Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt
By Ben Reeves
Published by Atlantic Books

I’m guessing some of us think about death more than others.
It’s part of our life cycle.
But Ben Reeves has written something so poignant and moving that it has changed my mind about the concept of dying.
We all have choices: to live our lives to the best or the worst.
To be happy, grateful, kind and compassionate.
To be angry at everyone and everything.
To feel lost, lonely and unworthy.
To feel loved, wanted and included.

Travis is the cosmic force of Death, visiting people in their final days and hours of life, before taking them to their next chapter, who knows what or where?
He visits, listens to their stories, shares a drink, never judgemental.
And he never tries to change anyone's fate... until he meets a young, single midwife called Dalia and her boisterous eight-year-old daughter, Layla.

This original story layers our real life experiences and choices whilst maybe questioning about the end life.
Ben Reeves shares so many tales of loves lost, moments missed, chances cast aside.
He writes the “what ifs of life as we know it” beautifully, creatively, thankfully.

But Travis gets close to Dalia. Too close. He enjoys being part of her everyday. He wants to heal her wounds that life has cast her. And he begins to learn what it is that makes life so worth living. He sits, listens and begins to care.

Full of emotions, compassion and deep questioning for me - nothing I have read compares.
Everything was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt is full of Death, and what it means to so many. But it is more about the joy of living - appreciating one another, noticing everyday we have, from the people around us to the strangers that cross our paths within this wonderful world of choices.

Thank you is not enough because you have touched my heart and my mind.

Joanne Bardgett - teacher of littlies, lover of Children’s literature.
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