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Description
Michelle Berry's brilliant first novel is as touching as it is mirthful. Siblings Hilary, Thomas, and Billy have been thrown together after a long estrangement to plan their mother's funeral. For Thomas and Billy, the prospect of being back in their childhood home is far from ideal. Even more unsettling is their sister, who has developed a few disturbing attachments to dolls, preserves, and pebbles underfoot. For Hilary, the sight of her brothers is a sign of hope and a new life. As they argue over the funeral arrangements, Hilary, Billy, and Thomas struggle to contain their secret hopes, desires, fears, and shame. Witty and insightful, What We All Want shows just how beautiful and tragic family can be.
Contributor Notes
Michelle Berry has been widely published in many Canadian literary magazines, national newspapers, and anthologies. She is the author of seven books of fiction, two novels of which have been published in the UK as well as Canada. Berry is a reviewer for The Globe and Mail, and teaches at the University of Toronto and Humber College. Born in California and raised in Victoria, B.C., Berry lives in Peterborough, ON with her family.
Editorial Reviews
Berry's attention to average people is what makes her novel'so good” What We All Want is an endearing and amusing novel that is bizarre while remaining credible.
— FFWD
In the gallery of eccentric novels, this new work from Michelle Berry holds a determined place. A quick and compelling read, What We All Want is a quirky exploration of the bizarre condiments of family life, and how death brings together the different pieces of one family puzzle in a strange rearrangement of that institution's terrible failures.
— Calgary Herald
In the end, What We All Want is a satisfying portrait of a family, a town, a society in crisis. What we want is for the Mounts to succeed, to live good lives. The same things we want for ourselves and our own brothers and sisters and daughter and sons.
— Edmonton Journal
[A] crafty piece of writing” Berry uses a spare and direct style to convey her characters” dilemmas?And she has a way of letting the situation speak for itself, without cluttering things up with intricate or adjective-heavy wordplay?This is a really good first novel.
— Susan Cole, NOW weekly
This book has all the makings of a Peter Sellers movie with a little angst thrown in for good measure. This book is a good read that delivers more than unremittingly grim social commentary. Its cynicism is infused with hope; social realism butts up against the grotesque, making the fiction vital and playful.
— Calgary Straight
