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Selfish Girls

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What to expect

✨'I read this book obsessively, that's how much I adored it . . . a dark, messy and beautiful story about family, love and sisterhood' STYLIST✨
✨'A suspenseful thriller and a subtle portrait of domestic interactions, with a healthy dose of humour and hope offsetting its darker moments' HARPER'S BAZAAR
✨'Bergstrom's prose has a rangy, off-the-cuff immediacy, as though you are reading what is happening from inside each character's skin' Daily Mail ✨
✨'A dark, deeply intimate exploration of sisterhood in all it's messy, complex glory. Beautifully written and thoroughly compelling' Yomi Adegoke, Sunday Times bestselling author of The List✨
✨'Sharply real and ethereal, as though reading this novel enters you into a deep dream-like state' Emma Gannon, Sunday Times bestseller✨
✨'Selfish Girls is an outstanding novel, pithy and singular, gloriously dark and compelling, a must read! Salena Godden, author of Mrs Death Misses Death✨
✨'Bergstrom is a new voice but sure to be an enduring one' Caroline O'Donoghue ✨
✨'If anyone is qualified to write about what it means to be a young woman in Britain today, it's Abigail Bergstrom' Sunday Times✨

✨a DAZED best summer read 2025✨

NOTHING HURTS LIKE FAMILY.

Ines is reluctantly moving home on the edge of a breakdown, her childhood sweetheart in tow. He's only ever wanted what was best for her.

Gwen is elated that her prodigal daughter has returned.

Dylan is still licking her wounds from a rejection she can't forget.

And Emma is quietly suffocating in the perfect marriage she wanted so badly.

They were inseparable once. But that was a long time ago. Now, they're back in the Welsh town where they grew up, peeling back the layers of a once forgotten, haunting past. What they find may be the end of them...

Uninhibited, claustrophobic and emotionally complex, Selfish Girls spans generations, buried resentments, and an unexpected love story. It is a clear-eyed portrait of a dysfunctional family and the pain we inflict on those we love most.

Readers have fallen in love with Selfish Girls


'A must read, multigenerational family saga exploring trauma, love, hardship and identity. What Bergstrom has achieved here is outstanding. I can't recommend it highly enough'⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Reader Review

'One of my most anticipated reads of the year . . . and it didn't disappoint. Bergstrom writes with such rawness and her characters have such vulnerability that you can't help but fall in love with them' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Reader Review

'Oh my god, she's done it again. It's exquisite. 10 out of 10. No notes . . . we're in our sad girl summer era, and this book is the perfect accompaniment' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Reader Review

'My, oh, my, what a book! Full of action and angst, this is not to be missed . . . absolutely fabulous!' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Reader Review

'Harrowing and painful at times, but also beautiful' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Reader Review

Critics Review

Anyone who has a sister knows what a treasured, complex, fraught and precious bond it is - a theme that Abigail Bergstrom puts at the heart of her new psychologically charged novel Selfish Girls. Following the lives of close-knit siblings growing up in a dysfunctional household in a small Welsh town, the narrative unravels across generations as each character navigates the legacy of family trauma and the complexities of female relationships. With a central mystery to uncover, this is at once a suspenseful thriller and a subtle portrait of domestic interactions, with a healthy dose of humour and hope offsetting its darker moments
Harper's Bazaar
I read this book obsessively, that's how much I adored it . . . a dark, messy and beautiful story about family, love and sisterhood
Stylist
The story and characters felt both sharply real and ethereal at times, as though reading this novel enters you into a deep dream-like state. Complicated women, with all their intricate elements, are my favourite people to read about
Emma Gannon, SUNDAY TIMES bestseller
Selfish Girls is an outstanding novel, pithy and singular, gloriously dark and compelling, a must read!
Salena Godden
Sisterhood at its darkest and it's most beautiful - every time you think you understand, Bergstrom reveals a new, breathtaking layer
Monika Radojevic
If anyone is qualified to write about what it means to be a young woman in Britain today, it's Abigail Bergstrom
Sunday Times
If anyone is qualified to write about what it means to be a young woman in Britain today, it's Abigail Bergstrom
Caroline O'Donoghue, SUNDAY TIMES bestseller
One of the cleverest and boldest writers I've ever read
Scarlett Curtis
I'm not exaggerating when I say this is literally the best book I've read in YEARS. And that's coming from a Gen Z with the attention span of a cat with a laser
Shit You Should Care About
An exceptionally clever and moving portrait of the messy realities of sisterhood - it took my breath away
Olivia Petter
A dark, deeply intimate exploration of sisterhood in all it's messy, complex glory. Beautifully written and thoroughly compelling
Yomi Adegoke, SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author of THE LIST
Author Abigail Bergstrom
Narrator Ffion Aynsley
Duration 8 hours and 50 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781399719513
Format x-book®
Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
Genre Family life fiction, Humorous fiction
Availability AU, GB, IE

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