Before Everything

‘Redel proves that female friendship is the quiet, steady engine that truly runs the world.’

Hannah Tinti

‘At once tough and tender, funny and sad, this beautifully written novel articulates the dynamic realities of those wondrous friendships that last a lifetime.’ Siri Hustvedt

From youthful scrapes to mid-life turning points, the Old Friends have faced everything together.

So as Anna, their brightest spark, enters hospice, they gather to do what they’ve always done: they laugh and eat, and help each other make choices and plans, and talk through dilemmas with children and work and love.

But now the sense of time has shifted, and the pattern of their lives takes on a new, urgent meaning. As their shared experiences are recounted and re-lived, this funny, bittersweet ode to friendship shows how even in difficult endings, gifts can unfold.

‘Gorgeous, a heartbreaker, a non-stop dazzler, a major achievement.’

Michael Cunningham

‘One of the most brilliant, radiant and heartbreaking books I’ve read in years.’

Molly Antopol