We all want impossible things

We all want impossible things by Catherine Newman, Review by Emma Vardy

This book is out in the UK in January 2023 published by Transworld (part of Penguin Random House), and I was lucky enough to get an early copy after seeing several book bloggers recommending it.  The story is set in a hospice and centres around Edi, who is dying of ovarian cancer, and her best friend Ash.   We meet the characters as Edi is being discharged from hospital in New York and, due to lack of availability of a nearby hospice bed, she goes to a hospice close to where her best friend lives in Massachusetts. Despite the topic and setting, what I loved about this book, is that it is really very funny.  There are many humorous moments within its pages, such as the relative who asks to be called if there is ‘an emergency at the hospice’….’what like a fire or something’ Abi texts back and then deletes.  We learn about the families and lives of both the central characters Edi and Ash, and a friendship which spans over 40 years and the moments that have defined it.  We also get to know about many of the people that contribute to hospice life: the other patients, Cedar the music therapist and Dr ‘Soprano’, so-called because he looks like the actor James Galdofini who plays Tony Soprano in the TV series.  It is a book about the process of normal dying but is also about living and the variety of emotions common to both, sadness, grief, amusement, love, and discontent.  I really enjoyed this book and became really engaged in the lives of the central characters.  Both Edi and Ash want different things, from Italian lemon cake to sex with Dr Soprano to marital contentment, you will have to read the book to find out which turn out to be possible for whom.  The author Catherine Newman dedicates this book to Ali Pomeroy, 1968-2015, and you get the feeling her accurate portrayal of friendship, dying and grief in ‘We all want impossible things’ comes from a very personal experience.  I highly recommend it.

Professor Emma Vardy

Professor Emma Vardy is a Consultant Geriatrician in Salford, Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust. She holds an honorary clinical chair as part of the Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, University of Manchester. She tweets @emmavardy2