I think this book will be huge. People will read it and want to discuss it immediately - that is basically all I have done for the last 24 hours since finishing it!
Serious "We need to talk about Kevin" vibes - and although it is nearly 15 years ago that I read that the impact has stayed with me - and I think The Push will be the same. In many ways it is more accessible, commercial and readable than Kevin.
Blythe is married to Fox and they welcome their first child - a girl named Violet. But Blythe struggles to get to grips with motherhood, and the bond between mother and child is a challenge from day 1. This appears to be a family trait - as we are taken through the backstory of Blythes own mother who left the home when B was a teenager, and also to her grandmother who also had issues.
But is Blythe the issue... or is her daughter the problem.
Taut, tense, compelling, and painfully accurate on the difficulties of early motherhood and parenting. I could not put this book down, yet at times it was so tense I longed to.
It is quite possibly the best "middle" section of a book I have read in months. Such suspense, and tension and some real gasp out loud moments.
I will be recommending this far and wide - but maybe not to new mothers!! ;)

As both a mother and a daughter (and as a reader!) I found this story terribly disturbing, in a very compelling way.

The Push charts the cyclical nature of child abuse and neglect through generations of mothers and daughters within the same family. Etta struggles to mother Cecilia, who struggles to mother Blythe, so when Blythe meets Fox and he blithely assumes they will be starting a family together, the reader empathises with Blythe’s fear that the women in her family are never meant to be mothers.

The author explores the complicated relationship between mothers and daughters, mothers and sons, and the serious issues of post partum depression/psychosis and child abuse/neglect, with a raw, horrified honesty through Blythe’s frank admissions of her own flaws and inner struggles. However, nothing is ever that simple when it comes to parenting, and Ashley Audrain doesn’t shy away from the idea that mental health issues can affect children as easily as adults, especially if they run in the family. Is it nature, or nature that triumphs when something somewhere has gone wrong?

Tension runs high throughout the novel as Blythe struggles to trust her own feelings and perceptions, and the reader wonders whose version of events to trust, and whether there can ever be any sort of positive outcome for any of these damaged characters. I felt physically sick and riddled with anxiety whilst reading, and absolutely could not put the book down until I found out where it was all going to end… or even, whether it was. My reaction to some scenes was so visceral that I had to pause to check on my own children before continuing!

A mother’s worst nightmares are laid bare within this terrifying, intimate story, and it really made me think about the responsibility we take on when we bring new life into the world, whilst aware of our own inherently flawed natures. Philip Larkin would have had a field day with this family!

I would recommend this one for fans of taut domestic, psychological thriller stories, who can stomach reading about the kind of evils that can and shouldn’t happen to a child.

“One day you’ll understand, Blythe. The women in this family… we’re different.”
I can still see my mother’s tangerine lipstick on the cigarette filter. The ash falling into the cup, swimming in the last sip of my orange juice. The smell of my burnt toast.
You only asked about my mother, Cecilia, on a few occasions. I only told you the facts: 1) she left when I was eleven years old, 2) I only ever saw her twice after that, and 3) I have no idea where she is now.
You knew I was holding back more, but you never pressed—you were scared of what you might hear. I understood. We’re all entitled to have certain expectations of each other and of ourselves. Motherhood is no different. We all expect to have, and to marry, and to be, good mothers.

– Ashley Audrain, The Push


Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog

The Push is definitely a book you should pay attention to in 2021, it is intensely, beautifully written and as well as being a dark and intriguing psychological drama, it also takes on the less spoken about side of motherhood.

I don’t actually want to give too much away because The Push is an affecting and emotionally complex tale that is best served by a lack of preconceived notions..the characters are vividly portrayed and the events playing out on the page are thought provoking, unpredictable and intelligently engaging.

Disturbing, addictive, occasionally downright chilling with an ending that will haunt you, The Push is a superbly done story of nature v nurture and I absolutely highly recommend it.

This is a really good read. The characters and the whole storyline are brilliant and believable. This story is a very cleverly written memorable read.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Does being a Mother come naturally, do our own childhood experiences mould us into the Mothers we become.?
Can we stop history repeating itself?
Could an innocent baby be destined to be evil?
These are a few of the questions this book raises
The menace that lurks in the pages is so carefully portrayed you can see the view from many angles and indeed how an outsider could easily form the wrong impression
Should l tell more - no l think you need to explore the many strands of motherhood yourself
I didn’t want this to end l wanted to know what happens next and when or if the cycle will stop

The Push is an incredible, engrossing story that will quickly get you hooked as the horror slowly unfolds raising the tension in this family tragedy.
Blythe is the daughter of Cecilia, an uncaring and cruel mother, who was the daughter of Etta, who was also an uncaring mother. Can Blythe change this cycle or does the bias of the mother go on through the daughter. When Blythe becomes pregnant she is terrified that she will be a terrible uncaring mother. When her daughter, Violet, is born, Blythe struggles to form a close bond with her daughter. The novel is narrated by Blythe and you see her relationships from her viewpoint. As Violet grows older Blythe sees her daughter as distant and uncaring but is that the case or is it Blythe who is the problem? Her husband Fox thinks that she is too hard on her daughter.
Ashley Audrain has written a novel that stays with you, long after you’ve finished it. An excellent novel that, I’m sure, will prove popular with many readers.

The Push was quite a dark read. The feelings of motherhood felt quite real, the struggle of feeling like everyone else is doing it better. A story of whether a child can be born ‘wrong’ and a back story of child abuse is always going to be a difficult read but it was well written and I was quite invested in the story. It did remind me of the book, We Need to Talk About Kevin.

There is no doubt that Ashley Audrain can write a page turner. This book was compelling and I couldn’t put it down. For me, it fell uneasily between genres, starting as an examination of the difficulties of motherhood, (especially if that mother had had a difficult mother herself), and then morphed into an almost gothic thriller. There were interesting things about whether bad people are born or made, but I didn’t feel that was examined thoroughly enough. The story is relayed by a possibly unreliable narrator who has a nightmarish relationship with her little daughter which In turn impacts on her relationship with her husband who dotes in the child. The final (horrible) outcome felt too neat for me, and I would have preferred more ambiguity.

spoiler alert ** 3.75 stars

Spoilers ahead.

I got so sucked into the first half of this book.
The scene setting,of a couple so in love,so happy.
Then the tension of a new mother,and the fraught relationship between Blythe and her daughter Violet.
Throw into that a few generations of depressed,abusive and neglectful women.
But then the actual incident occurred... and Blythe was so overwhelmed with grief ,that ,for me,it made it into an entirely different book.
Well right up to the last page,which at the time felt fairly explosive.

I stayed up late two nights in a row to finish this,and found myself during the day trying to recall if there were any clues,as to IF Violet had nudged that buggy or not.

One to talk about for sure.

Oh wow. Totally engrossing, compulsive reading that I couldn’t put down. Some of the descriptions of motherhood and giving birth are very raw, this is no fairytale family, but we are led by the hand through dysfunctional families through the generations. Perceptive, gripping and fast moving, this will make you breathless.

Part psychological thriller, part bold and complex look at society’s expectations of motherhood, this is tightly written and well-paced. A real page-turner and deeply unsettling.

Thank you so much to the publisher Michealjoseph this absolute cracker comes out in January and I can’t wait to get my book loving hands on a physical copy because this was absolutely brilliant!.

I honestly could not put this down, the writing completely gripped me from the very start and held me tightly all the way through until that absolutely perfect and heart pounding ending. This had everything I want from a book, moments that made me emotional, moments that had me on edge, little twist and turns sprinkled throughout and such readable and layered characters.

This is 100% a favourite of the year, I feel like I loved it so much it’s hard to describe it and do it justice. For a debut book this is such an amazing read and something that is so well crafted and the way it unravels, flashes back in tenses focusing on Blythes Mother and Grandmother was just so clever and really added great layers to the story.

I felt hugely for Blythe , and seeing how things played out it was always emotive and shocking. This was just one of those books that commands your full attention and doesn’t let it go until the very end, but even then you’re sat there still thinking on it.

I can’t recommend this enough!

Bleak and terrifying, when I started this I wasn’t sure I would enjoy it not being a mother myself, but the descriptions and explanations of emotions are so pinpoint detailed that I found myself completely absorbed into the narrator’s experience. It reminded me of the chilly world of We Need To Talk About Kevin. Not an easy read but I think a worthwhile one.

What. A. Book.

Compelling and brilliantly pacey, this kept me reading through night and day. There will be links made to ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’ but this is a different kettle of fish altogether.

Fantastically written, great characters and deliciously creepy in places - can not recommend more highly.

This is a gritty and extreme novel exploring many different and clashing aspects of self and motherhood.

Blythe is our unreliable narrator, whose version of the story is never quite convincing. As she reveals the poor examples of motherhood in her family and contrasts them to her husband's expectations, a strange story emerges of her own direct experiences of being a mother.

What's interesting is which version of the truth everyone is living by, and how the different characters clash with their beliefs. There are some very disturbing and taboo subjects around motherhood explored in the novel with real depth and understanding.

The book is pacy and readable, and gives plenty of opportunities for reflection, and its abrupt end is truly chilling.

This story is intense, dark, emotional, incredibly moving and sad. It is also one hell of a page turner.

I don’t think I ever read a book inside a week no matter how good it is and whilst I was given kind of a deadline, I certainly didn’t have any complaints attempting to reach that deadline. Both the writing and the story are very compelling.

It tells of the relationship between mother and daughter over 3 generations. It is mainly set in the present and told from the point of view of Blythe with flashbacks to her childhood experiences with her mum and in turn her mum’s childhood experiences with Blythe’s grandmother. None of them happy and all with an overriding sense of cruelty and emotional neglect.

In the present Blythe is struggling with motherhood. Her daughter Violet has not been an easy child since she was born, coupled with the fact that Blythe, like any first time new mum is finding it difficult to come to terms with the upheaval that a new baby brings about and wonders if she’s doing it right. Her husband seems to have the magic touch with their new daughter, always seems to be able to calm and settle her much better than Blythe ever can.

As time goes on and as Violet grows older the relationship between Violet and her mother become ever more fraught. Violet can be very cool towards her mother and pushes her away, favouring spending time with her father instead. Blythe begins to worry that something isn’t right with Violet but her husband dismisses it as her imagination and suggests that perhaps Blythe is the one with the problem.

I won’t say any more about the story. It would spoil it for potential readers. It’s a book that questions does being a mother come naturally to every woman? How much of an effect does a less than adequate upbringing have in future years as that child grows into an adult. I did wonder if perhaps Blythe was suffering Post-natal depression, but this was only touched upon in the book and dismissed as tiredness.

It’s a story of nature vs nurture, how much a parent is willing to turn a blind eye to their child’s behaviour because they’re too frightened to admit there may be a problem. A well written story that is very hard to put down, and the ending? Well…….you’ll have to read it!

I have just finished this compelling story. It is the second story in a row with which I have had an overwhelming feeling of dread all the way through. All the signs were there from the beginning with the inevitable conclusion.. Very well written story.

This is a very dark but compelling read that leaves you questioning what is wrong with Blythe or if her problem really is her daughter Violet. The bits of Blythe’s family history that are told show a lack of maternal ability however does that mean it’s hereditary? I found the style of writing quite original but very readable, it put you right inside Blythe’s head extremely well. It was very chilling but a heck of a page turner and so unusual to read a book questioning what is supposed to be natural to women.

What a roller coaster of a read. This book features three generations of mothers who all had psychological problems made worse when they had children. The main story focuses on Blythe and her relationship with her daughter who is a difficult child and causes much concern with her behaviour ,which leads to a terrible accident but who was to blame. A real page Turner and its chilling at times, but it's a fantastic read with brilliant characters and it leaves you wanting more. A 5🌟read

Wow! What a compelling, fast paced novel. The reader is really kept on their toes with Blythe feeling her daughter was basically a child with a bad unsound mind.