The Push by Ashley Audrain

From Goodreads

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.

My thoughts

My thanks to the Pu3lishers via NetGalley for the opportunity to read the story in exchange for an honest review.

Telling the story of a young married couple, Blythe and Fox on the surface appear to have it all.  A new born daughter Violet is the icing on the cake so to speak.  However, things aren't always as they seem and as you scratch the surface of this book the layers soon start revealing more than you expected.

Motherhood doesn't come easy to Blythe and she soon begins to feel aloof from her daughter.  Is she imagining things or is she justified?   When her son Sam is born, her life changes in an instant.  Her emotions and relationship with him are completely different to how she was with Violet.

This was a great psychological read that will have you turning the pages as you try to make out whether Blythe the young mother who is having doubts about her daughter and how she behaves around others, is she justified in those doubts or is it all in her head?   As others around her don't appear to be taking her doubts seriously and can't see what she is worrying about, she begins to think that it's all down to her and not anything to do with her daughter.

To find out more, you need to grab a copy of this for yourself.  You will soon be immersed in their lives and realise what relevance The Push has as a title.  

This would make a great reading group read, as there is so much that you could discuss with others as to how you may feel if you had been Blythe,.