--- description: Find out why "All This Could Be Different" by Sarah Thankam Mathews is on TIME's list of the must-read books of the year. title: 'All This Could Be Different' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2022 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3eef146e2c0ef718/698a37b709208f30be419d03/AllThisCouldBeDifferent.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Nov 14, 2022 # All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Showing up for your community, your family, and your loved ones is not always easy. It can actually be quite terrifying if you aren’t fully comfortable with yourself. Sneha—a young Indian immigrant who arrived in the U.S. with her parents as a teenager but is now alone after her father’s deportation—is a new college graduate working an entry level job that, demoralizing as it is, keeps her paid and allows her to stay in the country. Through beautiful, spare prose, Sarah Thankam Mathews deftly captures the pain and pleasure of being a young adult in a [recession-rocked](https://time.com/6201205/what-is-a-recession-2022/ "undefined") 21st century. Senha recounts her early 20s with unflinching honesty—the friendships built over cold, grueling months in Milwaukee, tentative dates and an eventual relationship with a woman named Marina, and the struggle of coming into your own when you haven’t reconciled your past. Sneha is tough and at times cutting, but ultimately wants to love and be loved. _All This Could Be Different_—which is a finalist for a National Book Award—charts her journey toward such a life. —_Mahita Gajanan_ **Buy Now**: _All This Could Be Different_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9780593489123 "undefined") | [Amazon](https://amzn.to/3A0rf5s "undefined") **Contact us at** [letters@time.com](mailto:letters@time.com?subject=%28READER%20FEEDBACK%29%20Stay%20True&body=https%3A%2F%2Ftime.com%2Fcollection-post%2F6228627%2Fstay-true%2F "undefined")**.** ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2022/6229047/all-this-could-be-different/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2022/6229047/all-this-could-be-different/"},"headline":"All This Could Be Different","datePublished":"2022-11-14T12:53:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:10:57.721Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2022/6229047/all-this-could-be-different/","keywords":["Books","list","best books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3eef146e2c0ef718/698a37b709208f30be419d03/AllThisCouldBeDifferent.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3eef146e2c0ef718/698a37b709208f30be419d03/AllThisCouldBeDifferent.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2022/6229047/all-this-could-be-different/","name":"All This Could Be Different"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The 100 Must-Read Books of 2022","description":"Gripping novels, transporting poetry, and timely nonfiction that asked us to look deeper.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/EeIdKgaD/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2022-11-09T14:12:32.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/EeIdKgaD.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2022/6229047/all-this-could-be-different/","duration":"PT2M54S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2022/6229047/all-this-could-be-different/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```