Dorothy Rowe

To be human is to suffer. We enter this world expecting that we can have everything, but we learn very quickly that we can't always get what we want. The accompanying and constant feelings of loss, anger, aggression, resentment and sadness can dominate us for the rest of our lives.

The strategies that we evolve to cope with these feelings - greed for possessions or power, a propensity for assuming responsibility for everything, saddling ourselves with guilt for the world, martyrdom, envy or utter selfishness - do not lead to happiness.

But Dorothy Rowe shows us how, once we understand the nature of our longing and the conditions that prevent its fulfillment, we can arrive at a state of wanting which does hold the possibility of fulfillment, and which does lead to happiness.

"Wanting everything is such a startling book, so eloquent in its intelligence and its compassion, in its requirement that we pay attention and reform - and in doing so, remake not just ourselves, but also society - as to have the force of a modern day bible.".
Fay Weldon