When All Is Said

When All Is Said (2019) is the debut novel by Anne Griffin, an Irish novelist and short story writer. The novel is told from the perspective of Maurice, an old man looking back on his life over an evening in a hotel bar before he dies by suicide. The five toasts he gives tell five interconnected stories of important people in his life. When All Is Said was a number-one bestseller in Ireland in 2019. It was awarded the Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year award in the An Post Irish Book Awards and shortlisted for several other prizes. Griffin has since published two further novels: Listening Still (2021) and The Island of Longing (2023).

This guide refers to the 2024 paperback edition by the Sceptre imprint of Hodder & Stoughton Ltd.

Content Warning: The source material features depictions of pregnancy loss, mental health conditions, forced sedation, suicide, and sexual assault.

Plot Summary

An advert for an antique coin precedes the narration. In a hotel bar in Ireland, Maurice, an old man, internally addresses his first-person narration to his absent son, Kevin. He misses his wife, Sadie, who died two years ago. He greets the manager, Emily, thinking about the complex history they share. He has secretly sold off everything he owns. He plans to toast five people over the course of the evening.

He begins with a toast to his brother, Tony, his best friend and greatest supporter as a child. After struggling in school, Maurice left his studies early to work for the Dollard family—the hotel Maurice is in in the narrative present was once the big house on the Dollard estate. The Dollards, especially their son, Thomas, treated him badly. Maurice was helpless to protest as his family needed the money, especially once Tony got seriously ill. When Maurice saw Thomas hide a coin belonging to his violent father, he secretly took it as revenge. Thomas was disinherited. Maurice was distraught when Tony died. Maurice became his father’s successor, and over the years, he ruthlessly grew his farming business. He took particular joy in buying up the Dollards’ lands in stages as their fortunes waned. Tony’s presence stays with him.

Maurice’s second toast is to Molly. Maurice and Sadie desperately wanted a child. When they conceived Molly, they were thrilled. He worked hard to provide for them, but when Sadie had concerns about the pregnancy, he ignored her, going out to a business deal instead. They lost the baby, devastating them both. Maurice’s guilt distanced him from his wife. When they eventually had Kevin, Maurice was always imagining Molly. He sees Molly in Emily, Thomas’s great-niece. Emily’s father converted the Dollard house into a hotel to try to keep the family afloat, and she was forced back to deal with the failing business after his death. To help her, Maurice became a silent partner in the hotel. In return, she told him more about the coin: As one of seven Edward VIII coins, it has immense value, and Thomas has destroyed his life trying to find it again. Maurice kept his possession of it a secret, imagining Molly’s disapproval.

Next, Maurice toasts his sister-in-law, Noreen. Noreen had a mental health condition; she was semi-verbal and volatile in behavior, so she lived in a psychiatric hospital. She loved shiny coins, often stealing them. She had loving relationships with Sadie, Maurice, and Kevin and spent most weekends at their house. One day, she ransacked their bedroom and found the Edward VIII coin, but Maurice persuaded her to put it back. Later, Maurice, Sadie, and Noreen went to the hotel for Sunday lunch. To Maurice’s horror, Thomas was there, but he didn’t recognize Maurice. Noreen stole an Edward VIII coin from Thomas; Emily revealed that Thomas spent his second wife’s fortune buying another of these rare coins, ruining the family financially. Maurice persuaded Noreen to let him return the coin, offering his in return on condition that it remained in his home. He censured Thomas for his disparaging words about Noreen. Sadie felt grief and guilt alongside her love for Noreen; when Noreen died at 70, Sadie was devastated.

Maurice’s fourth toast is to his son, Kevin. He cannot relate to Kevin, who is his opposite in many ways: Kevin has no interest in the land and loves the written word, becoming a journalist. Maurice has an aversion to reading due to his school experiences. When Kevin moved to America, Sadie visited as often as she could, but Maurice felt culturally alienated on his one visit and did not go again. After Sadie’s death, Kevin visited Maurice more. Maurice longs to communicate his pride and interest in Kevin’s life but cannot. Their interactions are stilted, though they perform small gestures indicating love. Maurice gave Emily the coin, but when she returned it to Thomas, it did not bring Thomas peace, instead prompting a heart attack, which killed him. A young man named David who lost his father tried to engage Maurice in social support groups for older people. Though they connected, Maurice decided he only wanted to be with Sadie.

Finally, Maurice toasts Sadie. He remembers the romance of courting her. He was infatuated by her humor, warmth, and beauty. However, through much of their marriage, he placed money over her. He broke his promises to take them to a certain restaurant or book them into the honeymoon suite. He never got tea out, as it was cheaper at home. Shortly before she died, Sadie wanted tea and dessert after Sunday lunch. Maurice got them for her but lied that there was no ice cream and left her to eat alone. Later, they didn’t talk. In the present, Maurice has had dinner and a pot of tea alone in the restaurant she wanted to go to but knows it is too late.

Maurice bumps into Hillary, Emily’s mother, who reveals that Thomas’s father hated Thomas because he was the product of his wife’s affair with his brother. She begs Maurice to oust Emily from the hotel to free her from the past. Later, though, Emily tells Maurice that she is proud of her work. She tells him the coin did not determine Thomas’s fate.

Maurice goes to the hotel’s honeymoon suite where he imagines waltzing with Sadie. He leaves Kevin a voice recording expressing his pride and love. In his will, Emily gets Maurice’s share of the hotel, David receives a small sum of money, and the rest is for Kevin. Maurice takes pills and lies on the bed, telling Sadie he is coming.