FICTION

All of You Every Single One

Overlook. Jan. 2022. 320p. ISBN 9781419756931. $26. F
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In 1910, Julia Lindqvist leaves her husband for his tailor, Eve Perret, a woman who dresses like a man. They run away to Vienna, hoping to find a place where they can safely be together. There they create a kind of family with the neighbors in their apartment building, as they struggle to build a new life. Frau Berndt, their landlady, becomes a confidante, while flamboyant Rolf becomes their best friend and entrée into Vienna’s queer community, with Gunther and Heidi rounding out their gatherings. Then Heidi gets pregnant, igniting in Julia a fierce desire to have a child and threatening her relationship with Eve. Meanwhile Rolf begins an affair with Emil, a married man who is part of the wealthy Bauer family. His cousin, Ada Bauer, starts seeing Dr. Freud after Emil’s abuse causes an onset of mutism. When Emil’s wife Isabella gets pregnant and he spurns Rolf, a chain of events is set in motion that will profoundly affect all of their lives.
VERDICT Hitchman (Petite Mort) has written an absorbing novel of love and lust and found family that spans 1910 to 1946, a period when Vienna was a haven for queer couples, then turned dangerous when the Nazi Party ascended to power.
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