Allison Pearson’s brilliant debut novel, I Don’t Know How She Does It, introduced Kate Reddy, whose story became “the national anthem for working mothers.” (Oprah Winfrey) Now facing her 50th birthday, Kate’s children have turned into impossible teenagers; her mother and in-laws are in precarious health; and her husband is having a midlife crisis that leaves her desperate to restart her career after years away from the workplace. Will she reclaim her rightful place at the very hedge fund she founded, or will she strangle in her new “shaping” underwear? Will she rekindle an old flame, or will her house burn to the ground when a rowdy mob shows up for her daughter’s surprise (to her parents) Christmas party? Surely it will all work out in the end. After all, how hard can it be?