We have updated our Privacy Policy Please take a moment to review it. By continuing to use this site, you agree to the terms of our updated Privacy Policy.

When All is Said

Buy Now:

Audiobook Downloadable / ISBN-13: 9781473683044

Price: £21.99

Disclosure: If you buy products using the retailer buttons above, we may earn a commission from the retailers you visit.

Five toasts. Five people. One lifetime.

‘An extraordinary novel, a poetic writer, and a story that moved me to tears.’ John Boyne

‘I’m here to remember – all that I have been and all that I will never be again.’

At the bar of a grand hotel in a small Irish town sits 84-year-old Maurice Hannigan. He’s alone, as usual – though tonight is anything but. Pull up a stool and charge your glass, because Maurice is finally ready to tell his story.

Over the course of this evening, he will raise five toasts to the five people who have meant the most to him. Through these stories – of unspoken joy and regret, a secret tragedy kept hidden, a fierce love that never found its voice – the life of one man will be powerfully and poignantly laid bare.

Heart-breaking and heart-warming all at once, the voice of Maurice Hannigan will stay with you long after all is said.

(P) 2019 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd

What's Inside

Read More Read Less

Reviews

Griffin's strength is in voice and in the rhythm of her prose ... She is excellent at interrogating the complexity of Maurice's barriers
Irish Independent
[An] impressively confident debut ... Maurice Hannigan emerges as an engaging, compassionate creation
Guardian
This could be one of the big book hits of 2019
Red Magazine
Poetic and touching without being sentimental, When All Is Said by Anne Griffin is something special.
Good Housekeeping
A powerful page-turner ... wonderfully poetic, atmospheric and moving.
Dierdre O'Brien, Best
A warm and nourishing story from a writer of much promise.
RTE Guide
Griffin's debut is a beautiful and poignant page-turner.
Image Magazine
A heart-warming, heart-breaking and poignant debut of rare power.
NetGalley Books of 2019
A fine literary debut from a writer I'm sure we'll hear more from
Mature Times
An emotional yet uplifting novel - we defy you not to fall in love with Maurice Hannigan and his heart-warming story.
Woman's Weekly
Superb ... incredibly moving without ever straying into sentiment
People
When All Is Said captures the texture of a night catching up with an old friend - the pleasures and comforts, the stories and surprises - one that you never want to end, and all the more bittersweet because you know, of course, that it must.
Kathleen Rooney
Maurice Hannigan is one of those rare and unforgettable characters whose lives we enter, inhabit for a time all too brief, and emerge from deeply changed. Anne Griffin is a writer with a bright, bright future.
Janet Peery
Pitch-perfect prose ... Moving and beautifully written, this is a wonderfully assured debut.
Mail on Sunday
It's all beautifully done; a tale told in the plain but poetic prose of a man who recognises the tragic truths gleaned from a life of love and loss. A gem of a book
Sunday Express
A proper tear-jerker, but one that will ultimately leave you feeling hopeful
Grazia
A beautifully written, perfectly paced, heartfelt novel
Saga
An atmospheric debut ... The most impressive aspects of this first novel are its rich, flowing prose, its convincing voice and its imaginative and clever structure ... Griffin is a welcome arrival to the literary scene
Irish Times
A heartfelt and impressive debut novel
Sunday Business Post
Beautifully written, this is a feast of Irish storytelling
Choice
Achingly poignant and wryly funny, Irish author Anne Griffin's luminous debut is a celebration of stolen joy and lost opportunities
Waterstones Weekly
A rich, fluid debut novel
The I Newspaper
Will stay with you long after you close the cover
Irish Mail on Sunday
As candid a portrait of human frailty as you're likely to find. Griffin is uncannily accurate in her depiction of that peculiarly Irish emotional paralysis we're all familiar with.
Sunday Independent
A rich and moving story, a poetic voice and unforgettable character in Maurice
Elle
[Maurice's] story will make you laugh and cry - When All Is Said is a wonderful debut novel from Anne Griffin. She says she "wanted to write a damn good story". She has succeeded beyond her dreams.
My Weekly
Tissues at the ready for what is a confident yet carefully written debut . . . I adored it. Utterly recommended.
Woman's Way
Griffin's stunning debut, brimming with irresistible Irish-isms, is an elegy to love, loss and the complexity of life.
People Magazine
An accomplished debut. A sensitive layered description of grief and regret . . . excellent
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Beautifully realized
LitHub
Taken Ireland by storm . . . Immediate, often funny, sometimes dark and, on occasion, devastatingly sad.
Audiobook review, The Times
A portrait of a life in which revenge, love, loss, and misunderstanding all play their part . . . This is a wonderful piece of story-telling that is intimate, compassionate and extraordinarily assured.
Summer Holiday Reads, Daily Mail
Anne Griffin's first novel has taken Ireland by storm . . . Immediate, often funny, sometimes dark and, on occasion, devastatingly sad.
Audio book review, The Times
Nearly 40 years of publishing has made me a cynical reviewer of books, but, oh my god, it's impossible to be churlish about discovering such a fabulous and unforgettable character. A one-hit wonder this is not
NB Magazine
A gentle tale of an irascible Irish farmer, who spends the last day of his life toasting the five people who have meant the most to him- sure to move even the stoniest of hearts
Independent
It was a masterstroke to get one of the greatest living Irish character actors (and there's stiff competition) to voice Maurice Hannigan ... Better than on the page.
Sunday Times
A heart-warming, heart-breaking and poignant debut of rare power.
NetGalley Books of 2019
A hugely enjoyable, engrossing novel, a genuine page-turner.
Donal Ryan
An ingenious narrative
Stylist
Anne Griffin's debut novel is a must read. Beautifully observed, masterful story telling - stunning!
Graham Norton
Beautifully written, unhurried and thoughtful, and a character you love from the off.
Kit de Waal
In the twilight of his long and eventful life, Irishman Maurice Hannigan still possesses the deep and mellow voice that his grandmother once told him 'could melt icebergs-a voice that debut author Anne Griffin renders with wit, verve, and endearing irascibility. When All Is Said captures the texture of a night catching up with an old friend--the pleasures and comforts, the stories and surprises-one that you never want to end, and all the more bittersweet because you know, of course, that it must.
Kathleen Rooney, author of LILIAN BOXFISH TAKES A WALK
Maurice Hannigan is a wonderful invention, whose bitter-sweet meditations will stay long in the reader's mind. Anne Griffin has fashioned a rare jewel.
John Banville
Maurice Hannigan is one of those rare and unforgettable characters whose lives we enter, inhabit for a time all too brief, and emerge from deeply changed. Anne Griffin is a writer with a bright, bright future.
Janet Peery, National Book Award finalist
There is something special here . . . The next big name to emerge from the Irish writing scene.
John Boyne
This is how you tell a story
Cecelia Ahern
A hugely enjoyable, engrossing novel, a genuine page-turner.
Donal Ryan
Maurice Hannigan is a wonderful invention, whose bitter-sweet meditations will stay long in the reader's mind. Anne Griffin has fashioned a rare jewel.
John Banville
Anne Griffin's debut novel is a must read. Beautifully observed, masterful story telling - stunning!
Graham Norton
This is how you tell a story
Cecelia Ahern
Beautifully written, unhurried and thoughtful, and a character you love from the off.
Kit de Waal
Griffin is a magical storyteller whose prose is effortless and clear. She conjures an intimate, poignant and ultimately enthralling portrait of a man who has battled loneliness and other demons throughout his life. Maurice is superbly well-realised: a character who tries to make amends and, in so doing, cracked my heart.
Fanny Blake, Daily Mail
When All Is Said tells the tale of an imperfect man who you will not be able to forget.
Irish Country Magazine
A warm and wise treasure of a book with a character whose voice draws you in from the start
The I
[Anne Griffin] builds a remarkably rich sense of place, while also tracing the wider changes affecting Ireland. ...Maurice is a lovingly rendered example of the current vogue for characters who have fallen through the cracks
Sunday Times
A book to savour, and pass on. An absolute joy
Sunday Mirror