Cover Image: Hush

Hush

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Member Reviews

This is a tale of motherhood and family. This story was so slow that it dragged so much. I didn’t warm to the characters at all

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An impressive novel, although some parts did drag and go on for too long. It dealt with a plethora of subject matters, including motherhood, family, purpose and ambition, and grief.

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When Stevie leaves London for New York, she is single and she doesn’t really think she will ever be a mother. Nevertheless, when she becomes the godmother to her best friend’s daughter, something starts to change inside her. That’s how she decides to have a child of her own, and to do it via IVF without a partner. Nevertheless, motherhood turns out to be very different from how she had envisaged it. She loves her child Ash, but she struggles to see herself in the role of a mother.

I really enjoyed this book, which turned out to be very honest and not afraid to expose the darkest corners of motherhood. What I didn’t fully enjoy was the very frequent change of time (from past to present to a past which is further back in time etc). Nonetheless, I think it’s an important book and I’d definitely recommend it.

•thanks to #netgalley for the #arc in exchange for an honest review•

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Having not long had a baby myself, I could really relate to this book and the main characters feelings. It was refreshing to read about the overwhelming emotions you have after having a baby, the ones that aren't all sunshine and roses.

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This author is really great. I really loved this book. This tale was highly engrossing and highly recommendable!!

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This is very current read as nowadays more and more women are choosing to have children on their own for whatever reason and the subject matter is dealt with so well. Our protagonist Stevie is a very realistic character which I’m sure many can relate to . I loved the NY / London setting however it did take a while to get used to the switching of timelines and what was going on. .

It’s not a page turner by any means and it did lack a bit of plot but it’s very well written and I’d definitely read more from the author in the future .

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A beautiful and dramatic read presenting the various and at times conflicting aspects of yearning for a child and the actual motherhood.

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A sensitive, layered portrayal of the newborn stage, this novel deals with maternal ambivalence, the complexity of women's desires, and of course the NY-London push-pull.

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When Stevie left London for New York, she had no idea that in five years she’d have a wildly successful career, a glittering social life and many good friends. After several breakups she’s lacking a partner and, in her late thirties, her biological clock is ticking loudly. When her IVF is a success, she transfers back to London and awaits the birth of her desired baby girl. Then the baby is born. It’s a boy and Stevie is plunged into a dark postnatal depression.

That’s the plot of Hush, summed up in a brief paragraph. It is so, so much more. This is a beautifully written, brutally realistic description of the early, sleep deprived, full of self doubt days of motherhood. Motherhood is also a theme examined on many different levels: Stevie’s friends, her sister and her own mother. Hush also shows the subtle prejudices women face in the workplace. For instance, Lex asks if a job candidate is a mother and how old she is even though he knows those are illegal questions. Stevie’s oldest sister has had to choose between staying at home with her children and her career. Always in the background is the concept of family: single parents, grandparents, friends, gay relationships and friends. Just what makes a family?

It is hard to believe that this jewel of a novel is Kate Maxwell’s debut. Told in alternating chapters of past and present that slowly weave together, this is an amazing journey of self discovery, a perfect book club choice. I loved it! 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Little, Brown Book Group UK and Kate Maxwell for this ARC.

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A superb novel, hugely impressive debut. Hush examines the complexities of one woman's life as she has a child, alone, something she's always wanted, only to find the birth of her son feels alien, shutting her out of a vibrant work life she loved so much and changing her identity. This is an honest, raw and engrossing story, a love letter to NYC and ambition, the difficulties of motherhood and family. I was completely drawn into Stevie's world, her sadness, her shifting confusion of wants and needs.

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A beautiful novel about motherhood, and mostly how it differs from the traditional image. I think this is a very important book, and Stevie's experiences felt very real.
The end became a little too plot twist-y for me, unfortunately.

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'Hush' is a fresh read on the theme of motherhood through the main protagonist, Stevie, a successful career woman living the dream in New York who chooses single parenthood simply because she has always wanted a baby. And so she embarks on IVF. But with the connection to her baby not happening overnight and the adjustment difficult Stevie begins to doubt herself and wonders if she has what it takes. Meanwhile, her past comes slowly to light revealing complexities and helping us to understand Stevie's relationships better. This keeps the story interesting right up to the big reveal at the end.
The message of this book is that there is no one perfect way of being a mother.

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A layered and compelling book, Maxwell explores the weight of expectation, single motherhood, career and the legacy of intergenerational trauma.

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A fantastic novel showing the push and pull of motherhood, career identity and what it means to be a woman with multiple sides ... This book will stay with you long after you've finished it, and in the most delicious way!

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Realistic fictional look at the challenges and demands of motherhood - in this case, single motherhood, particularly the first several months postpartum. The story follows Stevie as she navigates relationships - both platonic and romantic, her desire for a child but then ambivalence once her son is born, and her complicated relationships with her parents and sisters, all while trying to manage her career aspirations. The story is well-written and really gets at the incredibly difficult adjustment to motherhood in the first few months after birth. I really liked and found effective the alternating between Stevie’s life before and after motherhood. I found these timelines quite easy to follow but perhaps headings would have been useful for the reader. In addition, I found that the novel could have been shorter in length, particularly the storyline of her life before motherhood. There is a good twist in the story and there is a satisfying ending.

Thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK and Netgalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Note to the publisher: I momentarily forgot that a review of this book is not to be shared to social media (and I assume Goodreads) until two weeks before publication and had shared this review to Twitter. I quickly deleted the Twitter and Goodreads post very shortly after posting. On the May 12 publication date, I wil post the review to https://instagram.com/stephanielikesbooks?igshid=16ckcvnofc6a0 https://twitter.com/steph7149 and https://www.goodreads.com/stephanielikestoread1

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3.5 stars
By the end of this book, I was feeling strangely emotional towards Stevie.
Seeing her journey from busy city girl, to a lone parent at home and struggling.
To be honest, I felt as if I raced through the New York part to get to the days of young baby, and being overwhelmed.
It does not sugar coat anything, and it's all the better for it.
The family dynamics and relationships were also a high point of the story.
Definitely one I'll be recommending.

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I absolutely loved this book!!! The empathy I felt for Stevie throughout this book was because of the connection to motherhood and choosing to have a child through IVF. Stevie is tough- although she has her moments of weakness she eventually prevails as a parent. It's a touching breakdown of what it takes to be a mother, a sister, a daughter and human. It was such a beautiful humbling book that I now look at my relationships with a greater adoration.
The links between Rebecca, Jess and Stevie are tied stronger through the book which I liked and the sisterhood is dissected so well- I couldn't put the book down.
It's a brilliant book (although it did get a bit slow at moments and wordy) so I have rated it 4/5 stars.

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"Hush" is Kate Maxwell's debut novel and it's an admirable one. The author explores the realities of single motherhood with its struggles that are often left unspoken, like not bonding with the child instantly or not coping well with crying, as well as being, what it feels like, trapped at home and simultaneously being too proud or too stuck to ask for help.

I think it's great to portray an independent route to motherhood in literature, normalising having children on your own terms, utilising the resources that are available. I also appreciate that it's not sugar-coated, as "Hush" does not shy away from difficult experiences, doubts, unsuccessful inseminations and the pain that comes with them.

"Hush" has an interesting structure of interwoven chapters, in which the readers witness reminiscences of Stevie's days in New York, as well as her current struggles in London. There's an atmospheric clash of fast-paced, connections-driven reality of NYC, experienced from the perspective of someone who's well off, and London tinted by what it seems like a postpartum depression and lack of support.

An experienced reader will also notice the little hints of the upcoming reveal of the well-kept family secret that stirred up familial relations quite a bit, even though as readers we can only rely on the first-person perspective. It then becomes an investigation of not when but how the truth about Stevie's past and present will be revealed.

It was an enjoyable read, balancing well the moments of lightheartedness and sorrow, evoking a full spectrum of feelings. I think it speaks of Kate Maxwell's talent and craft as a fiction writer.

However, to me "Hush" felt a bit rushed towards the end, the closing of some storylines forced and much different from the pace of the previous chapters. I don't know why the author decided to go with what came across as a compulsory "happily ever after" trope, considering the realistic lens of motherhood, abandonment, unspoken family secrets, already executed so skilfully. Should the ending be a bit more ambiguous and not so fast-forward, I would definitively give "Hush" a 5 star review.

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