I am delighted to share my review for When All Is Said by Anne Griffin. I read this a few weeks ago and I absolutely loved it. Let me show you what it is all about…

A tale of a single night. The story of a lifetime.

If you had to pick five people to sum up your life, who would they be? If you were to raise a glass to each of them, what would you say? And what would you learn about yourself, when all is said and done?

This is the story of Maurice Hannigan, who, over the course of a Saturday night in June, orders five different drinks at the Rainford House Hotel. With each he toasts a person vital to him: his doomed older brother, his troubled sister-in-law, his daughter of fifteen minutes, his son far off in America, and his late, lamented wife. And through these people, the ones who left him behind, he tells the story of his own life, with all its regrets and feuds, loves and triumphs.

Purchase Link – Amazon UK

As I sit and prepare to write up a review for this book I am a little at a loss to try and find the right words to be able to do this book the justice it deserves.

The reader joins Maurice Hannigan as he sits at a bar in Ireland. Over the course of the night he drinks 5 toasts to the 5 people who have meant the most to him in his life.

Each drink is for a special person and the story of his relationship with each of them is gradually told. It serves not only as a way of getting to know Maurice but also fills in his history from a child to the 84-year-old man he is now.

The author has done such a wonderful and poignant job of creating a character and a family and in a style that is so absorbing to a reader. It was like being led on a gentle amble through the life, love, and loss of Maurice. It was a journey through the good, the bad and all that fell in between.

This was a wonderful and easy story to read. It is so beautifully written and also emotional, I didn’t shed tears and this quite surprised me. But the story was one about a life lived.

A gentle and slower paced story that completely wrapped me up in its covers, transported me to rural Ireland and into the life of Maurice. A gorgeous and beautiful read that readers who love stories about family, family history and life over the years will thoroughly enjoy. I know I did and I would definitely recommend it.

Anne Griffin is an Irish novelist. She was educated at University College Dublin where she received her MA in Creative Writing

Anne was awarded the John McGahern Award for Literature, recognising previous and current works. Amongst others, she has been shortlisted for the Hennessy New Irish Writing Award and the Sunday Business Post Short Story Award.

Anne’s debut novel ‘When All Is Said’ will be published by Sceptre in the UK and Ireland on 24th January, 2019 and by Thomas Dunne Books in the US and Canada on the 5th March, 2019. It will also be published by Rowohlt Verlag in Germany, Delcourt in France, by Harper Collins Holland in the Netherlands, by Wydawnictwo Czarna in Poland, and by Tyto Alba in Lithuania .

Author links – Website – Twitter

Many thanks for reading my post, a like or share would be amazing 🙂 xx