Do We Deserve This? by Eleanor Elliott Thomas

Title: Do We Deserve This?

Author: Eleanor Elliott Thomas

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Text Publishing

Published: 14^th October 2025

Format: Paperback

Pages: 336

Price: $34.99

Synopsis: Bean had no intention of taking the money. Not at first…

Bean Halloway, lone nobody in a family of ambitious somebodies, is still figuring out what she wants from her life. She always says she doesn’t care about money—but will that still be the case when she finds herself in possession of a lottery ticket worth millions? Bean bought the ticket for her mother Nina, who is glamorous and charismatic—but not exactly an ideal parent. Before Bean can hand it over, an accident leaves Nina in a coma.

Bean and her siblings—histrionic pop star Jeremy and uptight lawyer Genevieve—initially agree to hold on to the ticket until Nina wakes up. Then they start having other ideas…

Throw in an old crush, a gambling debt, a vengeful ex, and some family skeletons lining up to leap out of the closet and life for the Halloways is about to get seriously complicated.

~*~

How do we decide what someone does or doesn’t deserve? Why do some people get everything, or have everything fall into their laps, whilst others work just as hard and still struggle despite doing everything right. Everything that everyone and society tells them they need to do to be successful, to get a job, to be an adult. In this quite tongue-in-cheek book about a very white, very middle-class family with a very fragile male character, an uptight sister, and one who is a bit lost. Their mother is hiding secrets, big secrets that could change the way they see the lottery win. But Nina, their mother, is in a coma following an accident not long after the ticket was bought.

They’re far from the ideal family with all their issues, but the lottery win could change everything. Until Bean starts digging into their mother’s past while Jeremy’s life starts falling apart in the US, and Genevieve grapples with work challenges and her crumbling marriage. They’re supposed to be holding onto the ticket until Nina wakes up, yet thanks to the challenges and revelations, things could be very different.

Do We Deserve This is a tongue-in-cheek, sarcastic and thought-provoking look at the implications of the choices we make in life, the choices families make, and how these choices inform or affect how people cope with life, and where they end up. Whether it’s the indulged sibling who got to choose their pathway, and where things are handled to keep the peace for them, the one who did what they were supposed to, but something is still holding them back, or the sibling who is filled with trauma and anxiety, the one who feels adrift and uncertain. Who has opinions, but is never heard. Bean is often derided because she’s struggling with what is happening, and trying to make sense of it. The book pings back and forth between the siblings, who all have their own flaws and morals on display. Bean and Genevieve seemed to be the most-level headed, and the reasons for why they were all the way they are became clearer as the novel went on.

But most importantly, I think the book did a great job grappling with moral issues. Things like gambling, exes out for revenge and personal responsibilities, and ideas around generational wealth that reverberate in distinct and important ways. And it’s all linked to the lottery win. Because with millions on the line, what is the right thing to do? Does Nina’s past mean she shouldn’t be told? Morally and legally, who owns the ticket? It also plays with discussions around racism, generational wealth, and the #MeToo movement throughout. It’s layered and considered, using humour to balance out the heavier subjects that many people don’t talk about. It doesn’t necessarily bash people about the head with certain aspects either. I think by giving the family all these issues, it makes it a more human, more concrete discussion. It’s less abstract in this way, because it might make people see how things from the past are still on people’s minds today, and are discussions that we still need to have, however uncomfortable these talks might be.

And it allows the conflict to play out, and doesn’t silence anyone. Even if decisions will be made, it’s clear that shutting something or someone down is not always effective. As a society, there will always be issues, conversations and topics that make us uneasy for a range of reasons, but having the discussions can help. Even the uncomfortable ones where people may need to acknowledge privilege or things that they don’t wholly understand. It’s a novel, a family story, and a social commentary all wrapped in a funny package for readers to enjoy, engage with, and ruminate on what they would do when faced with a lottery win and the implications of generational wealth. And what it means when we have the power to make decisions that affect others.