Reta starts to break from herself and write in character as a disenfranchised female writer.

The novel was adapted into the 2016 film Unless, which stars Catherine Keener as Reta and Hannah Gross as Norah.