I Don't Know How She Does It

A victim of time famine, Kate Reddy 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, two children and an email lover, and you have a woman juggling so many balls that some day something's going to hit the ground. ''A bible for the working mother'' OPRAH WINFREY ''It may change your life'' OBSERVER''I can''t think of a woman who wouldn''t want this book'' INDIA KNIGHT The twentieth anniversary edition of Allison Pearson''s first novel that became a global sensation, now with a new introduction from the author. Meet Kate Reddy, hedge-fund manager, wife and mother of two. Always time-poor, Kate must monitor nine currencies in five time zones but also keep in step with the Teletubbies. Factor in a manipulative nanny, piggish colleagues, a long-suffering husband, her quietly aghast in-laws, two needy children and an email lover, and you have a woman juggling so many things that some day something''s going to hit the ground. And that something might just be Kate. 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. ''The definitive social comedy of working motherhood'' WASHINGTON POST