This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things

Pre-order release date 4 April 2024

Winner of the 2023 BBC National Short Story Award

In my life, I had always been a good woman; controlling what it was that I wanted. But recently, I had started to notice my bad energy, and I began to follow it, wondering where it would take me . . .

A woman has an unexpected outburst at a corporate therapy session for working mothers. A couple find some long-overdue time to rekindle their relationship and make an ill-advised home movie. A pregnant film director plots revenge on the actress who betrayed her. An ex-wife deliberately causes conflict at her ex-husband's wedding.

This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things illuminates the lives of malicious, subversive and untamed women. Exploring failed sisterhood, dubious parenting and the dark side of modern love, this powerful and funny collection of short stories exposes how society wants women to behave, and shows what happens when they refuse.

Includes the story Comorbidities, winner of the 2023 BBC National Short Story Award.

'Every story is glorious - full of dark mischief, so funny and unexpected and original. Brilliant' Emma Healey
'Terrifically exciting . . . It's a beautiful, electrifying thing to witness - a writer so hilariously and so reasonably voicing the unspeakable' Sarah Hall

Dimensions: 14.5 x 22cm
256 page hardback book