Everything Was Beautiful And Nothing Hurt

By (author) Reeves, Ben
Short description/annotation:
For fans of Fredrik Backman, Matt Haig and Max Porter, an unforgettable and exquisitely moving novel about finding beauty, hope, and meaning in the brevity of life, as narrated by the one who knows it best: Death.
Description:

''This book will change your life'' Joanna Cannon, Sunday Times-bestselling author of Three Things About Elsie

Travis lives an unassuming life with his cat in a small English town. Travis also happens to be the cosmic force of Death, visiting people in their final days and hours of life, before shepherding them into whatever happens next.

He listens to their stories, doesn''t judge, and never tries to change anyone''s fate... until he meets a young, single midwife called Dalia and her boisterous eight-year-old daughter, Layla. As he gets closer to this small, seemingly unremarkable family, Travis begins to learn what it is that makes life so worth living, and so what it is that is irrevocably lost in death.

Full of compassion and deep magic, Everything was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt might be a novel about Death, but it''s also about the joy of being alive - appreciating each day we have, from the people around us to the strange wonder of our spinning world.

Review quote:
One of the most original, riveting, and moving books I''ve read in a long while
Review quote:
Ben Reeves repeatedly takes us to life''s most terrifying knife-edge, heartening us with the steady poetry of everyday life. This clever and vivid book made me fall in love with our collective ephemerality. I literally said, "Wow," about halfway through. The ending left me speechless.
Review quote:
This novel has all the ingredients of unforgettability: a plot you''ve never seen, characters you want to love, writing that glimmers on the page, and a spectacular ending that will smack you in the face with an aching joy. Days later, I''m still brimming.
Review quote:
This is one of the most affecting, original, and unforgettable novels I have ever read. Through the lens of death himself, we confront the highs and lows of the human experience in a way that reminds us how gritty and exquisite it is to live... Absolutely breathtaking, with a perfect twist of an ending.
Biographical note:
Ben Reeves lives in Peterborough with his wife and two children, and he won the Bath Novel Award 2024 for this novel. When he''s not writing, he paints, makes music, and works as a web designer for a book printing company.