'Intelligent, moving and darkly comic . . . taking us deftly from serious explorations of trauma and consent to riotously funny scenes of modern life'
The Sunday Times

'Tipped to be THE hit book of 2022'
Daily Mail

'A riveting read about heartbreak, shame and self-acceptance'
Red Magazine, Rising Stars of 2022

'Dazzling . . . one of those novels where you think you're exploring someone else's pain, only to realise you're exploring your own'
Heat, Read of the Week

'A really beautiful portrayal of female friendship'
Times Radio

'Absorbing and clever . . . I fell in love with Mathilda'
Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of The Last Act of Love

'Full of heart, wit and feeling'
Caroline O'Donoghue, author of Promising Young Women

'Utterly brilliant'
Otegha Uwagba, author of We Need to Talk About Money

'A glorious new talent has arrived'
Emma Gannon, author of Olive

'Poignant, haunting (and hilarious!) . . . A clear-eyed heroine for a new generation'
Sam Baker, author of The Shift

'Fizzes with energy, rage and love, burrowing deep into those experiences that define us at our core'
Jessica Moor, author of Keeper

'Will be read for years by any and all young women looking for a friend'
Scarlett Curtis, author of Feminists Don't Wear Pink (and other lies)

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, perfect for fans of Emma Jane Unsworth, Dolly Alderton and Holly Bourne.

"An intelligent, moving and darkly comic debut, taking us deftly from serious explorations of trauma and consent to riotously funny scenes of modern life - it's like Fleabag with a sprinkling of the occult." - The Sunday Times

"Tipped to be THE hit book of 2022" - Daily Mail

"Affecting, clever and blisteringly humorous... a riveting read about heartbreak, female shame and self-acceptance" - Red Magazine

"Hits the nail on the head . . . above all it's a really beautiful portrayal of female friendship." - Times Radio

"Dazzling . . . By turns funny, sharp, raw and overwhelming, this is one of those novels where you think you are exploring someone else's pain, only to realise you are actually exploring your own" - Heat

"Alternately haunting and hilarious . . . an original and zeitgeisty story about grief, friendship, secrets, shame and self-acceptance." - Daily Mail

"It's LOL, ever-so-relatable and will also have you weeping into a snotty tissue. Love, love, love" - Cosmopolitan

"A modern story of grief and loss" - Refinery29

"Bergstrom's prose, and especially the core dynamic of Mathilda and her friends (a coven of voice notes and anxious love) has a sweet verisimilitude that is delightfully frank, (re)inscribing warmth and intimacy for warmth and intimacy's sakes. And if it all seems a bit familiar - the millennial hodgepodge of tarot, bad dates, housemates and female trauma - well, maybe this is also the point. Maybe these stories are more common than we want to believe." - The Skinny

"[A] wry, poignant meditation on female shame, healing and friendship" - Culture Whisperer

"What a Shame is an absorbing experience; the story is strange yet brilliant . . . it's dark and raw and funny, with a woman on an emotionally engulfing journey at its centre . . . like Sorrow and Bliss on acid . . . A real gem." - Well Read with Anna Bonet

"Abigail Bergstrom's darkly funny debut is a sharply observed account of a group of young women finding their way and discovering that they are more powerful than they imagined" - Daily Mail