Description

Its 1981 in Sacramento and thirteenyearold Lorena Saenz has just been paired with Jenny Stallworth for the science fair by a teacher hoping to unite two girls from starkly different worlds Lorena begins to spend time at the Stallworth residence and finds herself seduced not just by Jenny but her parents Rosemary her glamorous needy mother and Marcus a scorpiologist who recognizes Lorenas passion for learning and her confused desires When Lorenas troubled older brother Tony picks her up at the Stallworth mansion late one night he and Marcus exchange tense wordsan encounter that draws the Saenz family into the dark heart of Americas criminal justice system To uncover the truth Lorena must embark on an unforgiving odyssey into the desert and through the gates of a religious cult in Mexico As she stalks a fate guided by forces beyond her reckoning shocking secrets explode into view Filled with pathos humor and a dash of the zodiac All the Secrets of the World is a shapeshifting social novel that offers an unflinching vision of the powerful and powerless colliding This longawaited book is a propulsive tour de forcethe sheer scope moral complexities and piercing insights mark a writer at the height of his powers