"A smart, skewering collection of tales on the subversive sides of womanhood. Failed sisterhood, the shadowy side of modern love, perilous parenting classes and the dangers of inviting an ex-wife to a former husband's wedding are explored with gleeful aplomb." -- Daily Mail (London)

"It's a bracing pleasure to spend time with the fierce women in Naomi Wood's This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things. These stories are hilarious and unapologetic, reckoning with ambition, sex, and climate change. I loved this book." -- Amanda Eyre Ward, New York Times bestselling author of Loves & Liars

"I love this collection! Every story is glorious--full of dark mischief, so funny and unexpected and original." -- Emma Healey, author of Elizabeth Is Missing

"Humane and very funny...[on] our emotional and intellectual storms, and the generosity we are capable of that will keep us all afloat."
-- Jessie Burton, author of The Miniaturist

"Complex, powerful, relatable, hilarious, expansive, REAL tales of modern motherhood. This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things captures the horror and terror of motherhood as well as the joys and tenderness. This book is another little chip off The Shame of not finding motherhood easy or pleasurable all the time - but mostly it is so, so funny. It's a life-affirming companion for any woman who has ever doubted or questioned or winced at her own life choices or deepest feelings. I loved it." -- Emma Jane Unsworth, author of Animals

"Wickedly entertaining....Wood brings a thrilling focus to mothers rekindling sex lives, punishing former lovers, and navigating corporate dynamics while rejecting the confines of the society-sanctioned roles they are expected to play." -- Shelf Awareness

"Wood's perceptive, funny writing and her characters, concerned about loving both their jobs and their children too much even as they worry their kids won't have a world to live in, make for a winning addition to recent, taboo-embracing motherhood fiction like Rachel Yoder's Nightbitch and Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy." -- Booklist

"A whip smart, funny, and pitch-perfect collection of stories about flawed and complex women we actually recognize. This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things is literary fiction at its best, and Naomi Wood a writer at the top of her game."
-- Christie Watson, author of The Language of Kindness and Moral Injuries

"How terrifically exciting to see Naomi Wood flourish in the short story form. It seems the perfect vehicle for her wit, intelligence, mischief and levity. These stories absolutely nail the experiences of women rebelling in worlds calibrated to restrict and undernourish them. They skewer modern parenting, maternity, romance, and morality. It's a beautiful, electrifying thing to witness--a writer so hilariously and so reasonably voicing the unspeakable."
-- Sarah Hall, author of The Beautiful Indifference

"A socially astute collection about the pleasures and perils of motherhood... a deft account of the huge toll of trying to have everything. A must-read for working mothers--for whom reading might be a luxury they can't afford." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Nuanced... deliciously complex characters." -- Publishers Weekly

"In these darkly funny tales, we meet mothers in all sorts of circumstances, from struggling with postpartum depression to parenting in a Jurassic Park-style dinosaur habitat. They grapple with their role in society and what it means to be a mom." -- People

"[A] candid collection about imperfect women embracing their messiest instincts." -- The New Yorker

"Astonishingly good... For all their flaws -- and they have lots of them -- the women in these delectable stories are insanely fun to be with because they are so fully imagined and true to the way we live now." -- Associated Press