The Push

Reviews / Votes

Utterly addictive -- Paula Hawkins The mother of all thrillers! Like The Girl on the Train - but better! * Daily Mail * A gripping debut that explores and manipulates the fears and insecurities of mothers everywhere . . . Well thought out, vividly realised and gripping * Guardian * An inventive twist on the psychological thriller formula . . . Audrain sustains the suspense expertly through assured handling of her unravelling protagonist's voice * Sunday Times * Ashley dares us to find the relatable in the worst we can imagine . . . the knife-edge between relatability and horror keeps the reader hooked * Grazia * I was gripped from the first word to the last. I've been wanting a book to take me back to how I felt when I first read We Need to Talk About Kevin. When you close the book but can't function until you know how it ends ... I really recommend this one -- Dawn O'Porter I was gripped . . . dazzling and gloriously complete -- Daisy Buchanan The Push was a poetic, propulsive read that set my nerves jangling in both horror and recognition. I read it one sitting and it stayed with me for days afterwards. Not to be missed -- Lisa Jewell A compelling, compulsively readable thriller that never lets up and will keep you guessing right to the very last page * Daily Express * Powerful and immersive -- Emma Stonex, author of <i>The Lamplighters</i> I was completely engrossed in The Push from the very first page. So tense, so all-encompassing! It's a jet-black story of motherhood, inheritance and expectations, and I loved it -- Abigail Dean, author of <i>Girl A</i> A provocative, compulsive novel about modern motherhood * Vogue * This has all the hallmarks of a best seller . . . Riveting . . . An intelligent, painstaking and thought-provoking account of parenting that will move anyone * Daily Mail * A bold exploration of motherhood, as well as a suspenseful thriller, this will have you in its grips from the very first page - and will stay with you long after you've put it down. Do not miss * Heat, 'Book of the Week' * I read it in two nights . . . it's giving us The Girl On The Train, it's giving us We Need to Talk About Kevin, it's going to be one of the books of the year . . . it has absolutely blown me away . . . it will spark conversation and divide people . . . I can't stop thinking and talking about it -- Candice Brathwaite * BBC Radio 2 * With its riveting prose and deep convictions, Ashley Audrain's The Push had me in its clutches from the first page. Audrain's astute portrayal of motherhood was unsettling in its insights, yet highly entertaining on the page. Complex, nuanced, and unflinching, I inhaled this debut in one sitting -- Karma Brown * bestselling author of Recipe for a Perfect Wife * Audrain nimbly stokes the mystery as to whether nature or nurture is at play in Violet's increasingly hostile disposition. Executed with gripping precision * New York Times * Starkly original and compulsively readable, Ashley Audrain's The Push is a deep dive into the darkest nooks and crannies of motherhood. Raw, visceral, and often disturbing, this is an intense psychological drama that will be embraced by serious book clubs and fans of Lionel Shriver's We Need to Talk About Kevin -- Kristin Hannah You're drawn into this world . . . it is a difficult read but no wonder it's a cause celebre in the publishing world, trust me everyone wants this book . . . a publishing sensation -- Nihal Arthanayake * BBC Radio 5 Live * I was totally hooked. Compelling, addictive, chilling. Smashing read -- Elizabeth Macneal The most thought-provoking exploration of motherhood I've come across since We Need to Talk About Kevin -- Clare Pooley The Push is a freight train of a read - it barrels into you and propels you along, taking you places you're not sure you want to go. I found it disturbing, upsetting, and utterly compelling -- Beth Morrey, author of <i>Saving Missy</i> Intensely absorbing, gripping until the final page, The Push excavates the myths of motherhood, deftly exploring the shape-shifting landscape of parenting, the powerful impact of the past on the present, and the deep unease of our inability to ever fully know even those we hold the closest -- Kim Edwards, bestselling author of <i>The Memory Keeper's Daughter</i> Suspenseful with extreme We Need To Talk About Kevin vibes, this is the Book Club Book that'll have everyone talking next year * Grazia * 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 <i>Anatomy of a Scandal</i> I loved it - such a dark and compelling exploration of motherhood. Absolutely haunting: a brilliant, thought-provoking page-turner -- Caroline Lea The Push is written on the edge of a knife. It's a howl in the face of what we think we know - or want to believe - about motherhood. Relentlessly compelling, distressing and beautiful, Ashley Audrain's debut is the next Gone Girl, with shades of We Need to Talk About Kevin. I devoured it whole -- Marissa Stapley, bestselling author of <i>The Last Resort</i> The Push is not a book you'll be able to forget easily . . . an unputdownable story that will be the book everyone is talking about in 2021 * Grazia * Compelling, beautifully written and wickedly entertaining... A tremendously thought-provoking read -- Liz Nugent, author of <i>Little Cruelties</i> and <i>Lying in Wait</i> Astonishingly good. Beautifully written, gripping, disturbing -- Jane Fallon, author of <i>Queen Bee</i> A tense and unsettling thriller that's immersive, chilling, and provocative. A book that's best read in one sitting -- Iain Reid, author of <i>I'm Thinking of Ending Things</i> Ashley Audrain's The Push is not only a propulsively entertaining, read-in-one-sitting novel, it is also a deeply provocative and fearless look at motherhood written in some of the prettiest prose you'll read all year -- Aimee Molloy, <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author of <i>The Perfect Mother</i> Written with a courage that borders on audacity, and with uncanny emotional and psychological precision, Ashley Audrain's The Push is a taut, tour-de-force literary thriller that draws you in from the very first pages and plunges you into the most harrowing of journeys: parenthood -- Bill Clegg, <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author of <i>Did You Ever Have A Family?</i> A meteoric debut. Ashley Audrain's The Push is a force of nature, an unforgettable arrival that will linger in your heart--shimmer, darken and then haunt you. Every sentence is just so achingly alive. Audrain descends with near pointillistic precision into the gore of motherhood and love. Perhaps if Stephen King had experienced motherhood--the singular exaltation and morbid terror of that state--he might have been able to dream up this book. Wise, monstrous, and tender, The Push operates at a different frequency. It seemed to pulse in my hands. I could not put it down. I could not look away -- Claudia Dey, author of <i>Heartbreaker</i> and <i>Stunt</i> One to watch ... The Push is told from the point of view of Blythe Connor, whose experience of motherhood is not what she hoped for * The Bookseller * Staggering - it is an intoxicating rush of a book that grips you tight from the first few pages and will not let you go * Cambridge Edition * Most anticipated books of 2021 'Pre-order now and thank yourself later' * Marie Claire * A thrilling debut * Harper's Bazaar, This Winter's Best New Releases from Rising Novelists * The Push is a vivid and complex spiral of questioning your grasp on reality, of uttering unspeakable thoughts, when the world tells you it's all in your head. Book blurbs often say they'll be devoured in one sitting - it's rare it proves so true * The Skinny * Suspenseful, dark and intriguing . . . It's going to be a big discussion point in 2021 * Stylist, Book to Watch 2021 * A haunting tale about the expectations and reality of motherhood. Stunning . . . You end up staying up all night to finish The Push * E! Online * Visceral, compulsive and astonishing. I could not put this down -- Raynor Winn, bestselling author of <i>The Salt Path</i> 'Best books to look forward to in 2021' * Cosmopolitan * The chilling novel that caused a bidding frenzy more than lives up to the hype * Red Online * A terrifying, psychological suspense tale of motherhood and nature versus nurture * Sunday Mirror * This chilling tale barrels along towards a dark, thought-provoking ending * Good Housekeeping * The tense, gripping novel - which, after a nine-way bidding war, has already been optioned for film by the producer of ugly-cry-inducing Marriage Story - will stay with you long after you finish the last page * Refinery29 * This psychological family drama will be your next one-sit read . . . you won't want to miss it * Silversurfers * A creepy, nuanced story that, with a growing sense of dread, subverts the ideals of motherhood so often presented as inviolable * Publishers Association * Buckle up for a riveting read . . . will have you alternately whizzing through the pages to see what happens next, and reading slowly with widened eyes * Prima, 'My Book of the Month' * [An] exploration of love, obsession and the dark truths of motherhood * Cosmopolitan, Best Books 2021 * Reminiscent of We Need to Talk About Kevin, Ashley Audrain has delivered a provocative, compulsive novel about modern motherhood * Vogue UK * Compelling . . . A disturbing and complex tale about dysfunctional mother-daughter relationships. It's not always an easy read but it's absolutely one you won't be able to put down * Culturefly * Included in 'Books for 2021' * Sun * The mother of all thrillers! Like The Girl on the Train - but better! * Daily Mail * Utterly mesmerising. Ashley Audrain's powerful debut novel explores the challenges of motherhood and the terrifying isolation of being trapped within a sinister truth that no-one else believes. -- Fiona Valpy, bestselling author of <i>The Beekeeper's Promise</i> One of the most anticipated novels of this year . . . fast-paced, it has the ability to distract you from anything. Exactly what we need right now * Grazia * Written with an unflinching eye and a stylistically sharp, tight economy The Push is a single-sitting read, as suspenseful as any thriller, as thoughtful as any literary novel, with an almost physical force behind each of its turns and revelations. By the end, the reader will feel wrung out in the way only the best of books leaves you. Audrain's debut is a stunning, devastating novel and, frankly, one hell of a way to start a year of reading * Toronto Star * Included in 'Books to Watch 2021' * Evening Standard * Hooks you from the very first page and will have you racing to get to the end -- Book Club Selection * Good Morning America * Included in 'Best New Books' * New York Post * This is a sterling addition to the burgeoning canon of bad seed suspense, from an arrestingly original new voice * Publishers Weekly * This taut and tense hurricane of a debut is best devoured in one sitting * Newsweek * This dazzling debut mixes page-turning suspense with a psychological drama * Working Motheer * Once you start in on this story, it becomes difficult to control yourself. A twisted, tight, and exhilarating drama * Goop * This psychological thriller about a mother's bond with her daughter will keep you turning pages * Woman's Day * This nuanced book challenges the notion of nature versus nurture, and whether a mother's love is enough. It's disturbing, painful and brilliant, holding a mirror up to society * Woman's Weekly * The Push is a thriller that is also a compelling examination of motherhood and of how trauma is passed down through generations * Herald * A tense, chilling dip into the dark side of motherhood . . . The Push is uncomfortable and provocative, like a train wreck that demands your gaze * Washington Post * The most tense, thrilling read that will chill and enthral in equal measure * Sun * Disturbingly brilliant . . . will render you speechless * Woman & Home 'Book of the Month' * A page-turning debut crafted with shrewd expertise - read it before the inevitable screen adaptation * Metro * Unflinching, moving and very, very powerful * Grazia * The clever and powerful psychological thriller everyone has been talking about . . . an unsettling, breathtaking and powerful read about obsession and our deepest fears that will stay with you long after you turn the final page * My Weekly * Audrain has the ability to mesmerise . . . heart-wrenching. A dark, pacy read * My Weekly * A compelling, visceral and bruising portrayal of motherhood that once read cannot ever be forgotten * Woman & Home * A chilling and beautifully written novel that will strike dread into the heart of any new parent. The ending gave me goosebumps -- Mark Edwards, bestselling author of <i>Here To Stay</i> A powerful debut about obsession and our deepest fears . . . will have you hooked * Living North * Exploring the dysfunctional lives of three generations of women, The Push deals with the way damage is handed down * Literary Review * A thought-provoking novel that delves deep into the emotional crevices of motherhood * Courier * Taut and gripping, this is a provocative look at motherhood * Psychologies * The Push is an unsettling and powerful read about obsession and our deepest fears that will stay with you long after you turn the final page * Eastern Daily Press * A gripping and vivid thriller . . . It's easy to understand why The Push has caught the attention of Hollywood film producers * Business Post * Compelling * The Herald * Remarkably told story which I couldn't put down. Deftly drawn characters...What a book! And the last line is creepy, haunting perfection -- Christina Sweeney Baird, author of <i>The End of Men</i> The danger that simmers throughout is so unbearably tense! A wonderful incisive look at maternal guilt ... the effect is staggering -- Imran Mahmood Fasten your seatbelt because this book is a face paced, page turning, psychological drama that will have you on the edge of your seat until the very last line * The Avondhu * Challenges the idyllic picture of motherhood, and will change what you know about being a mother. It is tenacious and really makes you think about what it's like when women aren't taken seriously * Female First * For fans of mum noir, The Push is an unsettling, breathtaking and powerful read about obsession and our deepest fears that will stay with you long after you turn the final page * Eastern Daily Press * This dark, psychological thriller offers such twists and turns that we start to doubt what we believe . . . And that sharp-intake-of-breath ending! * Manx Independent * I didn't sleep for a week after I finished it, but that's a small price to pay for a great book -- Lauren Weisberger, author of <i>The Devil Wears Prada</i> An unflinching examination of motherhood. Audrain lets no one in the Connor family off the hook, yet every character managed to elicit my sympathy. Brilliant, insightful, compassionate, and horrifying. I wish I could read it for the first time over and over. One of the best books I've read all year -- Stephanie Wrobel One of the most talked-about books of the year. This nuanced psychological book will make you question the notion of nature vs nurture. Disturbing, painful and brilliant * Woman & Home * This unsettling debut was so riveting it had me devouring pages and then reading slowly with widened eyes * Prima * Addictively readable . . . shines a disturbing light into the darkest recesses of motherhood * Daily Mail, Must Read Paperbacks * Compulsively readable * Daily Express * An unsettling, breathtaking and powerful read about obsession and our deepest fears that will stay with you long after you turn the final page. * Eastern Daily Press *