AUDIOBOOK
About
Named a Most Anticipated Book of the Summer by: People, BuzzFeed, Goodreads, and more... • "One of the most original, riveting, and moving books I've read in a long while." -Graeme Simsion, New York Times bestselling author of The Rosie Project
For fans of Fredrik Backman and Virginia Evans, an astonishing, deeply moving novel about finding beauty in the brevity of life, as narrated by the one who knows it best: Death.
Travis is Death in the modern world. He lives with his cat in a small, gray town. His job is to offer people comfort in their final hours of life, which he does without complaint or judgement. He's stoic, gentle, and a little naive, despite who he is, but he never tries to change anyone's fate. He is responsible for maintaining the balance of nature, and every life must eventually end.
Then Travis meets Dalia, a midwife, and her boisterous eight-year-old daughter Layla, who live across the hall, and despite his best attempts to keep his distance, he finds himself wholeheartedly embraced by other people for the first time. So it is with this seemingly unremarkable family that Travis begins to understand what it means to be truly alive-and what might be irrevocably lost in death.
Written with radiant warmth, wisdom, and compassion, Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt is a timeless and ultimately uplifting story about appreciating life, accepting its end, and finding our place in the universe-especially when it feels most impossible-that will resonate with anyone who has ever loved and lost or worried about time's passing. Ben Reeves lives in Peterborough, UK, with his wife and two children. An early draft of Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt won the international 2024 Bath Novel Award. When he's not writing, he paints, makes music, and works as a web designer for a book printing company.
For fans of Fredrik Backman and Virginia Evans, an astonishing, deeply moving novel about finding beauty in the brevity of life, as narrated by the one who knows it best: Death.
Travis is Death in the modern world. He lives with his cat in a small, gray town. His job is to offer people comfort in their final hours of life, which he does without complaint or judgement. He's stoic, gentle, and a little naive, despite who he is, but he never tries to change anyone's fate. He is responsible for maintaining the balance of nature, and every life must eventually end.
Then Travis meets Dalia, a midwife, and her boisterous eight-year-old daughter Layla, who live across the hall, and despite his best attempts to keep his distance, he finds himself wholeheartedly embraced by other people for the first time. So it is with this seemingly unremarkable family that Travis begins to understand what it means to be truly alive-and what might be irrevocably lost in death.
Written with radiant warmth, wisdom, and compassion, Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt is a timeless and ultimately uplifting story about appreciating life, accepting its end, and finding our place in the universe-especially when it feels most impossible-that will resonate with anyone who has ever loved and lost or worried about time's passing. Ben Reeves lives in Peterborough, UK, with his wife and two children. An early draft of Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt won the international 2024 Bath Novel Award. When he's not writing, he paints, makes music, and works as a web designer for a book printing company.
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Reviews
"Travis is a quiet man living in a small, unassuming British town, but he's also the human form of Death, who visits people in their last moments on Earth and ushers them to the next stage of life. Always an observer, Travis is kind but careful to stay detached. That changes when he unexpectedly befriends his neighbor, Dalia, and her two young daughters, making him question his own place in the world. This audiobook could have been maudlin, but Mike Frankland's narration is reassuring and comforting. His quiet voice is soothing as he details the lives of the people Travis is helping along, and he adds warmth to Reeves' simple, poetic prose.
The listening experience is devastatingly beautiful, and listeners will see a different side of life and death."
AudioFile