I don't know how she does it

I DON'T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT is a comedy about failure, a tragedy about success; it's the untold story of the professional working mum at the start of the 21st century. Without a doubt the hottest thing since BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY, but think Bridget Jones's grownup, sophisticated, literary sister with two small children and a full-time City career and you're only partway to the genius of this novel.

A victim of time famine, thirty five year old Kate counts seconds like other women count calories. As she runs between appointments, through her head spools the crazy tape-loop every high flying mother's life: client reports, bouncy castles, Bob the builder, transatlantic phone calls, dental appointments, pelvic floor exercises, flight to New York, sex (too Knackered), and stress-busting massages she always has to cancel (too busy). Factor in a controlling nanny, a chauvinist Australian boss, a long suffering husband, two demanding children and an email lover, and you have a woman juggling so many balls that some day soon something's going to hit the ground.
Pearson brings her sharp wit and compassionate intelligence to this hilarious and, at times, piercingly sad study of the human cost of trying to have it all. Women everywhere are already talking about the Kate Reddy column, which appears in the Daily Telegraph and recommending it to their sisters, mothers, friends and even bewildered partners.
This fictional debut by one of Britain's most gifted journalists is the subject of a movie deal with Miramax rumoured to be for almost $1 million and has sold around the world, sparking bidding in Spain, Germany and Japan.

WINNER. "Newcomer of the Year Award" British Book Awards, February 2003

"What Bridget Jones did for single women, Kate Reddy does for working mothers". This book is for every woman who's ever chaired a meeting one minute and ducked out for an illicit reunion with her children the next. HARPER'S BAZAAR

"Enjoy the laughter, tears and delightful dilemma of She-Who-Must-Be-Good-At-Everything". WOMAN'S DAY

"Heartbreaking"..Anyone who has pumped breast milk in the back of a taxi, or wept quietly into the laundry hamper after arriving home too late for a good night kiss, will recognize herself in this sharply observed, sometimes painfully sad story about the sordid disparity between the ideal and the reality of 'having it all" NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

We all want to have our cake and eat it too, but Kate Reddy shows us that it comes at a price. 'I don't know how she does it' shows us how human we are. We can all relate to Kate on some level, as a child or a mother. She will make you cry, laugh, take a good look at yourself and the choices you have made and take you down memory lane at the same time. Fabulous and refreshing!