Is There Anything You Want?

By Margaret Forster

Book Overview

What do Mrs H. Rachel Edwina Ida Sarah Dot Chrissie have in common? They're all women but they're fat thin old young married or single - and appear as diverse as human nature can be. But they are all survivors. This enthralling novel follows the ripples that go out into ordinary lives that have been changed by a shared experience all connected by the same hospital clinic in a small Northern town.

This is a novel about what it means to live in the shadow of disease and with scars whether mental or physical. From the marvellous ambivalence of the title question it leaves us with a whole lot more to consider about life and its infinite variety.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0099472139
• ISBN13: 9780099472131
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Vintage Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.41 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.8" x 0.6" x 5.1"

Customer Reviews

Thought provoking

When I first realised that this book was centered on a group of women connected to a cancer clinic, in a hospital in a small town, my first reaction was one of dismay, thinking that it was going to be a totally depressing read, and wondering whether or not to continue. I'm so glad that I did as it's nothing like that at all. The women concerned are recovering patients, a doctor, a "Friend", one of the volunteers who help patients in a hospital, and their families. They are fairly normal, ordinary people who, on the surface, appear to be leading ordinary lives, but, beneath the surface of their facade, are seething, roiling hotbeds of fear, anger and frustration, just just awaiting release. It's a well written, thought provoking book which deserves to be read by anyone with a friend or relative who has been touched by serious illness, even if it appears that they are coping well, and isn't a bit depressing or maudlin.