We All Want Impossible Things
The uplifting and moving Richard and Judy Book Club pick
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4.4 • 31 Ratings
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
No one knows you like your best friend...From the New York Times bestselling author, the powerful Richard & Judy Book Club pick
'Gorgeously tender and so deeply loving' NUSSAIBAH YOUNIS, author of Fundamentally
'Nora-Ephron-style wit... one of my favourite books ever' MARIAN KEYES, author of My Favourite Mistake
'Newman writes loss and laughter in equally brilliant amounts.' BONNIE GARMUS, author of Lessons in Chemistry
'Dazzling, heart-wrenching, snorty-hilarious.' RACHEL JOYCE, author of The Handmade God
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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, REM concerts, 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 the hunt for the perfect lemon cake and music therapy to snack smuggling and impromptu excursions into the frozen winter night.
Because life is about squeezing the joy out of every moment and building a powerhouse of memories, about learning when to hold on, and when to let go.
Deeply moving yet laugh-out-loud funny, We All Want Impossible Things is a jubilant celebration of life and friendship at its imperfect, radiant, and irreverent best.
To read more by CATHERINE NEWMAN, discover the NYT bestseller, SANDWICH, and her new novel WRECK: 'Beautiful, funny, wry, relatable and uplifting… I LOVE her work' Marian Keyes
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Praise for We All Want Impossible Things:
'A beautiful, candid and uplifting testament to female friendship that will make you laugh and cry' WOMAN & HOME
'A tender, funny, life-affirming joy' MARIE CLAIRE, 'Best Books of 2023'
'Devastatingly funny ... handled with compassion and courage' MAIL ON SUNDAY
'A treat' THE SUNDAY TIMES
'Remarkable ... whip-smart, funny, beautifully observed' OBSERVER
'Utterly life-affirming and joyful' RED
'One of the best novels on friendship I've ever read' AJ PEARCE
'An absolute masterpiece in characterisation... utterly beautiful.' JOANNA CANNON
New York Times bestseller, July 2024
**Cover may vary**
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
We All Want Impossible Things is a profound, hilarious and hopeful read about the way grief can elucidate what’s important in life. Ash and Edi first met when they were tasked with looking after a Venus flytrap in nursery school. Fast-forward 42 years and the pair have remained best friends through overseas travel adventures, fertility treatment, marriage troubles and more. When Edi’s cancer prognosis means she needs palliative care, Ash takes charge of Edi’s physical and emotional needs, while attempting to cope with the sometimes unbearable pain of love and loss. US author Catherine Newman has done something really exceptional here: she’s written a book largely set in a hospice that isn’t heavy with sorrow—incongruously, it’s uplifting, life-affirming and celebrates the preciousness of friendship. Newman writes incisively about love, food, sex and parenthood in a conversational and confessional tone, making this extraordinary book one to savour.
