Blythe neglects to tell Fox the full truth about her distant relationship with her father. Fox, meanwhile, comes from a loving and stable family. After college, they move in together, and Fox is the breadwinner while Blythe pursues her fledgling writing career. He is supportive and thoughtful. At 25, he proposes, and they are married. Their wedding bands previously belonged to Fox’s great-grandmother, Violet.

Soon, Blythe is pregnant again, this time with a boy. She buys a replica painting of Mother and Child by Mary Cassatt to put in his nursery. Fox is less attentive this time around, but Blythe wants only her baby. When the baby is born, Blythe feels euphoric. A gripping debut that explores and manipulates the fears and insecurities of mothers everywhere . . . Well thought out, vividly realised and gripping Guardian The Push is Canadian author Ashley Audrain's first book, but the domestic thriller is already expected to be one of the biggest books of 2021. Do you think Blythe is like the women who came before her? How so and why do you think things turned out differently for her?This multi-layered family drama is downright chilling, and it will keep you on the edge of your seat until you uncover the most disturbing truths.

Blythe and Fox Connor are a couple who meet in college and get married at 25. Soon, they have their first child, a girl named Violet. Blythe struggles with Violet from the beginning, Blythe is exhausted, and motherhood proves far tougher than she anticipated. She senses Violet prefers Fox, but Fox insists it's all in her head. Soon, she starts to resents Fox for seeing her solely as Violet's caregiver, and Fox thinks Blythe is deficient as a mother. As Violet gets older, Violet continues to be antagonistic and even violent towards Blythe. Violet has trouble getting along with other kids and there's incidences of violence towards them, too. When a boy falls off a playset and dies, Blythe suspects Violet tripped him on purpose. The Push WILL make you feel uncomfortable in exploring that question, in a very necessary kind of way. Stayed up too late finishing [Audrain's] deeply unsettling The Push about the darkest reaches of motherhood . . . 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

Section-by-Section Summary

But Violet’s behavior seems “off.” Blythe thinks Violet hates her and may even be malicious. Blythe is in that “new mom” state of confusion, fear, and anxiety, wondering if it’s all in her head. What she’s thinking and feeling is isolating, dark, and raw, and it shines a light on parts of motherhood not often talked about.