This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things
Winner of the 2023 BBC National Short Story Award
-
- £5.99
Publisher Description
'Excellent' IRISH TIMES
'Witty and biting and brilliant' i PAPER
'Full of dark mischief' EMMA HEALEY
'Hilarious' EMMA JANE UNSWORTH
WINNER OF THE BBC NATIONAL SHORT STORY AWARD
A mother has an unexpected outburst at a corporate therapy session for working parents. A couple finally get time to rekindle their relationship and make an ill-advised home movie. A pregnant film director plots revenge on the actress who betrayed her. A woman deliberately causes conflict at her ex's wedding.
These powerful and funny stories illuminate the lives of untamed women. They explore how society wants us to behave - and what happens when we refuse . . .
'Whip-smart' CHRISTIE WATSON
'Humane and very funny' JESSIE BURTON
'Clever and illuminating' LUCY CALDWELL
'Wonderful' DAILY MAIL
'Read it and riot' MARIANNE LEVY
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The characters in this nuanced if slight collection from Wood (The Godless Boys) are loosely connected by themes of motherhood and the tensions brought about by having children. The narrator of "A/A/A/A," separated from her husband, agrees to accompany her friend Marissa to Paris for the day, without telling her husband what she's up to. Her secrecy leads her to ruminate about the limits of a parent's obligations, prompting Marissa to respond, "We all want to leave. No one wants to stay. But they're the grand love affair in the end. The kids." In "Lesley, in Therapy," the title character cuts her maternity leave short while dealing with postpartum depression. Her nanny, an older Jamaican woman, tells Lesley she's "better off at work than wanting to dash the baby's brains out on the kitchen counter." In "Flatten the Curve," set during the Covid-19 pandemic, Deborah navigates lockdown with her family and develops a crush on her neighbor, the father of her daughter's best friend. Hints of consequential drama suffuse most of the stories, and the characters are deliciously complex, but too often the entries end abruptly. Ultimately, this one's a bit underwhelming.
