What a Shame A dazzling, bold and funny debut

'A brilliant debut' Cariad Lloyd 'Absorbing and clever . . . I fell in love with Mathilda' Cathy Rentzenbrink 'A riveting read about heartbreak, female shame and self-acceptance' Red Magazine 'Full of heart, wit and feeling' Caroline O'Donoghue 'Raw and unexpected and weird and utterly brilliant' Otegha Uwagba The idea of a curse was divisive, but the assertion that I had, for some time now, been 'laden with something dark' was disconcertingly unanimous. I wondered if this was something you also saw in me, if that was why you left. There is something wrong with Mathilda. She's still reeling from the blow of a gut-punch break up and grieving the death of a loved one. But that's not it. She's cried all her tears, mastered her crow pose and thrown out every last reminder of him. But that's not helping. Concerned that she isn't moving on, Mathilda's friends push her towards a series of increasingly unorthodox remedies. Until the seams of herself begin to come undone. Tender, unflinching and blisteringly funny, What a Shame glitters with rage and heartbreak, and offers up the joy of self-acceptance through an extraordinary rite of passage to overcome the prickly heat of female shame. 'A glorious new talent has arrived' Emma Gannon 'Poignant, haunting (and hilarious!) . . . In Mathilda, Bergstrom has created a clear-eyed heroine for a new generation' Sam Baker 'Beautifully written . . . It made me want to voicenote all my friends immediately. I loved it!' Lauren Bravo 'Razor-sharp, compelling and darkly funny. An extraordinary novel' Laura Kay