![]() ![]() ![]() My robe lies at the foot of the bed, printed cotton in the summer, tufted chenille for the cold. My husband stirs briefly next to me, turns over, blinks, and falls back to sleep for another hour. This is my life: The alarm goes off at five-thirty with the murmuring of a public-radio announcer, telling me that there has been a coup in Chad, a tornado in Texas. Max's drum teacher suggests he might be depressed. A big landscaping job has been trashed, the trees and shrubs stolen. Ruby has had a bout with anorexia and is now growing tired of Kiernan. Her former best friend and neighbor now shuns her, and that neighbor's son, Kiernan, Ruby's boyfriend, clings to Mary Beth's family as his own. Mary Beth seems to have a full, busy life, although there are clearly signs of things that have gone awry. The first half of the novel gives us a vivid portrait of Mary Beth Latham's life, her cozy love for her ophthalmologist husband, her challenging relationships with her three teenage children - Ruby, the oldest, a "confidently distinctive" high school student who writes poetry fraternal twins Alex (one of the "polo shirt boys" who seem to have an easy life) and "always eccentric" Max - and her satisfying small-town landscape business. Quindlen starts simply: "This is my life: The alarm goes off at five-thirty with the murmuring of a public-radio announcer, telling me there has been a coup in Chad, a tornado in Texas." How well can we protect our children from the cruelty of the world? That's a question best-selling author and former columnist Anna Quindlen explores in her sixth novel, Every Last One, which despite its dark themes and violent scenes, is buoyed by her winning voice. In 2000, Anna Quindlen became the first writer to have books appear on The New York Times best-seller lists for fiction, nonfiction and self-help.
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