Allison Pearson

Kate Reddy, a hedge fund manager and mother of two, struggles to juggle her professional and personal lives and to balance--often unsuccessfully--on the tightrope of work and home.

The Life of Kate Reddy, Working Mother : a Novel

I Don't Know how She Does it

"Allison Pearson's brilliant debut novel, I Don't Know How She Does It, was a New York Times bestseller with four million copies sold around the world. Called "the definitive social comedy of working motherhood" (The Washington Post) and "a hysterical look--in both the laughing and crying senses of the world--at the life of Supermom" (The New York Times), I Don't Know How She Does It introduced Kate Reddy, a woman as sharp as she was funny. As Oprah Winfrey put it, Kate's story became "the national anthem for working mothers." Seven years later, Kate Reddy is facing her 50th birthday. Her children have turned into impossible teenagers; her mother and in-laws are in precarious health; and her husband is having a midlife crisis that leaves her desperate to restart her career after years away from the workplace. Once again, Kate is scrambling to keep all the balls in the air in a juggling act that an early review from the U.K. Express hailed as "sparkling, funny, and poignant...a triumphant return for Pearson." Will Kate reclaim her rightful place at the very hedge fund she founded, or will she strangle in her new "shaping" underwear? Will she rekindle an old flame, or will her house burn to the ground when a rowdy mob shows up for her daughter's surprise (to her parents) Christmas party? Surely it will all work out in the end. After all, how hard can it be?"--

A Novel

How Hard Can It Be?

Deliciously clever and touching, with a compelling twist, I THINK I LOVE YOU asks what happens when the man you thought you loved turns out to be somebody else... In her bestselling debut, I Don't Know How She Does It, Allison Pearson spoke to mothers everywhere. Now, in I Think I Love You, she is back with her pitch-perfect ability to observe our lives, loves and relationships. We enter the world of two unforgettable friends: Petra and Sharon, in 1970s South Wales, who live for David Cassidy. His fan magazine is the girls' Bible and they memorize every word that he sings and writes, in the hope of becoming the future Mrs Cassidy. But unbeknownst to Petra, and to millions of other hopefuls, David's letters may not be all his own work. The secret lies with Bill Finn, English graduate turned reluctant pop journalist, whose job it is to compile the Ultimate David Cassidy Quiz. Top prize: the trip of a lifetime, to meet your one and only love. Over two decades later, bruised by grief, Petra is living with her thirteen-year-old daughter, who has her own teen crush. By sheer chance - unless you believe in destiny - Petra discovers that the questions which obsessed her back in 1974 are suddenly very much alive. And Bill, successful in business but never in love, has some confessions of his own... I Think I Love You is a classic story of friendship across the decades. A romantic comedy with a broken heart, it is Allison Pearson at her humane and captivating best.

I Think I Love You

A Comedy about Failure, a Tragedy about Success

I Don't Know How She Does It

La Vida frenética de Kate

Deliciously clever and touching, with a compelling twist, I THINK I LOVE YOU asks what happens when the man you thought you loved turns out to be somebody else... In her bestselling debut, I Don't Know How She Does It, Allison Pearson spoke to mothers everywhere. Now, in I Think I Love You, she is back with her pitch-perfect ability to observe our lives, loves and relationships. We enter the world of two unforgettable friends: Petra and Sharon, in 1970s South Wales, who live for David Cassidy. His fan magazine is the girls' Bible and they memorise every word that he sings and writes, in the hope of becoming the future Mrs Cassidy. But unbeknownst to Petra, and to millions of other hopefuls, David's letters may not be all his own work. The secret lies with Bill Finn, English graduate turned reluctant pop journalist, whose job it is to compile the Ultimate David Cassidy Quiz. Top prize: the trip of a lifetime, to meet your one and only love. Over two decades later, bruised by grief , Petra is living with her thirteen-year-old daughter, who has her own teen crush. By sheer chance - unless you believe in destiny - Petra discovers that the questions which obsessed her back in 1974 are suddenly very much alive. And Bill, successful in business but never in love, has some confessions of his own... I Think I Love You is a classic story of friendship across the decades. A romantic comedy with a broken heart, it is Allison Pearson at her humane and captivating best.

Que deviennent les rêves de nos 13 ans ? 1974. La bible de Petra, c'est le journal des fans de David Cassidy, chanteur à minettes et vedette d'une série télévisée, qui déchaîne les foules de groupies. Chaque fois que Petra et sa meilleure amie Sharon reçoivent le journal, elles le dévorent et s'imaginent leur rencontre avec " David!!! ", dont elles sont bien sûr folles amoureuses. Lorsque le magazine lance un grand concours pour gagner des places de concert et un accès aux coulisses, les deux amies se jettent dessus. Problème : la mère de Petra, violoncelliste autoritaire et allergique à la variété, voit d'un très mauvais oeil cette passion de midinette. Vingt ans plus tard, Petra, séparée de son mari, vient de perdre sa mère et voit sa fille vivre ses 13 ans et son premier coup de foudre à son tour. Face à sa fille ado, Petra est nostalgique, elle a besoin d'un nouveau souffle, de légèreté et de tendresse... C'est à ce moment-là qu'elle découvre, dans une pile de lettres cachées chez sa mère, un courrier qui aurait pu changer sa vie. Et qui va lui redonner envie de rêver.

roman

Je crois que je t'aime

'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

The Life of Kate Reddy, Working Mother

Nie wiem, jak ona to robi

ritorna con questo nuovo romanzo ricostruendo con grande autenticità e humour entusiasmi ed emozioni, fragilità e batticuori di ogni adolescente innamorata pazza del proprio idolo. Brillante e spiritosa, Credo di amarti è una commedia romantica sulla ricerca del grande amore e la forza inesauribile dell'amicizia.

Credo di amarti

1974. Petra e sua melhor amiga Sharon estão desesperadas para vencer um concurso cujo prêmio é poder conhecer o seu ídolo David Cassidy, da Família Dó-Ré-Mi. Mesmo com toda aversão que sua mãe tem à música pop, Petra mantém um verdadeiro acervo de Cassidy e se considera sua fã número 1. Enquanto isso, Bill tem uma vida muito frustrante escrevendo para uma revista dedicada a Cassidy. Pior que isso, escrevendo como se fosse o próprio Cassidy. Ele acha esse culto ao cantor um grande exagero e não consegue entender as extremadas reações das fãs. Anos depois, em 1998, Petra está com quase 40 anos, se divorciando do pai da sua filha e sua mãe acabou de morrer. Ao limpar o armário da mãe, ela encontra uma carta que a declara vencedora do concurso que fez ela e Sharon enlouquecerem 24 anos antes. As amigas então entram em contato com a editora da revista para reaver o prêmio, mesmo tanto tempo depois. E o que parecia ser uma loucura vira uma ida a Las Vegas com tudo pago para conhecer Cassidy. E Bill, agora editor, é quem vai acompanhá-las. Divertido e emocionante, Eu acho que amo você fala sobre amizades verdadeiras que, apesar das diferenças, ultrapassam os anos, e também do quase sempre difícil relacionamento mãe e filha. Tudo isso através da divertida relação de idolatria que todo adolescente tem pelo seu ídolo.

Eu acho que amo você

The new novel from the best-selling author of I Don’t Know How She Does It takes us on an unforgettable journey into first love, and—with the emotional intensity and penetrating wit that have made her beloved among readers all over the world—reminds us of how the ardor of our youth can ignite our adult lives. Wales, 1974. Petra and Sharon, two thirteen-year-old girls, are obsessed with David Cassidy. His fan magazine is their Bible, and some days his letters are the only things that keep them going as they struggle through the humiliating daily rituals of adolescence—confronting their bewildering new bodies, fighting with mothers who don’t understand them at all. Together they tackle the Ultimate David Cassidy Quiz, a contest whose winners will be flown to America to meet Cassidy in person. London, 1998. Petra is pushing forty, on the brink of divorce, and fighting with her own thirteen-year-old daughter when she discovers a dusty letter in her mother’s closet declaring her the winner of the contest she and Sharon had labored over with such hope and determination. More than twenty years later, twenty pounds heavier, bruised by grief and the disappointments of middle age, Petra reunites with Sharon for an all-expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas to meet their teen idol at last, and finds her life utterly transformed. Funny, moving, full of beautiful observations about the awakenings of both youth and middle age, Allison Pearson’s long-awaited new novel will speak across generations to mothers and daughters and women of all ages.

Look, I was doing OK. I got through the oil spill on the road that is turning forty. Lost a little control, but I drove into the skid just like the driving instructors tell you to and afterwards things were fine again, no, really, they were better than fine. Kate Reddy had it all: a nice home, two adorable kids, a good husband. Then her kids became teenagers (read: monsters). Richard, her husband, quit his job, taking up bicycling and therapeutic counseling: drinking green potions, dressing head to toe in Lycra, and spending his time—and their money—on his own therapy. Since Richard no longer sees a regular income as part of the path to enlightenment, it’s left to Kate to go back to work. Companies aren’t necessarily keen on hiring 49-year-old mothers, so Kate does what she must: knocks a few years off her age, hires a trainer, joins a Women Returners group, and prepares a new resume that has a shot at a literary prize for experimental fiction. When Kate manages to secure a job at the very hedge fund she founded, she finds herself in an impossible juggling act: proving herself (again) at work, dealing with teen drama, and trying to look after increasingly frail parents as the clock keeps ticking toward her 50th birthday. Then, of course, an old flame shows up out of the blue, and Kate finds herself facing off with everyone from Russian mobsters to a literal stallion. Surely it will all work out in the end. After all, how hard can it be? Hilarious and poignant, How Hard Can It Be? brings us the new adventures of Kate Reddy, the beleaguered heroine of Allison Pearson's groundbreaking New York Times bestseller I Don't Know How She Does It.

Humorný román o ženě, která zvládá vše – je milující manželkou, oddanou matkou dvou dětí, šestileté holčičky Emily a ročního Bena, a také vysoce postavenou správkyní portfolia cestující po celém světě a uzavírající milionové obchody. Doma si hraje s dětmi, stará se o ně, když jsou nemocné, jezdí na nákupy, vyzvedává z kroužků, a zároveň musí stihnout jen tak mimochodem pracovně odletět třeba na jiný kontinent. A taky je vdaná. A na to často zapomíná. Ptáte se, jak to všechno dokáže? Hlavní hrdinka Kate se dennodenně ptá sama sebe na totéž... Důvody, proč nechat práce & odstěhovat se na venkov: 1/ Lepší kvalita života. 2/ Za cenu naší Hackneyské Hrůzy bychom si mohli koupit dům s hudebním salonkem a vlastní zvonicí. 3/ Příležitost být opravdová matka, která má čas milovat manžela, porozumět srdcím svých dětí a zjistit, jak se používá ta zatracená pláštěnka na kočár. Důvody, proč nenechat práce & neodstěhovat se na venkov: 1/ Zbláznila bych se. 2/ Viz výše. 3/ Viz výše.

Nechápu, jak to dokáže

Kate Reddy steht vor ihrem 50. Geburtstag und fragt sich, wo ihr Leben geblieben ist. Dabei ist das Alter längst nicht ihre einzige Sorge: Kate plagt sich mit zwei Teenagern, kümmert sich um kränkelnde Schwiegereltern und eine Mutter, die zunehmend auf Hilfe angewiesen ist. Und sie sucht den Wiedereinstieg ins Berufsleben, da ihr Mann beschlossen hat, dem Hamsterrad ade zu sagen und die Kunst der Achtsamkeit zu erlernen. Als sich dann auch noch eine verflossene Liebe bei Kate meldet, wird es kompliziert ... Weitere berührende Wunderraum-Geschichten finden Sie in unserem kostenlosen aktuellen Leseproben-E-Book »Einkuscheln und loslesen – Bücher für kurze Tage und lange Nächte«

Roman

Wenn’s weiter nichts ist

Ma come fa a far tutto? (vita impossibile di una mamma che lavora)

Meet Kate Reddy, fund manager and mother of two. A victim of time famine, 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 e-mail lover, and you have a woman juggling so many balls that some day soon 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.

Allison Pearson

About

Books

Join the club