What an absolute belter of a debut! Ashley Audrain will certainly be an author I now look out for after this unforgettable thriller.

The Push is an incredibly readable novel which left me enthralled, with no awareness of the world around me, from the first chapters. Audrain manages to create instant connections with the characters, building a level of realism and authenticity from very early on. This is an extremely strong psychological thriller, especially given it is a debut. This comes very close to horror territory at times given how dark, unsettling and downright disturbing the subject matter is. I found this all the more terrifying because the horror came not from mythical monsters but genuine events. The writing style is from the point of view of Blythe, speaking directly to "you" (her husband, Fox); it is emotive and raw - no sugar coating anywhere - and discusses in great depth and detail an array of emotionally charged and complex circumstances, from how barbaric birth is to the expectations and realities of motherhood, as well as the nature vs nurture debate to the long-lasting impacts of generational abuse and neglect. The descriptions of such events are expert, and throughout Audrain shows skilled proficiency in writing painfully accurate, profound and devastating truths, especially those depicting the accident, loneliness, femininity and motherhood.

The Push hasn't left my mind since I finished it and I've spent a lot of time thinking about psychopaths and sociopaths: how often these types of adults are portrayed in the media and arts, and the question about whether their traits - the deceit, manipulation, indifference and lack of empathy - were present too during childhood, and how this would present itself. Certainly, this novel gives a very real portrayal into how this looks in the form of Violet, even if this is only through Blythe's eyes (or is it?). The ending was perfect: I was not at all ready for this to end and I was left wanting more, wanting every last detail, wanting to know exactly what had happened. Yet on reflection there is no better way to leave this - I left this read with the same sense of unease and anxiety that it inflicted upon me throughout. Truly phenomenal; the rest of my 2021 reads will have a lot to live up to - 5 whole stars.

*I received an advance review copy of The Push through the published cos NetGalley.

Blythe worries about being a good mother to her new baby girl, Violet. Her own experiences at the abusive hands of her mother cloud her thoughts.

Blythe does her best with Violet, but the little baby is difficult and yet Violet seems to only be difficult with Blythe and she begins to think there is something wrong. As time passes her thoughts deepen, but her husband doesn’t believe her.

When Blythe becomes pregnant again her fears grow…...

The Push is a family drama that deals with the preconceived ideas of motherhood. It tells of a darker side to being a mother, the doubts and fears, and a troubled relationship between mother and daughter.

This is an utterly compelling psychological thriller that is thought provoking and heartbreaking at times. A haunting thriller that will stay with me for a long time.

Thank you to The publishers and NetGalley for an eARC of The Push.

What a story, wow!!

Are some people just born bad and/or is it something that runs in a family? Is the woman in this family tree just rotten to the core?
Its a story about mothers and daughters, about relationships. Being a mother is not always sunshine and roses. It can bring very difficult obstacles over one's path. Some woman are more natural mothers than others.
The staccato style of writing at times also created the feeling of anxiety that Blythe is experiencing.
Is Violet just a misunderstood little girl or.......

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Michael Joseph for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

This is a book that had me gripped. I couldn’t put it down. It’s dark, thrilling and wonderfully written. A chilling tale of nature vs nurture. Definitely one to read if you can.

Thank you to Penguin Michael Joseph UK for this advance copy.

The Push is such a brilliant read, although heart-wrenchingly sad. Blythe comes from a line of women who struggle with motherhood. There is darkness in her ancestors that fills her with trepidation when she herself becomes a mother. And her fears become manifest when she struggles to bond with her baby daughter Violet. Sleep deprived and tortured by her daughter's constant crying she feels a deep loneliness and her and her husband, Fox, become more and more distant.

As Violet starts pre-school there are worrying signs. She's violent to other children, and shows no signs of remorse or empathy.

When Blythe gives birth to her second child, Sam, she feels all the love she had hoped to feel for Violet. But a fatal accident leaves her devastated and she feels, more than ever, that there is something desperately wrong with her daughter. Or is it her that is damaged by her own deprived childhood? The Push leaves the reader questioning right up until the final pages which are a dramatic ending to this beautifully written and searingly honest account of motherhood.

I know this book would never be an easy read but said that it was a fascinatingly dark story. The narrative took me a little while to get into as the first person narrative Blythe tells us her story, as a mother and then flash backs to the troubled childhood of her own mother. The author takes us in a heart stopping tail as the read flicks between Blythe’s feelings as a mother and her daughters actions. Very good debut read.

Oh my goodness what a fantastic read, this book gripped me from the start and didn’t let go till the very last sentence. Incredibly well written and what a ride. The characters drew you in, love, laughter, distrust, empathy and sorrow you feel it all while reading. I won’t write about the story as that is the job of the blurb but I will say a story well worthy of 5 stars.

There is something wrong with all the women in her family - none of them were meant to be mothers. This book explores motherhood and expectations of what it should be and how it actually is.
Violet should have been the perfect baby, but something doesn’t feel right, and Blythe struggles to bond in the way that she does with Sam.
Blythe is haunted by both her mother and grandmother and thinks that she is going to be like them, although she’s desperate not to be. But will Violet make her crazy? Did she push the boy? Is she the monster Blythe thinks she is?
A really powerful and provocative read on motherhood and life with family.

I knew from the start that this would be a rollercoaster. I read this in one sitting folks.
It’s pacy (very short punchy chapters) original, unsettling and tense. Very tense! It was a thought provoking exploration into motherhood and the expectations we place on ourselves and others, the mother/daughter relationship, the complexities of nature vs nurture, and the impact of loneliness. What if motherhood doesn’t live up to out expectations? What if you knew something wasn’t right?🧐

I felt a sense of unease throughout and I was on the edge of my seat wanting to know what was going to happen! The narrator felt unreliable and I kept questioning myself “can I believe her? Is Violet the monster or Blythe?” This book is so well written, powerful, proper nail biting stuff. I mean...it gets dark. Ashley really delves into the mind of Blythe, and pulls out her darkest emotions and fears. There are flashbacks to her own childhood and to her mother’s childhood, so you gain an understanding into her anxiety about motherhood. I felt so conflicted with her character as sometimes I couldn’t stand her and then I felt sorry for her. Ahh!😅
When I got to the last 50 or so pages, I felt so much as everything started to unravel. Anger, sadness and complete shock. And the last sentence!😱 Chills! Did you see how many tabs were in my book by the end?!🤣

THE PUSH is an additive and chilling debut. It would be an interesting bookclub pick as there is so much to discuss. Recommend for fans of psychological dramas.

“I remember one day realising how important my body was to our family. Not my intellect, not my ambitions of a writing career. Not the person shaped by thirty-six years. Just my body.”

I was blown away by this debut thriller and I've been recommending it since I turned the last page. I had little idea of what to expect when I went into this, but I sure was surprised to find such an emotional, poignant, taut, and tense story within.

This book has a heavy focus on motherhood, something I wouldn't normally be drawn to, as I'm not a parent, but that didn't feel like a necessary component to be able to relate to this story. I felt deeply emotionally attached to this story and the main character Blythe, despite having very little to relate to, maybe other than my gender. I think people who read, this who are parents, will have an even deeper understanding and connection to this book.

On one hand, this was an unnerving thriller about a mother-daughter relationship, filled with unease and doubts, and on the other hand, this was a beautiful and honest commentary on the role and expectation of women in the home and as caregivers.

For anyone who was disappointed by Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage, this is the perfect remedy for everything we wanted that book to be. While it's about so many things at once, there is the uncomfortable relationship between Blythe and her daughter at its heart. Is her child really so bad, or is she creating scenarios in her head because she feels unfit to be a mother? Well, you'll need to read it to find out!

I can't believe this is a debut, the writing style is elegant and the story is told so beautifully. I can't wait to see more from Audrain already!

I could go on for ages about this brilliant piece of fiction. For me, this one was emotionally destructive, whilst also being, in parts, very unsettling. To me, this book was a strong and raw look into womanhood and the pressures there are on women to be a certain way in so many aspects of our lives. #zukyreviews

(I received this book, in exchange for an honest review, from Netgalley & Penguin Michael Joseph. Thank you!)

My thanks to Penguin Michael Joseph for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Push’ by Ashley Audrain.

Blythe Connor is not keen on having children given her own mother, Cecilia, abandoned the family when she was eleven and had told her that the women in their family were different. In turn, Cecilia had a rocky relationship with her mother, Etta.

Still, Blythe’s husband, Fox, wants a family and so she agrees. The arrival of baby Violet was meant to be the happiest time in her life, a fresh start. Everyone says Violet is the sweetest child yet Blythe feels that Violet is different when with her. Is it so? Is Violet a monster or is Blythe? No further details in order to avoid spoiler territory but wow!

The story spans years with Violet entering her teens in the final pages. While there are a few chapters that flashed back to earlier events relating to Blythe’s younger years as well as Cecilia and Etta, for most of the novel Blythe is addressing a third party, presumably Fox. This narrative style brought to mind Lionel Shriver’s ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’, which is a chilling comparison that the publishers and others are making.

This is a novel about motherhood, which by choice is unknown territory for me and therefore I expected that aspects of this novel would not be relatable apart from the important message that not everyone is cut out for motherhood.

Yet I was wrong as I quickly found myself drawn into the narrative and ended up reading it in a single sitting. It was astonishingly compelling and raw. I could appreciate why there has been such prepublication excitement about this debut novel.

Ashley Audrain is going to be one to watch.

Some heavy content warnings for this book: pregnancy, childbirth, child abuse, child death, self harm.

In that order, they may seem like narrative spoilers, but that would be far too simple for a book as unexpected as this.

In short, it's not a remotely enjoyable read (and for that reason I'm struggling with a star rating). It is a fucked up family-based psychological thriller that borders on horror at times. However, this makes it a deeply captivating read. It is a tragic exploration of the ugly sides of humanity, the cycle of abuse, and the complications of motherhood. I wondered several times how often the average reader might see parts of themselves in the less flattering character portrayals throughout.

The story is crafted in such a way that all of the characters are those who the reader can sympathise with, even the most flawed of characters whose actions are at times are borderline (or not) evil.

Given the POV sections for Etta and Cecilia, it would have been fascinating to read some parts from Violet's perspective, however it would have been very difficult to do and keep the uncertainty that drove so much of Blythe's story.

I may come back and change my rating depending on how the story sticks with me but for now, 4/5. Very well-written and deeply disturbing.

As readers of my blog will know, I tend to go for uplifting books or cosy murder mysteries, rather than ‘dark’ books, but after seeing great reviews, I decided to challenge myself to step out of my comfort zone and find out more.

This book is well written and found that I didn’t want to put it down. Very quickly I was drawn into the mystery of motherhood in this family. Three generations of mothers, each struggling with motherhood. This is a very clever debut novel which left this reader wondering who was the problem. Do we need to have a good example of a mother, to be a good mother ourselves? Can a child be that manipulative? Why was Fox so unhelpful?

I’m a mother of two teenagers and this book left me feeling very uncomfortable because it felt so realistic. Being a mother isn’t easy, despite the rise of the Instagram picture perfect family suggesting otherwise. The Push features a family with many issues and tragedies. It is definitely a book that will stay with me for a while and I look forward to hearing the views of other readers. I also look forward to reading more by Ashley Audrain in the future.

I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of The Push last year: I finished it in one sitting, then thought about putting my Kindle in the freezer, mentally listing the new mothers and pregnant friends who I would gently usher past this novel – at least until their babies were slightly older. The Push is staggering: it is an intoxicating rush of a book that grips you tight from the first few pages and will not let you go: a creeping sense of dread builds throughout, off-set by the smothering, all-encompassing, bewildering and conflicting waves of emotion that narrator Blythe feels toward her new baby daughter, Violet. “These are thoughts I never let leave my lips,” she says. “These are thoughts most mothers don’t have.” This searing book explores what happens when your most base instincts clash: would you trust your terrified gut, or your responsibility to nurture your daughter? Blythe’s recollections of her own traumatic childhood, and in turn, her mother’s experiences with her own mother, are interspersed with horrifyingly sinister scenes where the infant Violet seems to – could she – be deliberately – almost malevolently, driving a wedge between her parents. “We were supposed to want each other,” Blythe says early on in the novel: but her fear of and obsession with her daughter and her own un-maternal behaviour only grows, with devastating consequences. “I was embarrassed that we’d created a human being who would act this way,” Blythe thinks during a meeting with a teacher: comparisons with the classic ‘We Need To Talk About Kevin’ are correctly made. Read it before it’s inevitably turned into a film or boxset: but maybe leave it on the shelf for a few months if you’re expecting...

Featured in Book Club in Cambridge Edition January 2021

"One day you'll understand, Blythe. The women in this family... we're different."

What if there was something wrong with your child? Could you still love them? Would others see what you do? Is it you or them?

Compelling, bold, unsettling, and thought-provoking, The Push explores themes of our expectations of motherhood, unconditional love, family, and if monsters are born or made.

From the first pages the author had me in the palm of her hand. There is an immediate air of mystery and an impending sense of doom that made me excited to keep reading. I needed to know why Blythe was watching her daughter through the window and why she would feel the need to write her side of the story to give to her ex-husband. From the beginning there is also a spine-tingling terror attached to Violet, though I wasn’t sure if this was because she is someone to be feared or it was Blythe’s perception being pushed onto the reader. This conundrum is at the heart of the story as Blythe tries to solve the puzzle of if her daughter really is born a monster or if she is the monster for thinking that of her child.

The idea of children being born evil or being deliberately manipulative is one that is controversial; you aren’t supposed to dislike your child let alone voice that feeling. We see in this story how people are aghast and disgusted with Blythe when she voices her concerns about Violet or tells them the things she’s done. Children are supposed to be innocent and born good. We like to believe that as parents we have an element of control over how they turn out and that by raising them the right way, they will be good people. When people do bad things we look for a reason - neglect, abuse, absent parents, poverty - anything that will reassure us this can’t happen to us. Not our children. This book addresses that fear in all of us that it may not be in our hands and that some people might just be born bad.

The characters are all well-written and compelling, particularly Blythe and Violet. Not since We Need To Talk About Kevin has a child given me the chills or been so unlikable. I thought the author wrote her brilliantly as while she evokes these feelings, we’re never quite sure if they’re the truth or if it is all in Blythe’s head. Every time I made my mind up about Violet something would happen to make me doubt my conclusion, the author keeping me on the edge of my seat until the final page.

I liked the confessional style of writing and how it is mixed with flashbacks to the older generations of women in Blythe’s family. The flashbacks give important insight into not only Blythe’s mindset, but the mystery of the women in her family and the raw truth of motherhood. They also help to show how the past can ripple down through the generations with devastating effects.

Riveting, pacy and insightful, The Push certainly packs a punch. It is a story that feels both shocking and sadly familiar and I think it will resonate with many people as every mother’s nightmare come true. I am still in awe that this is the author’s debut novel and can’t wait to read more from her in the future.

The day you become a mother should be one of the happiest of your life. But for Blythe, it's one she will live to regret... She always knew there was something wrong with Violet. Her husband Fox doesn't agree. He sees a sweet and loving child. Blythe sees a monster.

You know those books where everything builds up really slowly, and you know somethings coming so you're almost becoming stressed out with anticipation, and you can feel your heart start to pound and your nerves are going and you just have to carry on until you find out what happens? This is one of those books, but done in a way unlike anything I've ever read before.

Now, I'm not going to discuss the plot beyond what's contained in the synopsis, as I think there's the risk of accidentally ruining your reading experience by biasing you towards either side, so I'll be very careful about what I say! So obviously at it's heart its a book about motherhood, which did make me pause before requesting it - I'm not a mother, and I don't really have much in the way of maternal feelings, so I did question if it would be a book I would enjoy, as some books focused on this area are a bit dull to me. But trust me when I say, you do not need to be a mother to enjoy over this book, although I imagine you may have an even darker reading experience if you do have children, as you'd have first hand experience of some of the emotions and experiences she struggles with (although hopefully not all of them!).

It's portrayal of motherhood, the struggle to love your child unconditionally and how it feels to be alone with your fears (along with other plot elements I won't comment on) combines to create a genuinely disturbing reading experience. It is honestly one of the most captivating and gripping books I've ever read, and I don't think I'll ever forget it. The fact that this is a debut novel is genuinely shocking, as the writing is so incredibly skilled and nuanced. This is not only one of the best books of the year, it's one of the best books I've ever read. I cannot recommend it enough, and would encourage everyone to get hold of a copy as soon as possible. You won't regret it.

Disclaimer - I was fortunate enough to be provided with an advance reading copy of this book by NetGalley. This has not affected my review in any way, and all opinions are my own.

Blythe is determined to be the best mother to her daughter Violet, the kind of mother that she herself never had. But after Violet is born, Blythe never feels the overwhelming love that she expected, and soon she becomes convinced that there is something terribly wrong with her daughter, that her behaviour is not normal. But no one else seems to see it.
When Sam is born, she connects with him instantly, and Violet seems to be the doting sister. Until tragedy strikes.


This was a chilling and captivating read with a "Let's Talk About Kevin" vibe, and I truly enjoyed it.
The story offers an honest view on motherhood, and as a mother myself, I found it disturbing but also refreshing to read.
It wasn't a genre I would usually reach for, but nevertheless, I found it really compelling and raced through it in no time.
I was hesitating between 3 and 4 stars, but even though this book is not full of suspense, it managed to make me shed a tear or two, and therefore I decided to give it 4 stars.

Now this is most definitely a book that will sit with you for days afterwards.

I was utterly gripped from the very beginning. I'm not sure whether being a mother myself had anything to do with it but I felt like I could literally step into Blythes shoes and feel every emotion she had.

I could not and did not put this down, it sucked me straight and and had this hold over me that no other book has had in a long time.

The writing style was brilliant, suspense expertly weaved in so that it has you gripped the whole way through.

A story that shows the honest brutality of motherhood, no papering over the cracks in this one which was so refreshing yet emotional to read. Covering some real complex matters which every parent will relate to.

The characters are not only plausible but relatable which makes everything even more real.

I honestly can't rate this any higher but I don't want to go into too much detail within the review and ruin the story #nospoilers

Huge thanks s to netgalley and Penguin Michael Joseph UK for the ARC.

I had no expectations when beginning this novel, and sometimes, that's even better. I knew it was meant to be good, but didn't know which direction the book would take me down.
This book gave me chills. Actual chills. It was SO unsettling and the child character Violet will stay with me for a very long time.
The audiobook was absolutely fantastic and I loved the narrator's voice. She captured the anxiety and stress of every situation perfectly.
I am astounded that this is a debut novel. Audrain is one to watch.

A compelling read. Motherhood should be natural & easy, it's everywhere in the media, beautiful cherub faced toddlers & sleek mothers smiling happily. But what if it isn't like that? What if you didn't have a childhood like that? What if your child is different?

This book has you questioning Blythe throughout. Is Violet the problem or is it Blythe & her family history? But despite this I really felt for her, she's a really engaging character & her pain brought tears to my eyes & left a solid weight in my chest.

I also have to give this the best last line award. I kept hitting next page on my kindle hoping it was broken.

My only issue with this book was that I sometimes got lost in the who's who of the women in Blythe's family.