如果成為人母後，一切都不如你所願，甚至發展成你最害怕的情勢呢？

 

　　「Violet的到來，應該是我人生中最幸福的一天，代表新的開始…但當我雙臂一抱到她，我知道，有些事情不太對勁。我一直都曉得自己家族中的女人都不適合當母親，丈夫卻說我不一樣，一定能當個好媽媽。但是女兒給我一種非常不對勁的感覺，究竟是她的問題、還是我的問題？」

 

　　Blythe下定決心要做一個溫暖又善解人意的媽媽，儘管她人生中並沒有適合的範本可以參考，童年回憶中只有因憂鬱症而自殺的外婆，以及在她11歲就拋家棄子的母親。她下定決心不讓同樣的悲劇發生在女兒Violet身上。

 

　　當Violet出生後，筋疲力盡的育兒生活卻完全不同於Blythe所想像的美好。Violet似乎跟一般的小孩完全不一樣，既吵鬧又難帶，在父親面前卻又像個小天使，Blythe提出的所有意見，丈夫Fox都認為是她的胡思亂想。

 

　　幾年後弟弟Sam出生了，Blythe終於在兒子身上找到了她所心心念念的親子連結，Violet也似乎很疼愛這個小弟。沒想到，一場突如其來的噩耗撕裂了她的家庭，也打碎了這場婚姻。當她試圖從這場災難中重新站起時，必須面對的可怕真相一次次地考驗她的認知。

 

　　《The Push》是一本令人戰慄的小說，挑戰人們對於母職天生的觀念，並讓人思考社會對母親們設下的極高標準是否公道。

 

　　(文／博客來編譯)

　　"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, #1 New York Times bestselling author

 

　　"A poetic, propulsive read that set my nerves jangling."

　　-- Lisa Jewell, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Then She Was Gone

 

　　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.