Description

‘Tragically funny, with moments of clarity and wisdom, Newman writes loss and laughter in equally brilliant amounts.’ BONNIE GARMUS

‘Nora-Ephron-style wit…comforting, so funny, moving… one of my favourite books ever’ MARIAN KEYES

‘Dazzling, heart-wrenching, snorty-hilarious… An utter joy to read’ RACHEL JOYCE

‘An absolute masterpiece in characterisation… utterly beautiful.’ JOANNA CANNON

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Who knows you better than your best friend? Who knows your secrets, your fears, your desires, your strange imperfect self?

Edi and Ash have been best friends for over forty years. Since childhood they have seen each other through life’s milestones: stealing vodka from their parents, the Madonna phase, REM concerts, unexpected wakes, marriages, infertility, children. As Ash notes, ‘Edi’s memory is like the back-up hard drive for mine.’

So when Edi is diagnosed with cancer, Ash’s world reshapes around the rhythms of Edi’s care, from making watermelon ice cubes to music therapy; from snack smuggling to impromptu excursions into the frozen winter night. Because life is about squeezing the joy out of every moment, about building a powerhouse of memories, about learning when to hold on, and when to let go.

For fans of Nora Ephron and Sorrow & Bliss, We All Want Impossible Things is a deeply moving, jubilant celebration of life and friendship at its imperfect, radiant, and irreverent best.

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‘You’ll stay up late devouring every word’ KATHERINE HEINY

‘One of the best novels on friendship I’ve ever read’ AJ PEARCE

‘I absolutely adored this…what a beautiful, emotional novel’ JILL MANSELL

‘Shot through with whip-smart humour and boundless compassion. It’s one of the best debuts I’ve read in a long time.’ HANNAH BECKERMAN

Publisher Review

I adored this book. Jubilant, devastating, tender, heartbreaking, I found myself both in tears and 'snorty-laughing'. I know it will be one of those novels I return to time and time again, and recommend to everyone. There is so much love, funniness, honesty, courage, mess, bounce and surprise in this book, and not shred of it is mawkish. Loss might be the central theme but it is also the most robust and glorious affirmation of life. A masterclass on friendship, family love, memory, and the messiness of life and love and dying. Pure genius. * RACHEL JOYCE * Breezy New York Nora-Ephron-style wit meets hospice memoir to create something profoundly beautiful...comforting, so funny, moving but never mawkish and packed with all kinds of love. It's one of my favourite books ever. * MARIAN KEYES * Gloriously funny, utterly heartbreaking, and really just brilliant, We All Want Impossible Things is one of the best novels on friendship I've ever read. I loved it. * AJ PEARCE, author of Dear Mrs Bird * Smart and funny and devastating, We All Want Impossible Things has huge Sorrow and Bliss vibes and I didn't want it to end. * LAURA PEARSON * Devastatingly humorous and humorously devastating, We All Want Impossible Things is an unbelievably brilliant and funny book about friendship, family, food, sex, and death. Catherine Newman serves up a masterclass in narrative - you'll stay up late devouring every word. * Katherine Heiny, author of Early Morning Riser and Standard Deviation * I absolutely adored this...what a beautiful, emotional novel it is, both heart-breaking and heart mending, with flawed, oh-so-human characters and events extolling the joy and pain of love, loss and life-long friendship. * JILL MANSELL * Heart-breaking and heart-warming in equal measure, We All Want Impossible Things is shot through with whip-smart humour and boundless compassion. It's one of the best debuts I've read in a long time. * Hannah Beckerman * A riotously funny and fiercely loyal love letter to female friendship. The story of Edi and Ash proves that a best friend is a gift from the gods.... I laughed while crying, and was left revived. Newman is a comic masterhand and a dazzling philosopher of the day-to-day. * AMITY GAIGE, author of SEA WIFE * We All Want Impossible Things is one of those books I will be buying for everyone I know. A funny, moving, beautifully written book, I laughed and cried in equal measure. It is both a unique and wise take on friendship, love and loss that will stay with me for a very long time. * JENNIE GODFREY, author of The List of Suspicious Things * The funniest, most joyful book about dying - and living - that I have ever read. * K J DELL'ANTONIA, author of the New York Times bestselling The Chicken Sisters * Catherine Newman sees the heartbreak and comedy of life with wisdom and unflinching compassion. The way she finds the extraordinary in the everyday is nothing short of poetry. She's a writer's writer-and a human's human. * KATHERINE CENTER , New York Times bestselling author * 'An absolute heartbreaker of a novel. Catherine Newman's book... is a celebration of life. For anyone who has prepared a hole in their heart for loss, We All Want Impossible Things is a reminder that, in time, that hollowed hallowed space is also there for when the light and love pour back in.' * Laura Zigman, author of Separation Anxiety * How did Catherine Neman write a book about dying that is so luminously alive? Earthy, funny, and terrifyingly honest - this is a book with heart and guts and all the other goopy gravt we need to stay among the living. A radical delight. * Rufi Thorpe * Newman perfectly captures the beauty and burden of caring for someone in their final moments while showing the gift of Edi and Ash's once-in-a-lifetime friendship. A warm and remarkably funny book that will make readers laugh through their tears. * Kirkus *