All My Puny Sorrows

Name: All My Puny Sorrows
Brand: Allen & Unwin
SKU: 9780571340996
Price: 26.0 NZD
Availability: InStock

By Miriam Toews

0.0 (0 reviews)

4.01

( 31,769 ratings, 4,129 reviews)

Summary

All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews is a poignant exploration of the bond between two sisters, one of whom is a renowned concert pianist struggling with suicidal depression. The story delves into the complexities of love, mental illness, and the lengths to which one is willing to go to help a loved one find peace. Set within the vibrant Mennonite community, it combines moments of heartbreak and humour, presenting an intimate and compassionate narrative.
Read More

Format: Paperback / softback

$26⁰⁰

Elsewhere:

~~$27⁹⁹~~

OVERNIGHT NZ-WIDE DELIVERY

Found a better price? Request a price match

All My Puny Sorrows

$26⁰⁰

Elsewhere:

~~$27⁹⁹~~

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you appreciate heartfelt narratives exploring the complexities of familial love and mental health. It's a deeply moving story that masterfully blends humour and poignancy, drawing you into the emotional struggles and resilience of two sisters. If you're drawn to character-driven tales that delve into life's profound questions, this story offers a touching and unforgettable experience.

A story of sisters, suicide and how to carry on with hope when grief loads the heart.

All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews is a story of sisters, suicide and how to carry on with hope when grief loads the heart.

Description

Shortlisted for the Folio Prize 2015

Shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize 2015

Sunday Times Top Choice Summer Read

Elf and Yoli are two smart, loving sisters.

Elf is a world-renowned pianist, glamorous, wealthy, happily married: she wants to die.

Yoli is divorced, broke, sleeping with the wrong men: she desperately wants to keep her older sister alive.

When Elf's latest suicide attempt leaves her hospitalised weeks before her highly anticipated world tour, Yoli is forced to confront the impossible question of whether it is better to let a loved one go.

'The novel she has written - so exquisitely that you'll want to savour every word - reads as if it has been wrenched from her heart.' - Sunday Times

'A masterly book of such precise dignity. It is, also against all the odds, at times a desperately humorous novel.' - Daily Mail

'A heartbreaking and hilariously funny story about a woman who struggles to keep her beautiful, talented and annihilatingly depressed sister alive.' - Adelaide Advertiser

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews is a novel that explores profound themes of sisterhood, mental illness, and the complexity of familial love. Reviews often praise Toews' ability to blend humour with heartbreak, creating a narrative that is both poignant and deeply humane. The characters are described as raw and vividly drawn, allowing readers to connect deeply with their struggles and resilience.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780571340996

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 06 September 2018

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Faber & Faber

Edition: Main

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 18.0mm

Width: 128.0mm

Height: 196.0mm

Weight: 260g

Pages: 336

Collections

Best Sellers at Book Hero Fiction General Fiction In Stock Books In-Stock Fiction Books Literary Fiction Miriam Toews New Release Fiction

About the Author

Miriam Toews (pronounced taves) was born in 1964 in the small Mennonite town of Steinbach, Manitoba. She has published four novels and a memoir of her father, and is the recipient of numerous literary awards including the Governor General's Award, the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award (twice), and the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.

In 2007 she made her screen debut in the film Luz silenciosa. She was nominated for Best Actress at Mexico's Ariel Awards for her performance.

Also by Miriam Toews

View all

A Complicated Kindness

We're Mennonites. As far as I know, we are the most embarrassing sub-sect of people to belong to if you're a teenager. Sixteen-year-old Nomi Nickel longs to hang out with Lou Reed and Marianne Faithfull in New York City's East Village. Instead, she's trapped in East Village, Manitoba: a town with no train station, no bar, and where job prospects...

By Miriam Toews

Paperback

$26⁰⁰
Elsewhere:
~~$27⁹⁹~~

Available
Ships in 4-6 weeks
Women Talking

'Don't miss this one! This amazing, sad, shocking, but touching novel, based on a real-life event, could be right out of The Handmaid's Tale.' - Margaret Atwood Between 2005 and 2009, in a remote religious Mennonite colony, over a hundred girls and women were knocked unconscious and raped, often repeatedly, by what many thought were ghosts or demons, as a...

By Miriam Toews

Paperback

$26⁰⁰
Elsewhere:
~~$27⁹⁹~~

Available
Ships in 4-6 weeks
The Flying Troutmans

Meet the Troutmans. Hattie is living in Paris, city of romance, but has just been dumped by her boyfriend. Min, her sister back in Canada, is going through a particularly dark period. And Min's two kids, Logan and Thebes, are not talking and talking way too much, respectively. When Hattie receives a phone call from eleven-year-old Thebes, begging her to...

By Miriam Toews

Paperback

$26⁰⁰
Elsewhere:
~~$27⁹⁹~~

Available
Ships in 4-6 weeks
Fight Night

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR LONGLISTED FOR THE DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD 'Go Grandma Elvira!' - Margaret Atwood 'Wickedly funny and fearlessly honest.' - The New Yorker 'Glorious.' - Sarah Moss You are a small thing, and you must learn to fight. Swiv has taken this advice too literally. Now she's suspended from school, in the care of her foul-mouthed, hilarious grandmother. Mom...

By Miriam Toews

Paperback

$23⁰⁰
Elsewhere:
~~$24⁹⁹~~

Available
Ships in 4-6 weeks
Women Talking

Between 2005 and 2009, in a remote religious Mennonite colony, over a hundred girls and women were knocked unconscious and raped, often repeatedly, by what many thought were ghosts or demons, as a punishment for their sins. As the women tentatively began to share the details of the attacks—waking up sore and bleeding and not understanding why—their stories were chalked...

By Miriam Toews

Paperback

$26⁰⁰
Elsewhere:
~~$27⁹⁹~~

In Stock
Ships tomorrow
A Truce That Is Not Peace

THE NUMBER ONE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER A FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS 2025 ‘The best memoir you will read all year’ — NICK HORNBY ‘A triumph – a meditation on writing, suicide, guilt and silence’ — GUARDIAN ‘Curious and idiosyncratic and enjoyable’ — ZADIE SMITH ‘Darkly moving and heart-wrenchingly funny’ — MARIE CLAIRE A book of the year...

By Miriam Toews

Hardback

$45⁰⁰

Available
Ships in 4-6 weeks
Fight Night

'Sets standards for grandmotherly swearing and outspokenness I can never hope to match. Go Grandma Elvira!' - MARGARET ATWOOD You are a small thing, and you must learn to fight. Swiv has taken her grandmother's advice too literally. Now she's at home, suspended from school. Mum is pregnant and preoccupied – and so Swiv is in the older woman's charge,...

By Miriam Toews

Paperback

Sold Out
A Truce That Is Not Peace

THE NUMBER ONE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER 'The best memoir you will read all year' — Nick Hornby 'A triumph – a meditation on writing, suicide, guilt and silence' — The Guardian 'A grief memoir in the vein of Joan Didion’s Blue Nights' — New York Times 'This is memoir perfection … I adored it' — Cariad Lloyd The internationally bestselling author...

By Miriam Toews

Paperback

Sold Out

More from General Fiction

View all

The Wedding People

'BEST READ OF THE YEAR SO FAR' THE TIMES 'BOOKS AS FUN AS THIS ONE ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN' GUARDIAN Phoebe Stone arrives at a grand beachside hotel in Rhode Island wearing her best dress and least comfortable shoes. Immediately she is mistaken for one of the wedding people — but she's actually the only guest at the Cornwall...

By Alison Espach

Paperback

$23⁹⁹
Elsewhere:
~~$27⁹⁹~~

(3)

In Stock
Ships tomorrow
Dylan's Pick

Theo of Golden

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING PHENOMENON'For anything to be truly good, there must be love in it. Nothing is what it's supposed to be if love is not at the core.' One morning, a stranger arrives in the town of Golden. No one knows who he is or where he came from…His name is Theo and he's arrived there by chance –...

By Allen Levi

Paperback

$28⁹⁹
Elsewhere:
~~$34⁹⁹~~

(5)

In Stock
Ships tomorrow
New Release

On Mystic Lake

One of the greatest storytellers of our time - Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing Annie Colwater's only child has just left home for school in England. On that same day, her husband of twenty years confesses that he's in love with a younger woman. Left alone in the beautiful California house which was once a home, Annie...

By Kristin Hannah

Paperback

$31⁰⁰
Elsewhere:
~~$38⁰⁰~~

In Stock
Ships tomorrow
New Release

Land

Inspired by the mapping of Ireland in the mid nineteenth century, Land, the new novel from the author of Hamnet, is at once intimate and epic: a portrait of a family navigating a legacy of upheaval and loss with love and hope. On a windswept peninsula stretching out into the Atlantic, Tomás and his reluctant son, Liam, are working for the great...

By Maggie O'Farrell

Paperback

$31⁹⁹
Elsewhere:
~~$37⁹⁹~~

In Stock
Ships tomorrow
Signed Bookplate
New Release

Light Wielder

THE EPIC CONCLUSION TO METAL SLINGER, AKA THE BOOK WITH THE PLOT TWIST THAT BROKE THE INTERNET Sail the seas. Master the blade. Protect your heart. What would you do to have it all? READERS ARE GOING WILD FOR *METAL SLINGER* ‘The BEST plot twist to ever grace my Kindle’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘The author is a mastermind. Romantasy is back!!!!’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐...

By Rachel Schneider

Paperback

$31⁹⁹
Elsewhere:
~~$37⁹⁹~~

In Stock
Ships tomorrow
Tim's Pick

Mistborn Trilogy Boxed Set

The Mistborn Trilogy Boxed Set by Brandon Sanderson is a landmark fantasy series that has captivated readers worldwide. Renowned for its innovative magic system, intricate world-building, and compelling characters, this trilogy is a must-have for any fantasy enthusiast. Immerse yourself in a world shrouded in ash, where a once-hopeful land is ruled by the tyrannical Dark Lord, known as the...

By Brandon Sanderson

Set

$64⁹⁹
Elsewhere:
~~$75⁰⁰~~

(2)

In Stock
Ships tomorrow
Project Hail Mary

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING NOVEL A BARACK OBAMA READING PICK A lone astronaut. An impossible mission. An ally he never imagined. 'The most enjoyable hard SF I have read in years' GUARDIAN 'Weir's finest work to date... This is the one book I read last year that I am certain I can recommend to anyone, no matter who, and know...

By Andy Weir

Paperback

$20⁹⁹
Elsewhere:
~~$28⁰⁰~~

In Stock
Ships tomorrow
Project Hail Mary

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, the SUNDAY TIMES and NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of The Martian, offers a gripping new adventure in hard science fiction. With endorsement from notable figures such as Barack Obama and a slew of five-star reviews, this novel promises a thrilling and intellectually stimulating journey. Ryland Grace, a lone astronaut, finds himself on a...

By Andy Weir

Paperback

$23⁹⁹
Elsewhere:
~~$24⁰⁰~~

(4)

In Stock
Ships tomorrow
The Deal

Welcome to Briar U! Get ready for your newest obsession . . . Discover the addictive world of the Off-Campus series from The Queen of Hockey Romance, Elle Kennedy! Read The Deal now for the perfect fake-dating romance! She's about to make a deal with the college bad boy . . . Hannah Wells has finally found someone who turns...

By Elle Kennedy

Paperback

$24⁹⁹
Elsewhere:
~~$27⁹⁹~~

In Stock
Ships tomorrow
New Release

The Bookshop Detectives 3: Murder and Mojitos

Art Deco glamour, a Cuban crime queen and a grammar-obsessed killer collide in the #1 best-selling Bookshop Detectives’ high-stakes final instalment. The Bookshop Detectives are on the case! Booksellers Garth and Eloise Sherlock (and their cowardly dog, Stevie) have been roped into hosting Murder and Mojitos, a glamorous Art Deco festival event starring Cuba’s queen of crime fiction. Between flapper...

By Gareth and Louise Ward

Paperback

$30⁰⁰
Elsewhere:
~~$38⁰⁰~~

In Stock
Ships tomorrow
On Sale
20% off

The Wrath of the Fallen

SAMKIEL AND DIANNA WILL RETURN in the next sizzling, dark romantasy series from Amber V. Nicole. EPIC. SPICY. ADDICTIVE. Embrace the darkness . . . 'If you like romantasy, read this!' RAVEN KENNEDY 'A wicked ride from beginning to heart-shattering end. Leaving me literally screaming for more' HANNAH NICOLE MAERHER 'This is perfection. Amber Nicole's Dianna is the FMC of...

By Amber V. Nicole

Paperback

$24⁰⁰
Elsewhere:
~~$37⁹⁹~~

In Stock
Ships tomorrow
New Release

Lizzy's Pick

Yesteryear

A BOLD AND BITING SATIRE. WILL HAVE YOU GASPING TO THE FINAL PAGE — Nita Prose WICKEDLY FUNNY, BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND FRIGHTENINGLY PERCEPTIVE — Abigail Dean INVENTIVE, ADDICTIVE, A WILD RIDE — Ashley Audrain SHOT THROUGH WITH HUMOUR AND LACED WITH DARKNESS — Clare Mackintosh The Stepford Wives meets The Handmaid's Tale — Hannah Deitch My name was Natalie Heller...

By Caro Claire Burke

Paperback

$29⁹⁹
Elsewhere:
~~$36⁹⁹~~

(2)

In Stock
Ships tomorrow

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.