About Me
Meet Burt Hecker: a mead-drinking, tunic-wearing medieval re-enactor from upstate New York . He prefers oat gruel to French fries because potatoes were unavailable in Europe before 1200 AD; and, at war with the modern world, he enjoys hosting large-scale reenactments at the Victorian bed and breakfast he calls home.But Burt has some serious problems. After an incident involving the New York State police and an illegally borrowed car, Burt is forced to join a local music therapy workshop to manage his anger. He gallantly accompanies the group to Germany for a festival celebrating the music of the visionary saint Hildegard von Bingen – but he has no plan to return home. His real quest is to get to Prague in order to find his estranged son Tristan, who, he believes, has lost his way in the bohemian city.Moving between past and present, the tragic details of Burt’s life are gradually revealed: the recent death of his beloved wife; the circumstances that separate him from his children; his complicated relationship with his mother-in-law. And we begin to understand, with heart-wrenching clarity, Burt’s eccentric and poignant devotion to a time other than his own.Wildly inventive and mesmerizing, Tod Wodicka’s debut is a modern-day Arthurian quest that introduces one of the most winning oddball characters to come along in years.PUBLISHED BY JONATHAN CAPE IN THE UK and NIEUW AMSTERDAM IN THE NEATHERLANDS - OUT NOW!PUBLISHED BY PANTHEON IN THE US, HARDCOVER - JANUARY 29TH 2008UK VINTAGE PAPERBACK EDITION OUT MARCH 2008PUBLISHED BY EDICIONES DESTINO IN SPAIN - 2009
UK REVIEWS, DUTCH REVIEWS AND ADVANCED PRAISE:"A rare comic novel, beautifully styled and often very moving, [that] seems funny almost by accident, as if it just happened to discover notes of comedy while it went about sounding the depths of its characters. Wodicka is a superb writer." - KEVIN BROCKMEIER, author of THE BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DEAD"Boy is it fun to read ALL SHALL BE WELL. Traveling through Eastern Europe with Burt Hecker, aka Eckbert Attquiet, medieval reenactor and mead-addled father, is a little like heading south with Charles Portis' Ray Midge or being holed up in the campgrounds with Nabokov's Charles Kinbote -- uproarious, wholly odd, wonderfully rendered." - JOSHUA FERRIS, author of THEN WE CAME TO THE END."An astonishing, beautiful book. It's comic and compassionate, assured in tone and richly poetic. Best of all, it's so original, unfolding in brilliantly unexpected and entertaining ways. Easily among the very best novels - never mind debuts - that I've read in years." - PETER HOBBS, author of THE SHORT DAY DYING‘Tod Wodicka’s outstanding debut novel… a vibrant, original, at times hilarious novel… It is a worthy addition to the school of studies in American dysfunction – in heritage, rebellion, the bonds and resentments of family love – reminiscent of Roth or Franzen (or the Royal Tenenbaums for that matter).’ - THE NEW STATESMAN‘Wonderfully imagined … Wodicka has crafted an eccentric tale full of humour and compassion.’ - THE GUARDIAN‘Wodicka is assured and original, and his wry and subtle prose is a pleasure throughout. Burt is a pathetic, frustrating and sympathetic creation, heartbroken and heartbreaking as he struggles to pull himself together for his children.’ - THE OBSERVER‘An assured novel bursting with humour and weighted with sadness.’ - THE FINANCIAL TIMES'Tod Wodicka's boisterous debut ... a genuinely moving narrative ... ultimately Wodicka pulls off a tightrope walk - applause is justified.' - THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT"The desperate self-assurance in the title of Tod Wodicka's curious book pervades the protagonist Burt Hecker's days. Through prose that is full of surprises, Wodicka draws a portrait of a bewildered and melancholic fantasist, a distant decedent of that king of self-delusion, Don Quixote." - HISHAM MATAR, author of the BOOKER short-listed novel, IN THE COUNTRY OF MEN'A wonderfully memorable protagonist ... an arresting narrative that manages to combine both humor and tragedy.'
- THE BOOKSELLER‘The most original debut this year.’ - MATT THORNE, THE CATHOLIC HERALD‘Wodicka is original and writes an efficient, precise prose that quickly enables Burt to establish a conversational tone that inspires confidence in what he is about to divulge; Wodicka also believes in having fun and this novel is fun for most of the journey. Interestingly, although 31 years of age, he does not feature in Granta’s recent Best of Young American Novelists selection – possibly he lacks the required genetic diversity. Much of the appeal of the narrative, particularly in the opening sequences is Wodicka’s evocation of medieval Europe in all its squalor, a squalor he ten effectively balances against its present-day sprawl.’ - THE IRISH TIMES'Packed with wit, humour and wise epigrammatic observations on life.' - BIG ISSUE‘What an exceptionally odd yet utterly compelling debut novel this is … Wodicka has crafted a hilarious yet tragic anti-hero up there with Garp or Yossarian in the form of Burt Hecker, a 66 year old medieval reenactor and widower with a serious home-made mead habit … A deeply intelligent and perceptive writer, Wodicka wields his talents lightly but effectively, creating an oddball family sage imbued with incredible resonance and pathos that will live long in memory. Highly Recommended.’ - THE LIST..All Shall Be Well is an exploration of the reasons why the family of Burt and Kitty has fallen apart as well as a novel about the way we treat our own history. [...] Tod Wodicka has written a clever first novel in a successful way, that combines humour with tragedy perfectly and also manages to satisfy the curiosity of the reader.' - DE MORGEN (translated from Dutch)..For me, the best books are the ones with family drama. Declining marriages, rebellious children, solitary dads, skeletons tumbling out of closets - I gladly stay awake for those kind of books. All Shall Be Well And All Shall Be Well And All Manner of Things Shall Be Well is such a book. [...] Young Wodicka enters the Commonwealth of Letters with this gripping, moving, funny and intelligent first novel. Do follow him. With or without a family discount.' - DE LIMBURGER (translated from Dutch)‘Wodicka’s structuring of the narrative, displays a skill that frequently belies his status as a first-time novelist. By the novel’s end, its title, a quotation from the medieval anchoress, Julian of Norwich, is left poised somewhere between irony and sincerity. Wodicka wisely chooses neither to endorse nor to rubbish the sentiment but, displaying an OOP sense of democracy, gives the reader license to ponder its worth.’- THE TIMES‘So who’s the worst father in literature? Lear? Pap Finn? Michael Henchard? Ladies and gentlemen, there’s a new contender in town. Tod Wodicka has crafted a monster of neglect and lack of awareness in bulbous-nosed Burt Hecker, a 63-year-old American medieval re-enactor … Wodicka’s own quest in the novel is to examine how time makes mutts of us all and how we’re shackled by the past either on a personal level or by the sweep of a larger history. Every day of our lives is some kind of re-enactment – not necessarily for our own good or that of the ones we love. Families in particular are historical things, Wodicka argues convincingly. It’s part of Wodicka’s skill that his story cuts both ways: to a reader without children the novel reads as a black comedy; to a parent, particularly a father, it reads as a tragedy … ’ - SUNDAY TELEGRAPH MAGAZINE
