Both Things at Once

Renea Batric has never felt luckier. A best friend who's been there since they were eleven years old. A fiancée who sees straight through him — in the best way. A life that's finally, quietly, come together. He tells his own story with warmth, humor, and an easy contentment that makes you want to believe every word. The friendship. The falling in love. The proposal on a Cornish beach. The wedding planning, the family dinners, the ordinary Tuesdays that somehow feel like everything. But some stories aren't only what they seem on the surface. Told entirely in Renea's voice — until it isn't — Both Things at Once is a devastating, deeply human novel about the distance between how we appear and what we carry. It's about the people who love us, and the things even they can't always see. It's about a best friend left behind, asking the one question that has no answer. This is a story about happiness that was real. And pain that was real too. And what it means to hold both, at once, for the people we lose and the people we become after. A literary novel for readers of We Need to Talk About Kevin, A Little Life, and Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine — unflinching, quietly devastating, and impossible to put down. Note to readers: This novel deals sensitively with mental health, depression, and suicide. It is written with care and restraint, and does not include graphic depictions of self-harm.