What We All Want

Reviews / Votes

Finished copies of WHAT WE ALL WANT have gone out, with a press date of 13thMarch . There's been interest from CANADA POST, and I'm hoping to fix up an interview with them. Margaret Forster selected WHAT WE ALL WANT for the On MyBedside Table slot in WOMAN & HOME. We're expecting reviews in the LITERARY REVIEW and INDEPENDENT. WHAT WE ALL WANT will also be reviewed on Agenda (Welsh TV magazine programme). There has also been a mention in New Books.mag. A fantastic first review...'WHAT WE ALL WANT is more than a nod in the direction of master story-tellers Anne Tyler and Terry McMillan...Taking a leaf out of their books by nailing characters dead-on, creating pitch-perfect dialogue and effortlessly telling a big-hearted, perfectly paced story, Berry turns the potentally schmaltzy into a profound contemplation of secrets and lies...What we should all want is more of Michelle Berry.'Andrea Henry, DAILY MIRROR 'What most of us want is a cracking good read which is simultaneously unsettling and reassuring, able to tackle the dark side of our lives without leaving us disconsolate. We don't always get what we want we want, of course, butsome books, like Michelle Berry's new novel, give more than a hint of it.'OBSERVER 'WHAT WE ALL WANT is skilfully told; well shaped, exact and easy with itself.'Sheena Joughin, TLS 'Berry treads the line between comedy and tragedy, deftly avoiding the gaping chasm of farce into which this could so easily slip. An incisive portrayal of the peculiarities of family relationships, it appears that what we all want is to be accepted for who we are.'BIG ISSUE 'This is a dark novel told with a macabre wit...Michelle Berry lets actions speaklouder than words and that is, quite simply, the driving force of WHAT WE ALL WANT.'PUNCH.CO.UK 'The intense storyline forced me through the pages at a rapid pace.'PETERBOROUGH EVENING TELEGRAPH We've also had two fantastic advance quotes (see below) 'I loved WWAW. It manages that rare thing, combining thetragic with the comic without turning it into farce, and the weird with the mundane without the whole thing becoming ridiculous. There's real tension there as the story sits on the brink of being utterly patheic and yet at the same time pulls back to end up full of promise and hope for the future - a skilled performance, needing great control. I admire the restraint shown in the use of it. The dialogue fairly crackles - some wonder. Fully witty exchanges and the whole thing sprints along [...] It's quite extraordinary the way, with such subject matter, this novel isn't the least depressing but instead positively entertaining yet never without it retaining its dignity and compassion'MA