Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt

By Ben Reeves

Book Overview

Named a Most Anticipated Book of the Summer by: People ("A gorgeous reminder of what really matters. Prepare to be astounded."), BuzzFeed, Goodreads, and more... - "One of the best, most moving books I have read in years."--NPR

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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1668216361
• ISBN13: 9781668216361
• Release Date: July 2026
• Publisher: Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.7" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

A slow, dark journey with a powerful final message

This was a challenging read for me to get through. For the majority of the book, the pacing felt quite slow, and the tone was unrelentingly dark, which made it difficult to fully engage with the narrative or feel truly pulled in by the writing style. It isn't a book I would personally run out and recommend to a broad audience, as it requires a very specific mood and a lot of patience to get to the heart of the story. However, I am glad I stuck with it until the final page. By the end, I was genuinely moved, and the emotional payoff made the entire experience worth it. The book offers a beautiful, necessary reminder to take nothing for granted, to slow down in our daily lives, and to live with intentionality so that we avoid deathbed regrets. While the prose itself wasn't quite my style, the core message hit home in a profound way. It’s a solid three-star read for those who find themselves drawn to this kind of reflective, introspective subject matter.