We All Want Impossible Things : The funny Moving Richard and Judy Book Club pick 2023 : Book Paperback (Catherine Newman)

Rather a treat … this novel is less about death than it is about life – the messy unpredictability, hideous unfairness and perplexity of it, as well as its one magnificent certainty: love.

Remarkable … A whip-smart, funny, beautifully observed and exquisitely characterised novel about how even the deepest of losses can be accompanied by a joyous affirmation of life.

Imbued with love and humour … this special book is in a class of its own.

Newman’s clearsighted and bracingly funny first novel is a moving celebration of friendship, love and cherished memories

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.

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.

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

I have heard nothing but good things about [We All Want Impossible Things] and they were all quite right – it’s so warm and funny and full of great observations … it looks set for rip-roaring success, deservedly so!

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.

Smart and funny and devastating, We All Want Impossible Things has huge Sorrow and Bliss vibes and I didn’t want it to end.