Ben Reeves’s debut novel has already earned significant recognition before publication, with an early draft of Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt winning the 2024 Bath Novel Award. Now, the UK author makes his debut with a novel that asks one of literature’s oldest questions through an unexpected narrator.
In Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt, Death isn’t a terrifying force but a quiet, compassionate presence named Travis, who spends his days comforting people in their final moments. But when he befriends a midwife and her young daughter across the hall, he begins to discover what it truly means to live. Tender, philosophical, and quietly hopeful, Reeves’ novel is a moving meditation on grief, love, and the fleeting beauty of being alive.
Reeves answered the recurring My Reading Life Q&A so readers could get to know the books that shaped his life and influenced his debut novel.
What was the first book you were obsessed with as a child?
This isn’t a very glamorous answer, but Bart Simpson’s Guide To Life. If you’ve ever seen the book, you’ll know there’s a (somewhat silly) sense of grandeur to it, from the calligraphic font on the cover, to the list of chapters – everything from religion, to sex, to art and culture. It felt all-encompassing to me, and I admired that. Even through the eyes of a child, it made me realise that books can be profound, beautiful, and tackle the big questions. My friend had the book, and I thought it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. I swapped a load of toys and sweets to get it.
What book helped you through puberty?
There’s a series of books called Broken Sky by Chris Wooding. I was going through a stage where I didn’t want to read much, but those books reignited my love for stories. Great characters, beautiful settings, and a fun adventure. The prose isn’t anything fancy, but it’s incredibly clear and readable, and I found that very important. Those were the first books where I ever went to a bookshop and specifically asked them to order the books in. And I spent many long rainy afternoons lapping them up. Hugely underrated, in my opinion.
What book do you wish 16-year-old you had read?
I think most books found me at the right time. But if I could go back and give my 16-year-old self a particular book, it might be The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. That was the first novel where the writing truly blew me away. I didn’t read it until I was nineteen, but I think I’d have enjoyed it at sixteen. I’m not necessarily recommending it to other 16-year-olds, but I’ve always suffered a little bit from depression, or just a general confusion about the world, and that book made (and still makes) me feel seen.
If you were to teach a class on Damn Good Writing, what books would make the syllabus?
In terms of great fiction, my personal canon (so far) is something like..
Life of Pi – Yann Martel
The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – Robert Pirsig
The Road – Cormac McCarthy
Slaughterhouse Five – Kurt Vonnegut
Hamlet – William Shakespeare
As I Lay Dying – William Faulkner
Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek – Annie Dillard (non-fiction narrative)
Even just listing those titles makes my heart swell. I tend to read them over and over, and if you mix them all together, you probably end up with something that looks roughly like my writing.
In terms of “how to write” books…
How to Write a Novel by Harry Bingham. There are so many books about writing, but with that one, I truly got it. For years, it was all guesswork – I didn’t know the difference between “good” writing and “bad” writing. That book set me on a path, and I’m so grateful for it.
Writing 21st Century Fiction by Donald Maass. I owe a lot to that one. I felt like I gradually outgrew it, but a lot of the lessons have stayed with me.
The Kick-Ass Writer by Chuck Wendig. A great storyteller, and a great problem solver when it comes to fiction. He’s tackled every writing problem you could possibly have.
I’m also a big fan of K M Weiland.
What books helped guide you while writing your book?
I remember at the time I was reading…
If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things – Jon McGregor
A Visit from the Goon Squad – Jennifer Egan
The Overstory – Richard Powers
I sometimes struggle to read while I’m writing, but together those books helped to keep me in the right frame of mind.
What books are on your nightstand now?
Oh dear… I don’t keep them on my nightstand because there are too many. I tend to dip in and out, depending upon what mood I’m in. If a book really grips me, I’ll read it within a couple of days. Otherwise, it can be months. On the floor at my side of the bed, we have *deep breath*…
Tinkers, Walden, The Overstory, Huckleberry Finn, Beartown, The Old Man and the Sea, The Secret Life of Bees, Never Let Me Go, Lightboxes, The Waves, Flowers for Algernon, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Butcher’s Crossing, No Longer Human, Gilead, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Magician of Lublin, Keith Haring Journals, and a couple of graphic novels.
And that’s just the ones upstairs. You might wonder how I could possibly enjoy that many stories at once, but the truth is, what I truly love is language and voice and tone. I can dip in at any point and be happy. And some of them I’ve read before, which helps.
