We All Want Impossible Things explores the profound intimacy of accompanying a dying friend through her final days. Catherine Newman, author of the beloved memoir Waiting for Birdy, draws on her own experience losing her best friend to craft this story of Ash and Edi, whose four decades of friendship culminate in a hospice setting. The novel masterfully navigates the tension between grief and humor, showing how laughter becomes a survival mechanism when facing the unthinkable. Newman captures the mundane details of hospice life alongside transcendent moments of connection, from sneaking contraband snacks to confronting the complicated emotions of watching someone you love disappear. The book examines how friendships shape us, how we hold onto people even as they slip away, and how comedy and tragedy intertwine in life's most serious moments. Rather than offering platitudes about death, Newman provides an honest portrayal of the messiness of dying and mourning. Readers will find themselves laughing through tears as they witness a friendship that spans from college antics to final breaths. This is a book about showing up for the people we love, even when it breaks us, and finding unexpected grace in grief's darkest corners.