ASHLEY AUDRAIN

In her debut novel The Push, Ashley dares us to find the relatable in the worst we can imagine.

You’ll see a lot of reviews likening The Push to Lionel Shriver’s We Need To Talk About Kevin. ‘To be compared to that book… I’m not worthy of that,’ says Canadian Ashley. ‘I have this nightmare she’ll be like, “OK, let’s see what the fuss is about,” and pick it up and read it.’

The plot makes comparison understandable: Blythe Connor comes from a line of women who’ve struggled with motherhood and she’s determined to be different. But when her daughter Violet is born, Blythe senses something is wrong with the girl. Her husband Fox dismisses her. Then a horrendous tragedy happens, and the couple are forced to face who their daughter is.

The book, says Ashley, is about ‘what happens when we don’t believe women and what that can do to a person – to feel their experience doesn’t matter or exist.

‘We live in this age where there are more honest conversations about motherhood, but at the same time, we curate what we’re sharing.’

While The Push is dramatic, much of the raw honesty is relatable. Perhaps because Ashley started writing it when her first son was six months old. ‘He had some health challenges, so motherhood looked very different to what I expected. I was learning how to be a mother in a children’s hospital,’ she says.

The knife-edge between relatability and horror keeps the reader hooked. ‘The ambiguity is reflective of life. We don’t really know who our kids are, they reveal themselves to you as they grow. And that is wonderful, but terrifying.’ ‘The Push’ is out 7 January