The Push

Description

A Good Morning America Book Club Pick | A New York Times bestseller!

“Utterly addictive.” —Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train

“Hooks you from the very first page and will have you racing to get to the end.”—Good Morning America

A tense, page-turning psychological drama about the making and breaking of a family—and a woman whose experience of motherhood is nothing at all what she hoped for—and everything she feared

Ashley Audrain’s second novel, The Whispers, is on sale now

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.

For fans of Verity and We Need to talk about Kevin, The 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.A Most Anticipated Book of the Year by Entertainment Weekly, Marie Claire, AARP, CrimeReads, Lit Hub, and Newsweek

As seen in The Washington Post, USA Today, Good Housekeeping, goop, Refinery29, Woman’s Day, Working Mother, New York Post, and more

Praise for The Push:

“[A] deft and immersive thriller… The Push is an ingenious reincarnation of that most forbidden of suspense narratives: the mommy-in-peril-from-her-own-monstrous-offspring.”
— Maureen Corrigan, The Washington Post

“There are enough novels about unreliable female narrators and neglectful mothers to fill a minivan… But what makes [The Push] stand out from the rest is Audrain’s nuanced understanding of how women’s voices are discounted, how a thousand little slights can curdle a solid marriage and—in defiance of maternal taboos—how mothers really feel, sometimes, toward difficult children.”
— Los Angeles Times

“What happens when a mother doesn’t love her daughter? Audrain’s debut is a tense, chilling dip into the dark side of motherhood, narrated by Blythe, whose own upbringing raises the question: Can one inherit an inability to parent? The Push is uncomfortable and provocative, like a train wreck that demands your gaze.”
— The Washington Post

“This taut and tense hurricane of a debut is best devoured in one sitting.”
— Newsweek

“Fans of psychological thrillers, crack open this one about the relationship between mothers and daughters.”
— Good Housekeeping

“A chilling page-turner that asks provocative questions.”
— Real Simple

“A thrilling debut.”
— Harper’s Bazaar

“Well thought out, carefully crafted, vividly realised and gripping… The Push turbo-charges maternal anxieties with a fierce gothic energy.”
— The Guardian

“Taut, chilling….Audrain has a gift for capturing the seemingly small moments that speak volumes about relationships.”
— The New York Times Book Review

“Hooks you from the very first page and will have you racing to get to the end.”
— Good Morning America

“A psychological thriller that will make you question everything you know about motherhood.”
— Bitch

“A chilling psychological look at the dark, uncomfortable parts of motherhood and a provocative page turner.”
— theSkimm

“This book should come with a warning label! The Push … is a buzzy debut novel that packs quite a few punches. With shades of We Need to Talk About Kevin, … this GMA Book Club pick for January is a compulsively readable novel.”
— New York Post

“This is a sterling addition to the burgeoning canon of bad-seed suspense, from an arrestingly original new voice.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Both an absorbing thriller and an intense, profound look at the heartbreaking ways motherhood can go wrong, this is sure to provoke discussion.”
— Booklist

“This is a raw, immediate, propulsive, thought-provoking book, with an ending that hits like a sledgehammer. You will be talking about it for a long time.”
— BookTrib.com

“[A] dazzling exercise in both economy of language and vividness of expression. Audrain’s grasp of Blythe’s inner life—her fears, her hopes, the details that linger in her mind—is so precise and mature that we get lost in this woman’s often troubling world. That feeling propels the novel forward at a blistering pace, but Audrain doesn’t stop there. The Push announces Audrain as a sophisticated, compelling writer, perfect for fans of thrillers and intimate family dramas alike.”
— BookPage

“Starkly original and compulsively readable, Ashley Audrain’s The Push is a deep dive into the darkest nooks and crannies of motherhood.  Raw, visceral, and often disturbing, this is an intense psychological drama that will be embraced by serious book clubs and fans of Lionel Shriver’s We Need to Talk about Kevin.”
— Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“The Push was a poetic, propulsive read that set my nerves jangling in both horror and recognition. I read it in one sitting and it stayed with me for days afterwards. Not to be missed.”
— Lisa Jewell, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Then She Was Gone

“With its riveting prose and deep convictions, Ashley Audrain’s The Push had me in its clutches from the first page. Audrain’s astute portrayal of motherhood was unsettling in its insights, yet highly entertaining on the page. Complex, nuanced, and unflinching, I inhaled this debut in one sitting.”
— Karma Brown, bestselling author of Recipe for a Perfect Wife

“Intensely absorbing, gripping until the final page, The Push excavates the myths of motherhood, deftly exploring the shape-shifting landscape of parenting, the powerful impact of the past on the present, and the deep unease of our inability to ever fully know even those we hold the closest.”
— Kim Edwards, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Memory Keeper’s Daughter

“I read The Push in a single sitting, ignoring my children, my phone, and staying up way too late, unwilling to break the spell cast by Ashley Audrain’s bold, gorgeous prose and propulsive plot. In the months since, my mind has returned, again and again, to The Push, which is unlike any other novel I’ve read. This is a thriller, yes, but one that probes deeply—with enormous intelligence—into what it means to be a mother. And, ultimately—like the best fiction of any genre—what it means to be a person in the world.”
— Joanna Rakoff, internationally bestselling author of My Salinger Year

“Ashely Audrain’s The Push is not only a propulsively entertaining, read-in-one-sitting novel, it is also a deeply provocative and fearless look at motherhood written in some of the prettiest prose you’ll read all year.”
— Aimee Molloy, New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Mother

“Written with  a courage that borders on audacity, and with uncanny emotional and psychological precision,  Ashley Audrain’s The Push is a taut, tour-de-force literary thriller that draws you in from the very first pages and plunges you into the most harrowing of journeys:  parenthood.”
— Bill Clegg, New York Times bestselling author of Did You Ever Have A Family?

“This is a breathtakingly honest portrayal of motherhood that sent shivers down my spine. Ashley Audrain writes with such brevity and beauty that I couldn’t put the book down.”
— Salma El-Wardany, author of These Impossible Things

“The Push is an unflinching examination of motherhood. Audrain lets no one in the Connor family off the hook, yet every character managed to elicit my sympathy. Brilliant, insightful, compassionate, and horrifying. I wish I could read it for the first time over and over. One of the best books I’ve read all year.”
— Stephanie Wrobel, author of Darling Rose Gold

“The Push is written on the edge of a knife. It’s a howl in the face of what we think we know—or want to believe—about motherhood. Relentlessly compelling, distressing and beautiful, Ashley Audrain’s debut is the next Gone Girl, with shades of We Need to Talk About Kevin. I devoured it whole.”
— Marissa Stapley, bestselling author of The Last Resort

“Stayed up too late finishing [Audrain’s] deeply unsettling The Push about the darkest reaches of motherhood (and profound maternal ambivalence). Visceral, provocative, compulsive, and with the most graphic and relatable description of childbirth I’ve read (or written).”
— Sarah Vaughan, bestselling author of Anatomy of a Scandal

“Compelling, beautifully written and wickedly entertaining…. A tremendously thought-provoking read.”
— Liz Nugent, author of Little Cruelties and Lying in Wait

“A meteoric debut. Ashley Audrain’s The Push is a force of nature, an unforgettable arrival that will linger in your heart—shimmer, darken and then haunt you. Perhaps if Stephen King had experienced motherhood…he might have been able to dream up this book. Wise, monstrous, and tender, it seemed to pulse in my hands. I could not put it down. I could not look away.”
— Claudia Dey, author of Heartbreaker

“The Push is a freight train of a read—it barrels into you and propels you along, taking you places you’re not sure you want to go. I found it disturbing, upsetting, and utterly compelling. This book starts a conversation about aspects of motherhood – expectation versus reality, nature versus nurture, men versus women—that we should be talking about, however uncomfortable it might be.”
— Beth Morrey, author of The Love Story of Missy Carmichael

“A tense and unsettling thriller that’s immersive, chilling, and provocative. A book that’s best read in one sitting.”
— Iain Reid, author of I’m Thinking of Ending Things

“Utterly mesmerising. Ashley Audrain’s powerful debut novel explores the challenges of motherhood and the terrifying isolation of being trapped within a sinister truth that no one else believes.”
— Fiona Valpy, #1 bestselling author of The Skylark’s Secret

“A chilling and beautifully written novel that will strike dread into the heart of any new parent. The ending gave me goosebumps.”
— Mark Edwards, bestselling author of The House Guest
Ashley Audrain’s debut novel, The Push, was a New York Times, Sunday Times (London), and number-one international bestseller, and a Good Morning America Book Club pick. It has sold in more than forty territories, and a limited television series is currently in development. Audrain previously worked as the publicity director of Penguin Books Canada, and prior to that she worked in public relations. She lives in Toronto, where she and her partner are raising their two young children. Her second novel, The Whispers, is forthcoming.

1. In the book, Blythe struggles with feelings of inadequacy as she fails to live up to the perfect ideal of motherhood. How do societal pressures contribute to those feelings? How do you think society views motherhood—what it should look like, how it should feel, even who should be a mother—and what kind of burden does that place on women?

2. Does being a “good mother” always require selflessness and unconditional love? How much of ourselves do we owe our children? 

3. What are your thoughts about Blythe as a mother? Did she fail Violet? Sam? What could or should she have done differently?

4. The theory of inherited trauma—that we carry the scars of past generations—is explored through Blythe’s mother and grandmother, who struggled in similar ways to her. How much do you think we carry forward from the experiences of the generation before us? Is it possible to break the cycle completely?

5. Nature versus nurture is a big theme in The Push. Are we born, or are we made? And, especially, when children turn out to be violent or dangerous, how much blame lies with the way they are raised?

6. Blythe writes that both she and her mother “had only one version of the truth” when it comes to what they can remember about their own upbringings—there isn’t anyone left who can tell them a different side of the story. Do you think we subconsciously reframe what we remember about our past? Did you believe everything Blythe remembered about her childhood?

7. Blythe says of her early relationship with Fox: “I had nothing when I met you, and you effortlessly became my everything.” What did you think about the quality of their relationship from the outset? Is there something dangerous about a love so all-consuming and addictive?

8. Do you think Fox ever lied about not believing Blythe in order to protect Violet? If so, do you think trying to protect his daughter was a good enough reason to doubt his wife?

9. When Blythe and Fox speak for the last time, Fox tells Blythe, “[Violet] wasn’t always easy. But she deserved more from you. And you deserved more from me.” What do you think Fox lacked as a husband?

10. Were you surprised by the nature of Blythe and Gemma’s relationship? Even though it was based on a lie, do you think there was real friendship and understanding there?

11. Do you think Gemma was always being truthful with Blythe about her feelings for Violet?

1

You slid your chair over and tapped my textbook with the end of your pencil and I stared at the page, hesitant to look up. “Hello?” I had answered you like a phone call. This made you laugh. And so we sat there, giggling, two strangers in a school library, studying for the same elective subject. There must have been hundreds of students in the class-I had never seen you before. The curls in your hair fell over your eyes and you twirled them with your pencil. You had such a peculiar name. You walked me home later in the afternoon and we were quiet with each other. You didn’t hide how smitten you were, smiling right at me every so often; I looked away each time. I had never experienced attention like that from anyone before. You kissed my hand outside my dorm and this made us laugh all over again.

Soon we were twenty-one and we were inseparable. We had less than a year left until we graduated. We spent it sleeping together in my raft of a dorm bed, and studying at opposite ends of the couch with our legs intertwined. We’d go out to the bar with your friends, but we always ended up home early, in bed, in the novelty of each other’s warmth. I barely drank, and you’d had enough of the party scene-you only wanted me. Nobody in my world seemed to mind much. I had a small circle of friends who were more like acquaintances. I was so focused on maintaining my grades for my scholarship that I didn’t have the time or the interest for a typical college social life. I suppose I hadn’t grown very close to anyone in those years, not until I met you. You offered me something different. We slipped out of the social orbit and were happily all each other needed.

The comfort I found in you was consuming-I had nothing when I met you, and so you effortlessly became my everything. This didn’t mean you weren’t worthy of it-you were. You were gentle and thoughtful and supportive. You were the first person I’d told that I wanted to be a writer, and you replied, “I can’t imagine you being anyone else.” I reveled in the way girls looked at us, like they had something to be jealous about. I smelled your head of waxy dark hair while you slept at night and traced the line of your fuzzy jaw to wake you up in the morning. You were an addiction.

For my birthday, you wrote down one hundred things you loved about me. 14. I love that you snore a little bit right when you fall asleep. 27. I love the beautiful way you write. 39. I love tracing my name on your back. 59. I love sharing a muffin with you on the way to class. 72. I love the mood you wake up in on Sundays. 80. I love watching you finish a good book and then hold it to your chest at the end. 92. I love what a good mother you’ll be one day.

“Why do you think I’ll be a good mother?” I put down the list and felt for a moment like maybe you didn’t know me at all.

“Why wouldn’t you be a good mother?” You poked me playfully in the belly. “You’re caring. And sweet. I can’t wait to have little babies with you.”

There was nothing to do but force myself to smile.

I’d never met someone with a heart as eager as yours.

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 told you only the facts: (1) she left when I was eleven years old, (2) I only ever saw her twice after that, and (3) I had no idea where she was.

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.

1939-1958

Etta was born on the very same day World War II began. She had eyes like the Atlantic Ocean and was red-faced and pudgy from the beginning.

She fell in love with the first boy she ever met, the town doctor’s son. His name was Louis, and he was polite and well spoken, not common among the boys she knew, and he wasn’t the type to care that Etta hadn’t been born with the luck of good looks. Louis walked Etta to school with one hand behind his back, from their very first day of school to their last. And Etta was charmed by things like that.

Her family owned hundreds of acres of cornfields. When Etta turned eighteen and told her father she wanted to marry Louis, he insisted his new son-in-law had to learn how to farm. He had no sons of his own, and he wanted Louis to take over the family business. But Etta thought her father just wanted to prove a point to the young man: farming was hard and respectable work. It wasn’t for the weak. And it certainly wasn’t for an intellectual. Etta had chosen someone who was nothing like her father.

Louis had planned to be a doctor like his own father was, and had a scholarship waiting for medical school. But he wanted Etta’s hand in marriage more than he wanted a medical license. Despite Etta’s pleas to take it easy on him, her father worked Louis to the bone. He was up at four o’clock every morning and out into the dewy fields. Four in the morning until dusk, and as Etta liked to remind people, he never complained once. Louis sold the medical bag and textbooks that his own father had passed down to him, and he put the money in a jar on their kitchen counter. He told Etta it was the start of a college fund for their future children. Etta thought this said a lot about the selfless kind of man he was.

One fall day, before the sun rose, Louis was severed by the beater on a silage wagon. He bled to death, alone in the cornfield. Etta’s father found him and sent her to cover up the body with a tarp from the barn. She carried Louis’s mangled leg back to the farmhouse and threw it at her father’s head while he was filling a bucket of water meant to wash away the blood on the wagon.

She hadn’t told her family yet about the child growing inside her. She was a big woman, seventy pounds overweight, and hid the pregnancy well. The baby girl, Cecilia, was born four months later on the kitchen floor in the middle of a snowstorm. Etta stared at the jar of money on the counter above her while she pushed the baby out.

Etta and Cecilia lived quietly at the farmhouse and rarely ventured into town. When they did, it wasn’t hard to hear everyone’s whispers about the woman who “suffered from the nerves.” In those days, not much more was said-not much more was suspected. Louis’s father gave Etta’s mother a regular supply of sedatives to give to Etta as she saw fit. And so Etta spent most days in the small brass bed in the room she grew up in and her mother took care of Cecilia.

But Etta soon realized she would never meet another man lying doped up like that in bed. She learned to function well enough and eventually started to take care of Cecilia, pushing her around town in the stroller while the poor girl screamed for her grandmother. Etta told people she’d been plagued with a terrible chronic stomach pain, that she couldn’t eat for months on end, and that’s how she’d got so thin. Nobody believed this, but Etta didn’t care about their lazy gossip. She had just met Henry.

Henry was new to town and they went to the same church. He managed a staff of sixty people at a candy manufacturing plant. He was sweet to Etta from the minute they met-he loved babies and Cecilia was particularly cute, so she turned out not to be the problem everyone said she’d be.

Before long, Henry bought them a Tudor-style house with mint-green trim in the middle of town. Etta left the brass bed for good and gained back all the weight she’d lost. She threw herself into making a home for her family. There was a well-built porch with a swing, lace curtains on every window, and chocolate chip cookies always in the oven. One day their new living-room furniture was delivered to the wrong house, and the neighbor let the delivery man set it all up in her basement even though she hadn’t ordered it. When Etta caught wind of this, she ran down the street after the truck, yelling profanity in her housecoat and curlers. This gave everyone a good laugh, including, eventually, Etta.

She tried very hard to be the woman she was expected to be.

A good wife. A good mother.

Everything seemed like it would be just fine.

 

US

Additional information

Weight	9.4 oz
Dimensions	0.7200 × 5.4000 × 8.1000 in
Imprint	Penguin Books
ISBN-13	09781984881687
ISBN-10	198488168X
Author	Ashley Audrain
Audience	General / adult
BISAC	FIC045000, FIC031100
Subjects	bestseller books, paperback books, mystery thriller suspense, fiction books, mom books, mom gifts, best selling books, psychological thriller books, psychological thrillers, gifts for her, fiction books best sellers, tik tok books, gma book club picks, good morning america book club, gma book club, best book club books, books best sellers 2023, family, suspense books, thriller books, books for women, booktok, gifts for women, book club, thrillers, books for mom, gifts for mom, book club books, FIC031100, bestsellers, suspense, FIC045000, thriller
Format	General Trade