Ashley Audrain
Author of The Push
Works by Ashley Audrain
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1982
- Gender
- female
- Occupations
- publicity direcetor for Penguin Canada, writer,
- Short biography
- Ashley Audrain (born 1982) is a Canadian writer.[1][2] During a July 2019 interview with the Toronto Star Audrain described her debut novel, The Push, as a "psychological drama told through the lens of motherhood."
Prior to turning her hand to writing, Audrain was publicity director for Penguin Canada, which is now an imprint of the Canadian division of Penguin Random House.[1][2] In 2015 a health crisis with her youngest child caused her to retire.[citation needed] She found writing was an occupation she could undertake at home.[citation needed]
The Bookseller reports that her UK book deal, with Michael Joseph Limited, an imprint of the UK division of Penguin Random House, was worth approximately one million British pounds, while her US book deal was in "the high seven figures".[3] The first book of the two book deal was released for sale in US and Canada on January 5, 2021 - Nationality
- Canada
- Birthplace
- Newmarket, Ontario, Canada
- Map Location
- Canada
Members
Reviews
The Short of It:
I had heard from many that this story was wild and it is. It’s like watching an accident happen in slow motion and you cannot look away.
The Rest of It:
Blythe and Fox can’t wait for their beautiful baby girl to arrive. After a difficult labor, baby Violet is placed on Blythe’s chest and it’s not quite the feeling she’s envisioned all her life. As a young girl whose own mother left her at a young age, Blythe silently vows to be the type of mother that she herself show more never had. But the constant feedings, the lack of sleep and honestly, the lack of a mother-daughter bond concerns Blythe. It concerns Fox too but he pins it on exhaustion. How could a mother not love her own child?
The thing is, Violet never seems to NEED Blythe. She is always reaching for daddy and doesn’t seem to notice the things he can’t provide like the around-the-clock nursing that only Blythe can manage. Years pass and this feeling that Blythe has can’t be shaken. There is something wrong with this child.
Enter Sam. If you have any doubts over your ability to be a mother, why not test the theory out by having another child? That’s exactly what Blythe does. She never shares her full intentions with Fox but secretly she wants to prove that she is a good mother and that a different child will see that. Sam is the baby she’s always wanted. He nuzzles into her, and doesn’t turn away like Violet did. He smiles when he sees her and looks to her for comfort. When she sees her son’s goofy grin, she smiles from ear to ear. While all of this is going on, Violet and her father also notice and Blythe is left wondering if there is something wrong with her to feel such dread whenever her daughter enters the room. How can Blythe not let this affect them? Then, the unthinkable happens.
What a book! This is a brutally honest look at motherhood. These characters are not depicted in a good light and some might think that Blythe’s aversion to her own daughter is way over-the-top but anyone who’s had a few rough years with a baby knows that it is right on the money. My daughter did not sleep through the night until age four and required two feedings an hour for years. So long that the doctor had her checked for a heart condition thinking she was expending too much energy and therefore requiring more food. This book triggered me in so many ways and yet I kept flipping those pages.
Many have described The Push as being compulsively readable. I agree 100%. It’s gritty and truthful and not at all pretty but it was impossible to put down. If you enjoyed Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage then you will want to read this one.
Also, Ashley Audrain has another book coming out in 2022, The Whispers.
For more reviews, visit my blog: Book Chatter. show less
I had heard from many that this story was wild and it is. It’s like watching an accident happen in slow motion and you cannot look away.
The Rest of It:
Blythe and Fox can’t wait for their beautiful baby girl to arrive. After a difficult labor, baby Violet is placed on Blythe’s chest and it’s not quite the feeling she’s envisioned all her life. As a young girl whose own mother left her at a young age, Blythe silently vows to be the type of mother that she herself show more never had. But the constant feedings, the lack of sleep and honestly, the lack of a mother-daughter bond concerns Blythe. It concerns Fox too but he pins it on exhaustion. How could a mother not love her own child?
The thing is, Violet never seems to NEED Blythe. She is always reaching for daddy and doesn’t seem to notice the things he can’t provide like the around-the-clock nursing that only Blythe can manage. Years pass and this feeling that Blythe has can’t be shaken. There is something wrong with this child.
Enter Sam. If you have any doubts over your ability to be a mother, why not test the theory out by having another child? That’s exactly what Blythe does. She never shares her full intentions with Fox but secretly she wants to prove that she is a good mother and that a different child will see that. Sam is the baby she’s always wanted. He nuzzles into her, and doesn’t turn away like Violet did. He smiles when he sees her and looks to her for comfort. When she sees her son’s goofy grin, she smiles from ear to ear. While all of this is going on, Violet and her father also notice and Blythe is left wondering if there is something wrong with her to feel such dread whenever her daughter enters the room. How can Blythe not let this affect them? Then, the unthinkable happens.
What a book! This is a brutally honest look at motherhood. These characters are not depicted in a good light and some might think that Blythe’s aversion to her own daughter is way over-the-top but anyone who’s had a few rough years with a baby knows that it is right on the money. My daughter did not sleep through the night until age four and required two feedings an hour for years. So long that the doctor had her checked for a heart condition thinking she was expending too much energy and therefore requiring more food. This book triggered me in so many ways and yet I kept flipping those pages.
Many have described The Push as being compulsively readable. I agree 100%. It’s gritty and truthful and not at all pretty but it was impossible to put down. If you enjoyed Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage then you will want to read this one.
Also, Ashley Audrain has another book coming out in 2022, The Whispers.
For more reviews, visit my blog: Book Chatter. show less
Ooohhh...this was entirely different than I expected and that's a compliment. I think it's better if you don't know much going into it. It's not a pulpy beach read, nor is it a thriller. It's...complicated, nuanced, and challenging.
This one would be a great book club pick and an interesting discussion. There are many bits ripe for discussion - mother/daughter relationships, what happens to a duo when a baby makes three, parent/child dynamics, sibling dynamics, child abuse, nature/nurture, show more child psychology, and even the complicated feelings and social contract of pregnancy.
Although I've read countless forgettable derivatives of the unreliable narrator by now, this one is more than most of its type. The Push is intelligent and gets credit for having something to say while still being engrossing and readable. Kudos for the cover art and the title too, both of which serve the book well. I finished it a few weeks back now and it's stuck with me since. It will not be for everyone, but the most interesting ones usually aren't. show less
This one would be a great book club pick and an interesting discussion. There are many bits ripe for discussion - mother/daughter relationships, what happens to a duo when a baby makes three, parent/child dynamics, sibling dynamics, child abuse, nature/nurture, show more child psychology, and even the complicated feelings and social contract of pregnancy.
Although I've read countless forgettable derivatives of the unreliable narrator by now, this one is more than most of its type. The Push is intelligent and gets credit for having something to say while still being engrossing and readable. Kudos for the cover art and the title too, both of which serve the book well. I finished it a few weeks back now and it's stuck with me since. It will not be for everyone, but the most interesting ones usually aren't. show less
Addictive, gripping, relentless.
The Push had me helplessly hooked and locked in a stranglehold from the very first chapter to the very last word. If I could’ve read it in one sitting I would have. Every time I had to put it down I was itching to pick it back up again. Every time I turned a page my eyes swooped from top left to bottom right in trepidatious anticipation of what horror was going to be hurled at me next.
Eighty five short chapters written in an easy-to-read style packed with show more hard-to-stomach content, The Push is Blyth’s story interspersed with the childhoods and motherhoods of her grandmother Etta and mother Cecilia, revealing a cycle of maternal abuse, neglect and malfunction.
For me, the reading was pure feeling. Nail-biting tension, escalating dread, heartbreaking sadness, knife-edge apprehension. The images came crowding in after I’d devoured the words and will stay with me for a very long time.
In a world where Violets and Kevins are all too real, The Push is a chilling and thought-provoking work of fiction where maternal instincts are not necessarily a given and not all children are the little angels we believe them to be.
An awesome debut.
Highly recommended. show less
The Push had me helplessly hooked and locked in a stranglehold from the very first chapter to the very last word. If I could’ve read it in one sitting I would have. Every time I had to put it down I was itching to pick it back up again. Every time I turned a page my eyes swooped from top left to bottom right in trepidatious anticipation of what horror was going to be hurled at me next.
Eighty five short chapters written in an easy-to-read style packed with show more hard-to-stomach content, The Push is Blyth’s story interspersed with the childhoods and motherhoods of her grandmother Etta and mother Cecilia, revealing a cycle of maternal abuse, neglect and malfunction.
For me, the reading was pure feeling. Nail-biting tension, escalating dread, heartbreaking sadness, knife-edge apprehension. The images came crowding in after I’d devoured the words and will stay with me for a very long time.
In a world where Violets and Kevins are all too real, The Push is a chilling and thought-provoking work of fiction where maternal instincts are not necessarily a given and not all children are the little angels we believe them to be.
An awesome debut.
Highly recommended. show less
This book. Wow. One of the best psychological suspense books by a debut author that I’ve ever read. Audrain has created a complex narrative in which Blythe shows us both motherhood and the effects of generational trauma. When Blythe becomes a mother to Violet, it’s not how she imagined it would be, and it doesn’t become that bond that others talk of. So she tries again and gives birth to Sam, who she connects with and adores. But when something happens..., and Blythe suspects Violet is show more behind it, no one will listen.
There’s so much more to the story that I want to talk about! This would be an excellent book club read or to pass along to friends. Highly recommend but maybe with a trigger warning for those with small children. show less
There’s so much more to the story that I want to talk about! This would be an excellent book club read or to pass along to friends. Highly recommend but maybe with a trigger warning for those with small children. show less
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- Rating
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- 138
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