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We All Want Impossible Things: The funny, moving Richard and Judy Book Club pick 2023

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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. Newman turns her prodigious talents toward finding joy even in the friendship’s final days. 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

A novel set in a hospice has no right to be as hilarious, charming, and hopeful as We All Want Impossible Things. With Nora Ephron-style lightness, Catherine Newman has constructed a truly singular tale of love and friendship in the twenty-first century. I loved it. Beautiful and emotional ... heartbreakingly sad, but also full of humour and ultimately about living and love. I will recommend this to everyone. PRIMA The author is also frank about the physical reality of cancer and explicitly shows how grueling it can be to care for a friend while watching them die – there are falls and tears, leaking tubes that soak Edi in bile, and gradual changes to Edi’s appearance and mental state as the end draws near. And just like the song from Fiddler so aptly states, Newman reminds us that life is laden with both happiness AND tears.

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 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

Life is just seesawing between the gorgeous and the menacing – like when you go for a run and one minute the whole neighborhood is lilacs in purple bloom, and then the next it’s stained boxer shorts and an inside-out latex glove.” 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 Emma Beddington Tears and laughter: We All Want Impossible Things, by Catherine Newman, reviewed When Edi is moved to palliative care, her best friend Ash keeps vigil at her bedside, recalling their lifetime of shared jokes and experiencesI 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 Edith 'Edi' and Ashley have certainly heard their share of the Fiddler tune recently. Edi is in palliative care, and her sister from another mister Ashley has been by her side as she battles ovarian cancer. Aside from dealing with this charming neighbor in the care center who just can't get enough Tevye in their life, Edi knows time is precious and spends as much of it as possible reminiscing with Ashley about their lifelong kinship, and all of the memories shared, from the momentous to the mundane. Catherine Newman delivers a stunning story as she chronicles the path of dealing with entering hospice care. I didn't really like Ash at first, I thought she made some horrible choices, but I came to understand her by the end. It's not an easy path to navigate losing someone who is basically your other half, and Ash just does the best she can to comfort herself, even if some of those choices are not so good. The other characters are just so well drawn and vivid and I enjoyed spending time with them.

Heat the oven to 350 F / 180 C. Grease a round 9-inch (24-cm) springform cake tin and line the bottom with parchment paper. (This is easy to do if you remember to trace the bottom of the tin before you’ve greased it, and less easy to do afterwards.) A warm and remarkably funny book about death and caregiving that will make readers laugh through their tears. 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 A profound study of grief, love and friendship that will resonate with anyone who has lost someone special ... there are plenty of funny and touching moments in this beautiful novel that will make your heart soar. HEATMany thanks to Goodreads, Harper, and Catherine Newman for a gifted copy of this book! Now available as of 11.8!** Dit boek brak mijn hart en heelde het tegelijkertijd. Als je, net als ik, houdt van lezen over (vrouwelijke) vriendschappen, dan is dit je boek.

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