All the Beauty in the World

A moving, revelatory story about one of the world's great museums and art's capacity to heal, by a writer who spent a decade as a museum guard.

THE SUNDAY TIMES ART BOOK OF THE YEAR
A Financial Times Best Book of 2023

A revelatory portrait of a great museum and the moving story of one guard's quest to find solace and meaning in art.

'Who would have thought that the outstanding art book of the year would have been written not by a curator or an art historian or even an artist - but by a museum guard?' - Sunday Times

When Patrick's older brother dies at twenty-six, all he wants is to retreat. So, he does. He quits his job and seeks refuge in the most beautiful place he can think of—New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

All the Beauty in the World recounts Patrick's time as a museum guard, keeping quiet vigil over some of our greatest treasures and uncovering the Met's innermost secrets. As his connection to the art and the life that swirls around it grows, so does Patrick—and gradually he emerges transformed by heartbreak, community and the power of art to illuminate life in all its pain, pleasure and hope.

'As luminous as the old masters paintings' - Daily Mail
'Consoling and beautiful' - Guardian
'Marvellous' - Daily Telegraph
'A beautiful tale about beauty. It is also a tale about grief, balancing solitude and comradeship, and finding joy in both the exalted and the mundane' - Washington Post