Chick lit readers of the early 2000s may remember Kate Reddy, the woman who seemed to have it all in Allison Pearson's 2002 novel I Don't Know How She Does It. The novel was an international bestseller. Unfortunately I didn't read this book at the time - I didn't start reading the genre until around 2004. But I do recall that it was a popular title, one I should probably add to my TBR list now.
Kate returns in How Hard Can it Be?, the sequel to I Don't Know How She Does It. Now nearing fifty, Kate finds herself juggling life at work with being the mother of teenagers. The novel will be published in September.
Kate Reddy is counting down the days until she is fifty, but not in a good way. Fifty, in Kate’s mind, equals invisibility. And with hormones that have her in shackles, teenage children who need her there but won’t talk to her and ailing parents who aren’t coping, Kate is in the middle of a sandwich that she isn’t even allowed to eat because of the calories.
She’s back at work after a big break at home, because somebody has to bring home the bacon now that her husband Rich has dropped out of the rat race to master the art of mindfulness. But just as Kate is finding a few tricks to get by in her new workplace, her old client and flame Jack reappears – complicated doesn’t even begin to cover it.
How Hard Can It Be? is a coming of age story for turning fifty. It’s about so much more than a balancing act; it’s about finding out who you are and what you need to feel alive when you’ve got used to being your own last priority. And every page will leave you feeling that there’s a bit of Kate Reddy in all of us.
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