The All of It

A Novel

By: Jeannette Haien

Narrated by: Aoife McMahon, Ann Patchett

“An elegantly written, compact and often subtle tale of morality and passion that gives voice to an age-old concern in a fresh way.” — New York Times Book Review

Jeanette Haien’s award-winning novel relates the seemingly simple tale of a parishioner confiding in her priest—revelations that provoke a moral quandary for not only the clergyman, but the reader as well. With a foreword written and narrated by bestselling author Ann Patchett.

While fishing in an Irish salmon stream one rainy morning, Father Declan de Loughry ponders the recent deathbed confession of his parishioner Kevin Dennehy. It seems Dennehy and his wife, Enda, had been quietly living a lie for fifty years. Yet the gravity of their deception doesn’t become clear to the good father until Enda shares the full tale of her suffering, finally confiding “the all of it.”

Haien’s intimate novel of conversations and dilemmas is perfect for readers of Paul Harding’s Tinkers, Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead, Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood and Claire Keegan's Small Things Like These.

Storytelling

The stories within stories informed and enriched each other and deepened my understanding of each storyteller.

Perfectly crafted story

Spare and clear. Not a wasted word. A perfectly crafted story. Beautifully performed, but now I want read it to savor it once more.

Beautiful book, Overwrought performance.

This book is beyond beautiful; it’s also riveting and as well-crafted as narration ever is. But the melodramatic reading in this production made it impossible to listen beyond the first four short(!) chapters. So disappointing! A book this good neither needs nor abides the Disney-esque voices, accents, sighs or other embellishments of this overwrought performance. You’d think that a novel of 135 pages might suggest to the producers that, in this case at least, less is more.