All That Is Mine I Carry with Me

eBook, 352 pages

English language

Published March 7, 2023 by Bantam.

ISBN:: 978-0-345-53185-8
OCLC Number:: 1309016487

(1 review)

One afternoon in November 1975, ten-year-old Miranda Larkin comes home from school to find her house eerily quiet. Her mother is missing. Nothing else is out of place. There is no sign of struggle. Her mom’s pocketbook remains in the front hall, in its usual spot.

So begins a mystery that will span a lifetime. What happened to Jane Larkin?

Investigators suspect Jane’s husband. A criminal defense attorney, Dan Larkin would surely be an expert in outfoxing the police.

But no evidence is found linking him to a crime, and the case fades from the public’s memory, a simmering, unresolved riddle. Jane’s three children—Alex, Jeff, and Miranda—are left to be raised by the man who may have murdered their mother.

Two decades later, the remains of Jane Larkin are found. The investigation is awakened. The children, now grown, are forced to choose sides. With their father or against him? Guilty …

One afternoon in November 1975, ten-year-old Miranda Larkin comes home from school to find her house eerily quiet. Her mother is missing. Nothing else is out of place. There is no sign of struggle. Her mom’s pocketbook remains in the front hall, in its usual spot.

So begins a mystery that will span a lifetime. What happened to Jane Larkin?

Investigators suspect Jane’s husband. A criminal defense attorney, Dan Larkin would surely be an expert in outfoxing the police.

But no evidence is found linking him to a crime, and the case fades from the public’s memory, a simmering, unresolved riddle. Jane’s three children—Alex, Jeff, and Miranda—are left to be raised by the man who may have murdered their mother.

Two decades later, the remains of Jane Larkin are found. The investigation is awakened. The children, now grown, are forced to choose sides. With their father or against him? Guilty or innocent? And what happens if they are wrong?

A tale about family—family secrets and vengeance, but also family love—All That Is Mine I Carry With Me masterfully grapples with a primal question: When does loyalty reach its limit?

7 editions

Phil in SF reviewed All That Is Mine I Carry with Me by William Landay

Not quite as intense as his previous novels

4 stars

I think I was expecting a bit more punch for this than it delivered, hence why I didn't rate it higher. That said, that has a lot to do with my expectations and another reader may feel this more intently than I did.

The premise that one day in the 1970s, Jane Larkin disappears. She is married with three children, late teens Alex, early teens Jeff, and middle-schooler Miranda. But the first point of view character is that of a writer about to publish a novel based on the disappearance of his childhood friends' mother decades later. Because it's so long after the disappearance, this section can reveal a bit of how each of the members of the family handles, and has handled, the disappearance over the years.

Jeff & Miranda come to think that their father murdered their mother, but the police never find anything to connect him to …

I think I was expecting a bit more punch for this than it delivered, hence why I didn't rate it higher. That said, that has a lot to do with my expectations and another reader may feel this more intently than I did.

The premise that one day in the 1970s, Jane Larkin disappears. She is married with three children, late teens Alex, early teens Jeff, and middle-schooler Miranda. But the first point of view character is that of a writer about to publish a novel based on the disappearance of his childhood friends' mother decades later. Because it's so long after the disappearance, this section can reveal a bit of how each of the members of the family handles, and has handled, the disappearance over the years.

Jeff & Miranda come to think that their father murdered their mother, but the police never find anything to connect him to the disappearance. Alex believes his father is innocent. The family can't be tight-knit with such disparate views. Much of the story focuses on Miranda & Jeff, but I think one of the things that Landay really did well is introduce the idea that Alex would stick with his father even if he were to be proven guilty. After all, what's done is done and it's not like their father is going to murder someone else. I kinda wish Alex's attitude was explored a bit more than it was.

A solid book.

Subjects

American literature

Lists

Passes the "Bechdel Test"