The Best of Everything

A 2025 Highlight in the Guardian, I-Paper, Prima, Irish Times, Irish Independent and Sunday Independent

A Bookseller '10 Titles Not to Miss' selection for April

'A profoundly compassionate novel of devastating power' Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prize-Winning author of Girl, Woman, Other

'So deeply moving: sad and beautiful and true' Annie Macmanus, author of The Mess We're In

Paulette's the kind of woman who likes the future all mapped out: the wedding to Denton, the Caribbean honeymoon, the gingham quilt on the baby's crib. Until one morning Garfield, Denton's friend, arrives at her door with the news that Denton won't be coming around any more, that there won't be time for her to say goodbye.

Somehow Garfield finds his way into her bed, and sooner than anyone can believe there is a baby, and suddenly giving Bird, her son, the best of everything is what gives Paulette's life meaning.

So why is it another little boy, Nellie, who keeps Paulette awake at night? Nellie who is being raised a few streets away, with no sign of a mum. Surely Paulette is the last person who should be getting tangled up in any of that?

The Best of Everything is a novel about the love that can steal into our lives - in spite of the best laid plans.

This is a book of such tenderness, full of pain, grief and despair and yet playful and joyful at the same time. Kit de Waal has an uncanny ability to create vivid characters with such empathy that I want to reach into the pages to hug them. I truly loved this book -- Liz Nugent, author of Strange Sally Diamond
A profoundly compassionate novel of devastating power and emotional complexity -- Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other
Tender... A beautifully judged tale extolling the virtues of kindness Guardian
Affecting... a story of loneliness and sacrifice that navigates great sorrow with a remarkable lightness of touch The Times
De Waal's tone is warm and wise... she has a knack for the small charming moment. Very moving Observer
What a wonderful novel, bursting with life. Kit de Waal is a writer who knows all the secret longings of the human heart -- Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of Ordinary Time
Beautiful. De Waal has the power to astound, to lift and console, to make life with her sentences -- Donal Ryan, author of The Queen of Dirt Island
So deeply moving. Sad and beautiful and true -- Annie Macmanus, author of The Mess We're In
Everything de Waal has written pulls at the heartstrings... tenderly explores how to build a life of meaning I-Paper
A beautiful novel about kindness and found family Mail on Sunday
A beautiful novel about kindness and found family Good Housekeeping
Full of warmth, this is a joyous story about love, and what family means to each of us Prima
Devastating and uplifting Grazia
Paulette's life story is ultimately told with deep affection and tenderness, allowing the reader to form a genuine connection with her and those around her... Life is complicated, especially when a person is tested in the way that she is. In the very best people, like this one, setbacks create resilience. There is somehow still room for hope Irish Independent

Kit de Waal is the author of MY NAME IS LEON, which was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and won the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year, THE TRICK TO TIME, which was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction, a short story collection, SUPPORTING CAST, and a memoir, WITHOUT WARNING & ONLY SOMETIMES, which was shortlisted for Biography of the Year at the Irish Book Awards. She is also editor of the COMMON PEOPLE anthology. MY NAME IS LEON was recently adapted as a film for BBC Two.

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