Secrets unravel in Brooklynite’s debut novel
Vanity Fair reporter crafts compelling, small-town story
Every family has its secrets; every town has its scandals. In her debut novel “Love All” (Henry Holt and Company), Brooklyn writer Callie Wright explores the history of her own hometown, Cooperstown, New York, as a springboard for her poignant coming-of-age story.
In the 1960s, Cooperstown residents were shaken by “The Sex Cure” – a publication that divulged the scandals of the community and its inhabitants. In “Love All”, Wright exposes the potency of “The Sex Cure”, as it resurfaces in the ‘90s to unravel one family’s fibers. Bob Cole is grieving the loss of his wife when his grown daughter, Anne Obermeyer, invites him to live with her own family in Cooperstown. Anne and her father are in the process of working through their grief when Anne discovers an old copy of the contentious book whose enclosed secrets resurface to thwart their progress.
Meanwhile, Anne’s new family has secrets of its own. Her husband, Hugh, has adopted an increasingly suspicious schedule and, as principal of the town’s preschool, he is nervous that a recent accident at the school threatens to shatter its reputation. The couple’s children have their own dramas; 15-year-old Julia is trapped in a love triangle with two close friends, while her older brother, Teddy, witnesses something that might change his family for good.