One phone call. That’s all it took to change Stephanie Wit­tels Wach’s life forever.

Her younger broth­er Har­ris, a star in the com­e­dy world known for his work on shows like Parks and Recre­ation, had died of a hero­in over­dose. How do you make sense of such a trag­ic end to a life of so much hilar­i­ous brilliance?

In beau­ti­ful, unsen­ti­men­tal, and sur­pris­ing­ly fun­ny prose, Stephanie Wit­tels Wachs alter­nates between her brother’s strug­gle with addic­tion, which she learned about three days before her wed­ding, and the first year after his death, in all its emo­tion­al dev­as­ta­tion. This com­pelling por­trait of a comedic genius and a pro­found explo­ration of the love between sib­lings is A Year of Mag­i­cal Think­ing for a new gen­er­a­tion of readers. 

A heart­break­ing but hope­ful mem­oir of addic­tion, grief, and fam­i­ly, Every­thing is Hor­ri­ble and Won­der­ful will make you laugh, cry, and won­der if that pos­sum on the fence is real­ly your brother’s spir­it animal.