#BlogTour ‘The Push ‘ by Ashley Audrain

About the book…

‘The women in this family, we’re different . . .’

Blythe Connor doesn’t want history to repeat itself.

Violet is her first child and she will give her daughter all the love she deserves. All the love that her own mother withheld.

But firstborns are never easy. And Violet is demanding and fretful. She never smiles. Soon Blythe believes she can do no right – that something’s very wrong. Either with her daughter, or herself.

Her husband, Fox, says she’s imagining it. But Violet’s different with him. And he can’t understand what Blythe suffered as a child. No one can.

Blythe wants to be a good mother. But what if that’s not enough for Violet? Or her marriage? What if she can’t see the darkness coming?

Mother and daughter. Angel or monster?
We don’t get to choose our inheritance – or who we are . . .

The Push is an addictive, gripping and compulsive read that asks what happens when women are not believed – and what if motherhood isn’t everything you hoped for but everything you always feared?

Huge thanks to the awesome Olivia at Penguin Michael Joseph, for my gifted review copy of fabulous debut novel, ‘The Push’ by Ashley Audrain, which is out in hardback from 7th January.

This is a book to be poured over and talked about. The intimate tone in which the narrator,Blythe,talks about her life feels almost like a confession.

She takes you,the reader, into her confidence right from the start and affords you an insight into motherhood which is very different from anything I have read before

The debate over motherhood being an inherent part of the female experience is endlessly debated, but what is very rarely discussed is the adaptation to motherhood which is assumed most women will take to. Neither is the assumption that motherhood will complete a woman.

Surrounded by her husband,Fox’s family who wait in the wings with their expectations wrapped in boxes of childhood momentos, it feels as this is a rite of passage for which Blythe should feel grateful.

To admit that liking and even loving your child does not come easy, seems to be an unspoken, soiciological taboo. This is constructed from internal and external influences and expectations built from familial relationships, media influences and hard wired genetics.

However,when the steps society deems are acceptable are followed to the letter-relationship, marriage, children-do not bring satisfaction,Blythe turns inward. The adaptation to parenthood is flawless to Fox, and deconstructing to Blythe when she has her daughter, Violet.

The contrast between them weighs up the psychological burden taken on by the mother, whilst the father is merely praised for procreating and continuing the family line.

There is a Russian doll aspect to the examination of female lineage and the nature/nurture debate-with the best will in the world, are some of programmed to take to motherhood, and love each of our children equally? Are we hardwired by our experiences and genetics to tackle this role in manner which stops history repeating itself? This in itself is very telling in the way that Blythe reacts so differently to the female child as opposed to her male one.

It’s a searing and damning insight into what society expects of us and which nothing can prepare you for. However dark this novel is-and it goes to some very dark places-it is not a dirge to read ,in fact,it feels poetical and lyrical. The words are whispered your ear so keenly that it becomes a a very familiar voice.

The Push is what society does to women,what women do to themselves and how they are punished-both internally and externally. A psychological masterpiece which is incredibly mature and knowing, I found it next to impossible to put it down. This one is going to be huge.

About the author…

Ashley Audrain wrote The Push after leaving her job as publicity director at Penguin Books Canada to raise her two young children.

Prior to Penguin, she lived and worked in Los Angeles, and at a global public relations agency in Toronto, where she now lives.

Twitter @MichaelJBooks @audrain