Every Last One

by Anna Quindlen (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2011

  $4.37

  The Lathams seem to have it all: health, wealth and a vibrant family life. As Mary Beth Latham contemplates a life built around home, friends and community, she has every reason to feel fulfilled and content. Then, for one of her sons, a process of unravelling begins. Mary Beth starts to focus on him, only to find that the comfortable life she has spent years carefully constructing is shattered in a single moment. Forced to confront her own demons, Mary Beth realises how the inconsequential moments we all share - and one shameful act she has hidden from everybody - may have contributed to her fate. Every Last One is a mesmerising and devastating portrait of family life, and a testament to the power of a mother's love and determination. It is Anna Quindlen's finest work to date.

• Used

  Paperback
  2010

  $3.27

  Mary Beth has built her life around her close knit and much loved family: husband Glen, a successful ophthalmologist, their beautiful and talented 17 year old daughter Ruby, and 14 year old twins Alex and Matt. The Lathams lead busy everyday lives, filled with familiar domestic detail and only faintly troubled by Matt's recent diagnosis of mild depression and Ruby's split from her long time boyfriend Kiernan. On New Year's Eve, the family goes to an annual neighbourhood party and Mary Beth and Glen return home in the early hours happy but slightly the worse for wear. They go to bed only to be disturbed by the noise of the children and Glen goes downstairs to investigate. The shocking violence of that night's events shatters the family and Mary Beth is left to face an uncertain future and to try to somehow rebuild her life. Every Last One is an unforgettable portrait of a mother and a family and of the brutal consequences of seemingly inconsequential actions.