Description

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

For fans of Fredrik Backman, Virginia Evans and Lisa Ridzen, an astonishing, deeply moving novel about finding beauty in the brevity of life, as narrated by the one who knows it best: Death.

‘This book will change your life’ Joanna Cannon
‘One of the most moving books I’ve read in a long while’ Graeme Simsion
‘The ending left me speechless’ Matthew Quick

Travis lives an unassuming life with his cat in a small English town. Travis also happens to be the cosmic force of Death, visiting people in their final days and hours of life, before shepherding them into whatever happens next.

He listens to their stories, doesn’t judge, and never tries to change anyone’s fate… until he meets a young, single midwife called Dalia and her boisterous eight-year-old daughter, Layla. As he gets closer to this small, seemingly unremarkable family, Travis begins to learn what it is that makes life so worth living, and so what it is that is irrevocably lost in death.

Full of compassion and deep magic, Everything was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt might be a novel about Death, but it’s also about the joy of being alive – appreciating each day we have, from the people around us to the strange wonder of our spinning world.

From the five-star reader reviews:

‘This book has changed me’
‘Completely took my breath away’
‘Absolutely blew me away’
‘It touched me deeply’
‘I want to stand on the rooftops and shout: you MUST read this’

Publisher Review

One of the most original, riveting, and moving books I’ve read in a long while * Graeme Simsion, Sunday Times-bestselling author of The Rosie Project * Ben Reeves repeatedly takes us to life’s most terrifying knife-edge, heartening us with the steady poetry of everyday life. This clever and vivid book made me fall in love with our collective ephemerality. I literally said, “Wow,” about halfway through. The ending left me speechless. * Matthew Quick, Sunday Times-bestselling author of The Silver Linings Playbook * This novel has all the ingredients of unforgettability: a plot you’ve never seen, characters you want to love, writing that glimmers on the page, and a spectacular ending that will smack you in the face with an aching joy. Days later, I’m still brimming. * Monica Wood, bestselling author of How to Read a Book * This is one of the most affecting, original, and unforgettable novels I have ever read. Through the lens of death himself, we confront the highs and lows of the human experience in a way that reminds us how gritty and exquisite it is to live… Absolutely breathtaking, with a perfect twist of an ending. * Sarah Damoff, bestselling author of The Bright Years * This is a book about connection, about noticing. It is about finding joy in the everyday things and accepting that life is finite but embracing it anyway, even the difficult bits. Loved it. — LV Matthews A beautiful debut… the most extraordinary story about living (and dying) and appreciating the life we are blessed with. It’s a story that will genuinely change your life and how you live it * Joanna Cannon, Sunday Times-bestselling author of Three Things About Elise *