The All of It

“A quiet little stunner, written with the sure hand of an artist and the ear of a seasoned storyteller.” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Jeannette Haien’s award-winning work of Irish literature relates the seemingly simple tale of a parishioner confiding in her priest, but the tangled confession brings secrets to light that provoke a moral quandary for not only the clergyman, but the reader as well. Perfect for readers of Claire Keegan.

While fishing in an Irish salmon stream one rainy morning, Father Declan de Loughry, a Catholic priest, 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 literary fiction novel of conversations and dilemmas—perfect for readers of Paul Harding’s Tinkers, Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead, and Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood—is “an elegantly written, compact and often subtle tale of morality and passion that gives voice to an age-old concern in a fresh way” hails the New York Times Book Review. This special edition includes an introduction by Ann Patchett.