Abigail Bergstrom

'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

A dazzling, bold and funny debut

What a Shame

sina (she/her) 

Because pain gets us all in the end, doesn't it? We all must suffer eventually. The only question is: when?

'The best way to get over someone is to get under someone' is complete and utter bollocks, but I'm giving it a go anyways.

'If I blink for too long, it'll all be over. My life will have unwrapped itself when I wasn't lookong. I'll be left, this woman frozen in a picture that I don't even remember painting. [...]' 

You, who humiliate and shame. You, who create fear. You, who fail. You, who say nothing to defend us in the pub. You, who talk over us in meetings. You, who think we were asking for it. You, who believe women are equal now. You, who watched and waited until we were just drunk enough. You, who beat us to a pulp with your fast fists. You, who slowly and emotionally undo us, piece by piece. You, who think we are weak and vulnerable and defenceless. You, who are mistaken.

Happiness is something we can construct online; it doesn't need to be real there.

'Finding a man cannot be the aim. If it is, you're going to be incredibly disappointed with life. Whether you find him or not. They're often not what they're cracked up to be, and they also die, dear.'

'No one is ever fine,' Georgia says. 'That's just something people say. People are very rarely just fine, so stop saying that all the time.' 

What a Shame quotes

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