I Don't Know How She Does it

The prequel to How Hard Can It Be?

Meet Kate Reddy, fund manager and mother of two. Always time-poor, Kate counts seconds like other women count calories. Factor in a manipulative nanny, an Australian boss who looks at Kate's breasts as if they're on special offer, a long-suffering husband, her quietly aghast in-laws, two needy children and an email lover, and you have a woman juggling so many balls that some day something's going to hit the ground.

In an uproariously funny and achingly sad novel, Allison Pearson brilliantly dramatises the dilemma of working motherhood at the start of the twenty-first century.

'If you could buy stock in a book, I would stake all my savings on the success of I Don't Know How She Does It. Here at last is the definitive social comedy of working motherhood.' Washington Post

'Funny, fast and full of nail-on-the-head observations' Daily Telegraph

Review: I love Kate Reddy...her tale made me cry twice and laugh often * Independent on Sunday *

If you could buy stock in a book, I would stake all my savings on the success of I Don't Know How She Does It. Here at last is the definitive social comedy of working motherhood * Washington Post *

Refreshingly engaging * Vogue *

Funny, fast and full of nail-on-the-head observations * Daily Telegraph *

A book that made me howl with laughter * The Times *

Searing comedy * New Statesman *

Painfully funny * Heat *

Pearson...never hides her intelligence or apologises for her seriousness of purpose * The Times *

A funny, heartbreaking mirror of the daily lives of mothers * Telegraph Magazine *

Pearson writes with gratifying elegance and endearing self-mockery * New York Times *

Prizes: Short-listed for Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize 2003.