The Push / Audrain, Ashley

"A tense, page-turning psychological drama about the making and breaking of a family, told through the eyes of 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, supportive mother to her new baby Violet that she herself never had. But in the thick of motherhood's exhausting early days, Blythe doesn't find the connection with her young daughter she expected. She's convinced that something is wrong with Violet--the little girl is distant, rejects affection, and behaves maliciously first towards Blythe and then the children at preschool. Or is it all in Blythe's head? Her growing obsession with her daughter's behaviour causes a rift in her marriage to her eminently rational architect husband, Fox. Fox doesn't see the Violet Blythe sees; he sees a wife who is overwhelmed and can't handle the day-to-day basics of being a mother. And the more Fox dismisses her fears, the more Blythe begins to question her own sanity ... Then her son, Sam, is born and Blythe has a fresh start on motherhood. With Sam, she feels the natural connection she had so longed-for with Violet. And Violet seems to love her little brother, too. Until the day that Violet's behaviour turns tragic. The devastating fall-out forces Blythe to face the truth about herself, her past, and her daughter. The Push is a novel about mothers and their children and about how an unspeakable act can reverberate and change the lives around us forever