All This and More
A Novel
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3.5 • 10 Ratings
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- $1.99
Publisher Description
From the critically acclaimed, bestselling author of The Cartographers and The Book of M comes an inventive new novel about a woman who wins the chance to rewrite every mistake she’s ever made… and how far she’ll go to find her elusive “happily ever after.” But there’s a twist: the reader gets to decide what she does next to change her fate.
One woman. Endless options. Every choice has consequences.
Meek, play-it-safe Marsh has just turned forty-five, and her life is in shambles. Her career is stagnant, her marriage has imploded, and her teenage daughter grows more distant by the day. Marsh is convinced she’s missed her chance at everything—romance, professional fulfillment, and adventure—and is desperate for a do-over.
She can’t believe her luck when she’s selected to be the star of the global sensation All This and More, a show that uses quantum technology to allow contestants the chance to revise their pasts and change their present lives. It’s Marsh’s only shot to seize her dreams, and she’s determined to get it right this time.
But even as she rises to become a famous lawyer, gets back together with her high school sweetheart, and travels the world, she begins to worry that All This and More’s promises might be too good to be true. Because while the technology is amazing, something seems a bit off.…
Can Marsh really make her life everything she wants it to be? And is it worth it?
Perfect for fans of Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library and Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life, bestselling author Peng Shepherd’s All This and More is an utterly original, startlingly poignant novel that puts the reader in the driver’s seat.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Shepherd's imaginative latest (after The Cartographers), a middle-aged woman wins the chance to star in a mind-bending reality TV show built around a new technology called The Bubble, which allows contestants to choose different lives for themselves and adjusts their memories to match. Marsh, a recently divorced paralegal, begins her tenure on the show by repeatedly and unsuccessfully attempting to rekindle her marriage. Eventually, she constructs new lives as a high-powered lawyer in Hong Kong, a wildlife photographer in Iceland, and more. She also pursues a romance with her high school boyfriend and improves her relationship with her teenage daughter. Each life feels like an improvement on her real one, but when glitches appear in The Bubble, Marsh worries her chance at a perfect life will slip through her fingers. In the chapter endings, Shepherd playfully mines nostalgia for Choose Your Own Adventure series ("If Ren didn't break up with Marsh last night: Turn the page"). Whichever path readers take, they'll find a tantalizing and well-knit story. Reality TV fans especially ought to take note.
