Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jun 2018
352 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
In the riveting new novel from the #1 bestselling author of Something Borrowed and First Comes Love, three very different people must choose between their families and their most deeply held values...
Nina Browning is living the good life after marrying into Nashville's elite. More recently, her husband made a fortune selling his tech business, and their adored son has been accepted to Princeton.
Yet sometimes the middle-class small-town girl in Nina wonders if she's strayed from the person she once was.
Tom Volpe is a single dad working multiple jobs while struggling to raise his headstrong daughter, Lyla. His road has been lonely, long, and hard, but he finally starts to relax after Lyla earns a scholarship to Windsor Academy, Nashville's most prestigious private school.
Amid so much wealth and privilege, Lyla doesn't always fit in - and her overprotective father doesn't help - but in most ways, she's a typical teenaged girl, happy and thriving.
Then, one photograph, snapped in a drunken moment at a party, changes everything. As the image spreads like wildfire, the Windsor community is instantly polarized, buzzing with controversy and assigning blame.
At the heart of the lies and scandal, Tom, Nina, and Lyla are forced together - all questioning their closest relationships, asking themselves who they really are, and searching for the courage to live a life of true meaning.
"Starred Review. Stellar ... an excellent page-turning story ... a nuanced, thoughtful take on family and social dynamics." - Publishers Weekly
"A compelling portrait of a woman facing the difficult limits of love." - Kirkus
"Using the points of view of Nina, Lyla (the girl in the photograph), and Lyla's father, Tom, Giffin weaves a story of what parents will do to protect their children, even if it's from themselves. But the story lacks authenticity and sincerity. The author's attempts to call out white privilege fall a little flat, which may disappoint new readers, though longtime fans will appreciate her beach-read style exploration of serious issues." - Booklist
"A timely and absorbing portrait of the complexities of modern life. This is Emily Giffin at her very best." - Kristin Hannah
"Riveting and poignant, Emily Giffin's latest novel paints an impossible dilemma that will make readers ponder hard questions about loyalty and love. I was captivated by every page." - Harlan Coben
"A compelling, fascinating story told through blue-ribbon dialogue and the dual gifts of intelligence and goodness. I loved this novel." - Elinor Lipman
This information about All We Ever Wanted was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Emily Giffin is the New York Times bestselling author of Something Borrowed (which was also made into a movie and released in May 2011), Something Blue, Baby Proof and Love The One You're With. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and three young children. Her eighth novel is First Comes Love (2016).
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