The Push

Genre: Psychological Thriller / Suspense

Book Type: Physical

Author: Ashley Audrain

Pages: 320

Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books (January 5, 2021)

Book Description:

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.

Thoughts:

This was a great psychological suspense (thriller?). You want to believe Blythe, but you also don’t know if you can trust her, with her unnerving fears surrounding her daughter. I thought this did a great job showing what Post-Partum Depression can look like and the strains it can have on a marriage. It also did a wonderful job with the irrational fears a new mother can have, as many of her fears were believable (to me).

There were many well-written lines that made me think about the ideals we have for motherhood, marriage and what a family means to different people. The pressure we (as a woman) puts on herself to be “the perfect mother,” oftentimes at the expense of time we need to take for ourselves. I loved this book! The last sentence made me wanting more. The reason for not being a full 5⭐️ (and I understand that with how this ended I couldn’t get what I wanted), was that I wanted more. This focused on Blythe, her mom and grandmother, so I wanted to see how things ended up for her. Overall – well worth the read and the hype. I loved it.

“A mother’s heart breaks a million ways in her lifetime.”

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

#mentalhealth #drama #thriller #suspense #mysterycontemporary