The Push - Ashley Audrain
303 pages
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.
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.
This was probably the best book I have ever read. I read it in 3 days and could not put it down. The whole time I was back and forth - is she sane? Is she crazy? Is her daughter that bad really? I really, REALLY connected with the mother and how she felt about her daughter because that is exactly how I felt with my oldest when I had her at 17. She is my bestfriend now, but back then I wanted someone to just take her away and never bring her back because I was so sleep deprived. A lot of people don't like to talk about PPD because they feel mothers should always be happy and perfect. Postpartum depression is real and it can be very serious.
If you like psychological thrillers check out this book. This is the author's first book and I was amazed at how good it was.
