It’s been an incredibly exciting 2021 so far for Ashley Audrain, whose taut and thrilling debut The Push was published by Penguin Random House in the US and Canada on the 5th January, and in the UK on the 7th January. It’s only been a week since publication, but The Push has received rave reviews and is now a New York Times and Toronto Star bestseller. We can’t wait to see this literary phenomenon soar to even greater heights.

Kickstarting the excitement was The Globe’s article on ‘how first-time novelist Ashley Audrain secured a multimillion-dollar deal for The Push‘, which recounted Ashley’s whirlwind journey from pitch to publication. The agency was abuzz with anticipation when our very own Director Madeleine Milburn met Ashley in New York in the summer of 2019. Deals were negotiated with Penguin Random House US, UK and Canada in a matter of days, with translation rights sold to 32 additional publishers. Film rights were sold to Heyday Films, producer of the Harry Potter films, after a whopping nine-way auction.

Fast forward to January 2021, and The Push is now out in the world. It hit No. 23 on Amazon US’ Bestselling Books one day after release, and the sparkling endorsements just keep coming. The New York Times called it a ‘taut, chilling debut‘, while The Guardian commented ‘this is a clever concept novel that manipulates and exploits the fears and insecurities almost every mother has‘. The Toronto Star noted that ‘Audrain’s debut is a stunning, devastating novel and, frankly, one hell of a way to start a year of reading.’

We were completely beside ourselves when Good Morning America selected the novel as its January Book Club Pick, and you can follow along on Instagram at @gmabookclub.

The Push has been featured in a deluge of press roundups too. It was included in Vogue’s ‘6 books to watch 2021‘, CrimeReads‘ list of ‘most anticipated Crime Novels 2021‘, the New York Post’s piece on ‘the best new books to read‘, goop magazine’s ‘What goop Staffers Are Talking about This Month‘, Refinery 29‘s ‘Best Books to Put on New Year Resolution Reading List‘, Newsweek’s ‘2021’s Most Highly Anticipated New Books’, USA Today’s ‘5 books not to miss this week‘, The Washington Post’s ‘What to read in 2021‘ , and Lithub’s ‘Most Anticipated Books of 2021‘

Ashley herself was interviewed by a number of news outlets, including Quill and Quire’s feature ‘Book publicist turned breakout author Ashley Audrain on her record-breaking debut novel‘. Ashley was also part of an engaging author panel discussion on the Politics & Prose YouTube channel, and you can watch the video in full here.

We are over the moon for Ashley Audrain, whose debut novel The Push is taking the world by storm. If you haven’t already got your hands on this breathtaking thriller on modern motherhood, you can order a copy here. A huge congratulations, Ashley!