I really enjoyed reading this book but what was probably the big twist was very easy to guess. Yet this didn't spoil it for me as the narrators voice was so strong.

Most of us will have a preconceived idea in our heads for what makes a "perfect criminal". We may assume that those in prison deserve to be there; that those who commit crimes deserve to be punished; and, even, that the punishment should fit the crime. But what if there is a grey area? All the Good Things, the debut novel from Clare Fisher, invites us to examine this grey area. What if the person who commits a crime, or a "very bad thing", as our narrator calls it, has a story? Or, more interestingly, has a heart?

This particular story introduces us to Beth, a young single Mum who, when the novel opens, is in prison. Beth has a colourful and very sad past: abandoned by her own mother, Beth has grown up in the foster care system. Time after time, she has been let down by foster families, passed from pillar to post; she has gotten into trouble in school; she has gotten drunk, stayed out late and hurt people with her behaviour. However, Beth is a very likeable character because, deep down, she is kind. She is intelligent but uneducated. She wants a better life for herself but has been left down by the system time and time again. Everyone she becomes attached to and has loved, has left her. 

While in prison, Beth's counsellor asks her to write a list of all the good things in her life. After much reluctance, Beth starts on the list, addressing it to the best and most important thing in her life: her daughter. As she writes about all of these good things, the story of Beth's life unfolds before us. She remembers the things that made her happy along the way - activities such as running and reading, the people that have come and go, moments with these people - before she eventually confronts the unspeakably bad thing which resulted in her incarceration. What Beth learns along the way, is that it is both the good and the bad things in life that have made her human.

I am not going to reveal here what "the bad thing" is. Some of you might guess; I certainly didn't. All I can say is that it is so truly heartbreaking, it made me cry. This book is very emotionally charged. And, while it is very, very moving, it still manages to be funny. It is narrated by Beth and presented in very simple, often grammatically-incorrect language, consistent with that of someone who has very little formal education. For me, this just added to its appeal. It really draws you in, allowing you to engage with the character of Beth and with her story.

This really is a wonderful debut. It is a beautiful story about social exclusion, the vulnerability of women and girls, and the unfortunate ones who fall through the cracks. It is about redemption and finding hope in the darkest of times and the strangest of places.

If I could have given this book six stars I could.  .   So beautifully written and so insightful.  I really felt for Beth and it just shows how the messages you receive when  you are young can influence your thoughts about yourself.   I loved this book

I will be reviewing this book within the next few months on my blog - owlsandstags.wordpress.com

An extremely moving, emotional rollercoaster of a debut novel about circumstances and consequences. Clare Fisher has done a superb job in writing about how poverty and lack of support can have a devastating impact on a person's life. The story slowly unfolds to reveal how the protagonist ultimately ends up in prison through various tragic experiences and desperate situations that she finds herself trapped within. Keep the tissues at hand, this empathetic beautiful story will have you bawling your eyes out.

All The Good Things by Clare Fisher is a highly charged emotional read that just grabs you right in the heart. 

Loved the character voice in this one - Beth is an adult, a young one but an adult none the less, she pulls you into her life with her simplistic but utterly immersive telling of her life story. She has done a very bad thing - the thing that she has done is not at all difficult to work out, that is not the point of this at all - the point of it is to try and come to some understanding of why.

Told using therapy - trying to find the good things about her life - Beth's story starts to emerge. Her mother, from whom she  is estranged, plays a huge part in her perceptions, her life in the foster care system is challenging and she herself is a challenging character -  I edged between loving her and wishing she would just get a grip, she is damaged yet sympathetic.

Her attempts to make her own life better, her love of reading, her obvious intelligence tempered by a difficult upbringing and an even more difficult emergence into having to take care of herself, all add grist to the mill on the journey that leads her to the very bad thing. There is an eclectic cast of external characters, some who help, some who hurt that inform her behaviour and as the tale unfolds it is actually quite stunning in its impact. Beautifully done.

What if you did a very bad thing but that wasn't the end of the story? In All The Good Things Clare Fisher explores a subject that is emotionally traumatic and shows us that not everything is black and white. Indeed the shades of grey are where you will find most of the answers.

Loved it. It made me cry. Highly Recommended.

Bethany Mitchell is a young woman in prison. She has done something so terrible that she can’t believe there can ever be redemption. In an attempt to pick up the pieces, the prison psychologist has persuaded Beth to write about all the good things she can remember in her life. This proceeds in the form of a series of epistles written to her daughter, setting out Beth’s life story in roughly chronological order interspersed with some details from her current prison life.

Beth is likable. She is intelligent but not well educated; she is thoughtful and introspective; she tends to be kind. But life has been cruel; she has been abandoned by her mother to the mercy of the social services system; she has been through multiple foster families and has never had stability of schooling. Understandably, then, she lacks confidence; she feels worthless. 

This is a story of unravelling the events, the feelings and the betrayals of the past. It is a story of rejection. Every time Beth has a glimmer of hope of a better life, either she stuffs it up with some stupid action or someone else stuffs it up for her. And being a “looked after” child, Beth doesn’t have the love or support in her life to carry her through these stuff-ups. Her entire life is a series of last chances. 

The story is told in simple, plain language as befits a young woman with little formal education. Nevertheless, it is eloquent and the voice is insistent enough to hook the reader. It is really compelling. Although I guessed the “reveal” early on, it didn’t particularly spoil the story (although there were one or two sentences that didn’t quite seem consistent with the reveal). By focusing on episodes to illustrate each “good thing”, the narrative is able to be pacy and jump fairly effortlessly between times and locations. Even though it is clear how things will end, the reader still can’t help hoping things work out for Beth.

There are some surprises in the story too. The novel will challenge preconceptions about the kind of people who end up in care; the kind of people who end up in prison; the kind of people who do terrible things. And the novel will also leave the reader wondering how it is possible for life to continue when you have done something unforgivable. Can people redeem themselves? Should they even be allowed a chance to redeem themselves? 

All The Good Things is not an easy read. It is a knife-edge balance between optimism and pessimism; between good and bad; between a fast read and a slow burn. It looks a bit like chick lit, but it is so much more than that.

All The Good Things is a well written and heartbreaking novel about a young woman, Beth, who is in prison and encouraged by her therapist to write down whatever good things she can think of. Though this list and each explanation, her story emerges: how her life lead to the incident which ended up with her in prison. It is a gripping and moving book which shows how there are different sides to the story, even your own story.

The structure of the book means that events are told episodically in roughly chronological order, but with enough references early on to work out in broad strokes what has happened to Beth. As the narrative reaches these events, it becomes clear that her story is about how bad things can keep leading to more bad things, even though good things happen on a smaller scale. The novel is not particularly sensationalist despite the subject matter, but instead gives Beth real and human problems such as the way in which trauma and mental health issues affect all aspects of her life, from relationships to getting trapped in payday loans. Her narrative draws to a climax both in the story she is telling of her past and her present in the prison, as it becomes clear that she has never really been given the help she has needed. 

Fisher paints a vivid and moving picture of how a person can be let down both by people and by the system, creating both a gripping novel and a stark reminder of the human cost of cuts to services for children, vulnerable people, and prisons.