All That I Have: a novel

Hanover, NH, Steerforth Press (2009)

176 pages Paperback $13.95

ISBN 978-1-586421519

Published in the United Kingdom by Duckworth Overlook Publishers, London (2010)

e-book available for  Amazon’s Kindle  ($8.34)

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Also available in Audible Audio Edition, Unabridged

 

DESCRIPTION
In this gripping, darkly funny, and wise tale, Sheriff Lucian Wing confronts a series of challenges to his marriage, his work, and his settled way of life in rural Vermont. Wing is an experienced, practical man who enforces the law with a steady hand and a generous tolerance. Things are not as they should be, however, in the sheriff’s safe, protected domain. The outside world draws near, and threats multiply: the arrival in the district of a band of exotic, major-league criminals; an ambitious and aggressive deputy; the self-destructive exploits of a local bad boy; Wing’s discovery of a domestic crisis. The sheriff’s response to these diverse challenges calls on all the personal resources he has cultivated during his working life: patience, tact, and (especially) humor.

 

EXCERPT

Not that we were ever poor in our family. We were never poor, not close. My sisters and I could have anything we wanted. We had a deal with our mother. Her end was, we could have anything we wanted. Our end was, we wouldn’t want too much. (Chapter 5)

 

REVIEW

“It is impossible not to appreciate this spare, meditative and seamlessly crafted novel.”—The Times (London)

 

“An original voice. . . I had no idea what I was missing. Sean Duke, the Cossacks and the Sweetheart of Sigma Chi are just part of the pack barking at the end of the drive. Their voices, and Freeman’s, illuminate a marvelous novel.”—The Oregonian

 

“An absorbing yarn from a writer shrewd with the delayed reveal and deft with his lean, tidy sentences. The novel’s 20 short chapters fit as snugly as Lincoln logs, and its dialogue zings with a sly Elmore Leonard lilt.”—Cleveland Plain Dealer

 

“Sheriff Lucian Wing, the narrator of Freeman’s wonderfully wry fourth novel, is a laconic, old-fashioned lawman who discovers an outpost of nefarious Russians in his sleepy Vermont county. Wing’s Fargo-esque delivery is hysterical, but what makes this tale a standout is Freeman’s keen ear for dialogue and his affection for the quietly complex characters of small-town life.”—People (four stars)

 

“All That I Have is a character study, not a whodunit. It offers very little mystery, but gives us the constant pleasure of Wing’s voice, a laconic speech so clipped and place-specific we can almost hear it in our heads.”—Seven Days (Burlington, VT)