Ashley Audrain Books

Blythe Connor is determined that she will be the warm, comforting mother to her new baby Violet that she herself never had. But in the thick of motherhood's exhausting early days, Blythe becomes convinced that something is wrong with her daughter-she doesn't behave like most children do. Or is it all in Blythe's head? Her husband, Fox, says she's imagining things. The more Fox dismisses her fears, the more Blythe begins to question her own sanity, and the more we begin to question what Blythe is telling us about her life as well. Then their son Sam is born-and with him, Blythe has the blissful connection she'd always imagined with her child. Even Violet seems to love her little brother. But when life as they know it is changed in an instant, the devastating fall-out forces Blythe to face the truth. The Push is a tour de force you will read in a sitting, an utterly immersive novel that will challenge everything you think you know about motherhood, about what we owe our children, and what it feels like when women are not believed

The whispers started long before the accident on Harlow Lane . . . There was the party, where Whitney screamed at her ten-year-old, Xavier. Afterwards, the silence was deafening. Then there's her neighbour and friend, Blair - who snoops round Whitney's house when she's not in. She'd be better off watching her own home, keeping her husband on a tighter leash... Rebecca treats sick kids. She loves them, everyone sees that. If only she and her partner had been blessed with their own. . . After the accident sends these neighbours rushing to a hospital bedside, the whispers grow into a cacophony - what really happened that night?

INSTANT INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER WINNER of the 2022 Crime Writers of Canada Best First Crime Novel SHORTLISTED for the 2022 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize “Utterly addictive.” —Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train “Written with an unflinching eye and a stylistically sharp, tight economy The Push is a single-sitting read, as suspenseful as any thriller, as thoughtful as any literary novel, with an almost physical force behind each of its turns and revelations.” —Toronto Star A tense, page-turning psychological drama about the making and breaking of a family, and about a woman whose experience of motherhood is nothing at all what she hoped for, and everything she feared. Blythe Connor is determined to be the warm, comforting mother to her new baby, Violet, that she never had. But in the thick of motherhood’s exhausting early days, Blythe doesn’t find the connection with her daughter she expected. She’s convinced something is wrong with Violet—she is distant, rejects affection, and becomes increasingly disruptive at preschool. Or is it all in Blythe’s head? Her husband, Fox, says she’s imagining things. Fox doesn’t see what she sees; he sees a wife who is struggling to cope with the day-to-day challenges of being amother. The more Fox dismisses her fears, the more Blythe begins to question her own sanity, and the more we begin to question what Blythe is telling us about her life as well. Then, their son, Sam, is born—and with him, Blythe has the natural maternal connection she’d always dreamed of. Even Violet seems to love her little brother. But when life as they know it is changed in an instant, the devastating fallout forces Blythe to face the truth. The Push is a rare and extraordinary gift to readers: an utterly immersive novel that will challenge everything you think you know about motherhood, about what we owe our children, about what really happens behind the closed doors of even the most perfect-looking families and about what it feels like when women are not believed.