All The Good Things

All The Good Things by Clare Fisher
Published by Viking
Paperback
Expected publication 1 June 2017
280 pages
ARC

Connect with the author Buy the book: UK (affiliate's link) I was given an ARC by the publisher and voluntarily reviewed it. A paperback came through my letterbox one day. I am delighted to be the first stop on the blog tour. WHAT'S IT'S ABOUT

Twenty-one year old Beth is in prison. The thing she did is so bad she doesn't deserve to ever feel good again.

But her counsellor, Erika, won't give up on her. She asks Beth to make a list of all the good things in her life. So Beth starts to write down her story, from sharing silences with Foster Dad No. 1, to flirting in the Odeon on Orange Wednesdays, to the very first time she sniffed her baby's head.

But at the end of her story, Beth must confront the bad thing.

What is the truth hiding behind her crime? And does anyone-even a 100% bad person-deserve a chance to be good?

OPENING

Of all the good things that have ever been in me, the first and the best is you.

WHAT I THOUGHT

I thought All the Good Things was amazing. I cried my eyes out as I read the final chapters, completely involved in Beth's world and her story. I suspected what the 'bad thing' Beth did might be but I was only partly right. Given Beth's actions it would be easy to dislike her, dismiss her, even hate her and label her with unpleasant names. Fisher manages to humanise her in a way that left me breathless. She is not a monster or evil; she is victim of circumstances, someone real and flawed who never really had a chance to make something of her life. Who couldn't feel pity for her after everything she goes through? She is aware of what she's done and the consequences and wants to take her punishment. I thought she was a brilliant character, painfully real and sympathetic. All the Good Things is amazing. Highly recommended.

Published