*A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND SUNDAY TIMES ART BOOK OF THE YEAR*

A revelatory insider portrait of one of the world's greatest galleries, and the inspiring 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

'Wonderful' NATALIE HAYNES

'Consoling and beautiful' GUARDIAN

'What a gift of a book' RUMAAN ALAM

'Marvellous' DAILY TELEGRAPH

'Absorbing, beautiful ... A must read' TRACY CHEVALIER

AN OBSERVER BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025
AN OPRAH WINFREY AND FEARNE COTTON BOOK CLUB PICK

'No one who reads this book will ever forget it' Meg Mason
'An absolute masterclass and truth-bomb … I think many people will be shaken awake by this book' Emma Gannon

In her first non-fiction book in a decade, the no. 1 bestselling writer who taught millions of readers to live authentically (Eat Pray Love) and creatively (Big Magic) shows how to break free.

In 2000, Elizabeth Gilbert met Rayya. They became friends, then best friends, then inseparable. When tragedy entered their lives, the truth was finally laid bare: the two were in love. They were also a pair of addicts, on a collision course toward catastrophe.

What if your most beautiful love story turned into your biggest nightmare? What if the dear friend who taught you so much about your self-destructive tendencies became the unstable partner with whom you disastrously reenacted every one of them? And what if your most devastating heartbreak opened a pathway to your greatest awakening?

All the Way to the River is a landmark memoir that will resonate with anyone who has ever been captive to love – or to any other passion, substance or craving – and who yearns, at long last, for liberation.