I'm a little stumped on how to review this, and I'm torn between 3 and 4 stars. The story is a good one, presented in an interesting way: Beth is in prison and sees a counsellor, Erika, who asks her to write down all the good things that have happened in her life. And so Beth's life story is told in flashbacks, although we already know that it's not going to go well, as we know she's in prison. The "very bad thing" that she did isn't spelled out until the end of the book, though I suspect many readers will guess it (as I did). My only criticism is that I found the writing too simplistic and "chatty" - but a) that's a personal preference thing, and the writing style might work very well for many of the readers at whom this book is aimed; and b) I recognise that it needs to be simplistic, given Beth's background, level of education and her situation. I'd certainly like to see more of this author's work though, which I suppose tells you that I recognise skill in her work, even though this book wasn't quite right for me.

I loved words and Clare Fisher writes then beautifully . So many beautiful sentences in this book. This is the story of Beth and why she has ended up where she has. There's a lot of time hopping but it's so easy to follow and you can't help but be drawn into the plot and characters. This book leaves you with hope in your heart. Would recommend.

All the Good Things is such a harrowing, special book. Granted, the whole make-a-list thing felt like a device for the reader to know about Beth's background and you don't get to know the bad thing until the very end but since this is all about Beth and figuring out what led her to that point it makes sense. This character and the ones she came across is one of the most well-developed I have read about.

It bothered me that she was even arrested, though she tried to explain. (view spoiler) Still, Beth's account truly surprised me at times and made me face certain preconceptions I had.

I don't want to say too much or I will spoil the journey of knowing Beth but do know that this book can be beautiful, heart-breaking, relateable and extremely emotional. Even though Beth does not have much education, the way she expresses herself grabs you and doesn't let go. Some of her descriptions are so vivid. And by the time I got to the bad thing she had done... I almost cried, which is really rare for me. Also, the way the book ended was just perfect for me, and I can't remember the last time that happened.

If you think you can handle the strong emotions, grab this book. I know I had to take a few breaks while reading. But trust me, it will be well worth it.

Disclaimer: I would like to thank the publisher and Netgalley for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A really sad novel which is narrated by Beth, who has had a seriously tough life. We start off in prison and slowly find out what has led Beth here. She can be an extremely frustrating character - yet she has had such a hard time that you find yourself sympathising with her - even when you find out at the end what has led Beth to her prison cell.
A very well written and emotive novel.

Utterly riveting, cunningly written and bursting full of character.

My review:
‘Of all the good things that have ever been in me, the first and the best is you. Every single part of you… Remember that.’
On the first page of Clare Fisher’s debut novel we are lulled into the joy of ‘smelling a baby’s head right into your heart’, but the mood is immediately subverted when the narrator’s distinctive voice breaks through: ‘Remember it when the dickheads say you’re a bad or a so-what thing’, and we know we’re far from the cosy world of new motherhood.
Bethany (Beth) is twenty one, has had her own flat, a boyfriend and a baby, but now she’s angry, scared and in prison for a terrible crime she can hardly bring herself to think about. Her therapist, Erika asks her to ‘write down the good things’ about her life. For the first time in three weeks her hands stop shaking and she doesn’t’ mind the ‘blank space where the handle should be on the door’ because she’s thinking about her baby: ‘your eyelashes…the way you’d murmur in your sleep…the delicious smell of your head...’
Beth has a complete lack of confidence in herself and the lowest self-esteem possible. By being challenged to remember and to write down the ‘good things’, she gradually comes to term with the story of her life so far, which initially doesn’t look great: a mother with a severe mental health issue, a series of foster homes and an ongoing lack of stability. Each chapter is subtitled with one of the ‘good things’ in her life: when she goes running she feels the ‘real you rises up… you’re free’; she describes her friends and lovers, of happy successful times: sharing silences with Foster Dad No. 1, or flirting in the Odeon on Orange Wednesdays. But she still always has a sense of a terrible loss, and of being lost, waking up feeling as if there’s ‘a heavy person, who you don’t love or even know – lying on top of you.’ Beth talks about how difficult it is to control her emotions ‘I feel like there are all these bricks inside me… melt down into this… muddy river… spills out everywhere and makes a mess…’ Her life experiences have damaged her and she has a constant battle with ‘the bad voice… snarling at me’ that she will always fail. So why not make things fail.
We see her reading the devastating reports from social services and school teachers showing how her mother’s health impacted on her. But she knows that her mother loved her and it is love and friendship that saves her. Writing about her own pregnancy she recognises that the baby is ‘someone you’re not afraid of because they’re already as deep inside of you as it’s possible to be.’
By coming to terms with her own story, by retelling it in her own words, Beth finally finds that there have been and are good things in her life and she is able to allow herself to hope. Ultimately it’s her mother’s love and the love she feels for her own baby that save Beth. ‘We’ll let our stories grow.’
In this profoundly moving but surprisingly funny debut novel, Clare Fisher has given voice to people on the fringes of society, people with a story like any of us. She has given them pathos and dignity. Beth could be any young woman given the most difficult of starts in life.
This is a wonderful debut by a fantastically talented young writer with a social conscience. I look forward to her next novel.
This review will be posted on my blog on Thursday 25 May 2017.

If you're looking for a book which is a complete page turner, taking you on an emotional rollercoaster you wouldn't expect. I love the shifts from the various times in main character's Beth, especially as a teenager. Some of it was a really tough read but all in all I just couldn't pull myself away from this book and I wanted to know more. The conclusion of the book left me in complete shock!

A gripping story from an exciting new literary voice.

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

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.