We All Want Impossible Things

by Catherine Newman

Doubleday

Edith and Ashley have been best friends since they were four years old.  As Ash says, Edi’s memory is like the back-up hard drive for her own. Ash and Edi are in their forties with young families, both wanting impossible things – mainly for Edi not to be in hospice with terminal cancer…  A moving, real, heart-breaking and humorous love letter to true friendship.  A truly beautiful read about the importance of finding joy in little things, shared memories and old friends.

“I adored this book. There is so much love, funniness, honesty, courage, mess, bounce, and surprise in this book, and not a shred of it is mawkish. Loss might be the central theme–or rather the process of losing your dearest friend–but it is the most robust and glorious affirmation of life. Pure genius and an utter joy to read. – Rachel Joyce

Breezy New York Nora-Ephron-style wit meets hospice memoir to create something PROFOUNDLY beautiful. Grief, love, cake—it’s ALL there. – Marian Keyes

Devastatingly humorous and humorously devastating. – Katherine Heiny

Catherine Newman sees the heartbreak and comedy of life with wisdom and unflinching compassion. The way she finds the extraordinary in the everyday is nothing short of poetry. She’s a writer’s writer—and a human’s human.— New York Times

A warm and remarkably funny book about death and caregiving that will make readers laugh through their tears.— Kirkus Reviews

We All Want Impossible Things is an extraordinary ode to friendship–warm, sometimes outrageously funny, and as real as it gets. It celebrates the gift of long-term bonds without shying away from the pain of losing someone you can’t imagine life without.— Real Simple