From the Printz honor winning author of The Passion of Dolssa, a mesmerizing story about fear, love, and the power of a young woman’s voice.”All the Truth That’s In Me is that rare magical thing—a beautiful love story told in spare, riveting prose.”—The New York Journal of Books “The love story and the mystery . . . are mesmerizing. Berry’s language undulates and flows. . . . Worthy of multiple … undulates and flows. . . . Worthy of multiple reads.”—The Boston Globe
Four years ago, Judith and her best friend disappeared from their small town of Roswell Station. Two years ago, only Judith returned, permanently mutilated, reviled and ignored by those who were once her friends and family. Unable to speak, Judith lives like a ghost in her own home, silently pouring out her thoughts to the boy who’s owned her heart as long as she can remember–even if he doesn’t know it–her childhood friend, Lucas. But when Roswell Station is attacked, long-buried secrets come to light, and Judith is forced to choose: continue to live in silence, or recover her voice, even if it means changing her world, and the lives around her, forever.
The paperback edition includes an exclusive interview with the author and a list of discussion questions for book clubs.
Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal
Edgar Award nominee for YA
YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Top Ten title
Junior Library Guild Selection
Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Book
Horn Book Fanfare title
TAYSHAS Top Ten Pick
more
File this one under: YA books that don’t get enough attention. I love this book SO MUCH. Not only is it deeply romantic, but it remains at all times wild and unpredictable. Oh, and it’s historical, too–a sort of gritty colonial America. Great for autumn! Give it a whirl.
This was my first Julie Berry read, but not my last. What an incredible imagination. This story held me in its grip until the last page. Judith was one of the strongest heroines I have met in a long time – and she is a Pilgrim woman, constrained by her puritanical society and the fact that someone brutally cut out her tongue.
Highly, highly recommended!
When I picked it up, I picked it up because it had a good and interesting description and I loved the cover too, it’s so beautiful and I just fell in love with this book. From the outside anyway, I really did fall in love.
When I started reading the book, I was a little put off with how it was set, the chapters weren’t separated by a new page like normal books, but after a bit I began too like the format. So after a few chapters I did fall in love with the format. Also something else the book was separated, into book one, book two and book three, although it was all in the same book. I did like the structure it made it easier to which part of the story they were talking about. So that is one thing I loved.
This book isn’t something I would usually read (I feel like I’m saying that a lot) but it isn’t. So when I started it I didn’t know what to expect I didn’t really know what the book was about or where it was set, before I read a book I tend to not read the reviews so I can make my own opinion and then I usually go and see what other people thought about the book after I finish writing the review for it. So although I have read it I still have no clue when it was set, but I can make a guess because of some of the things that happen in it so I know it’s back in those days, where people tended to marry young and we’re virgins until they married. And things like that, so I know it is in those kind of periods, other than that I have no clue. When going into a book I prefer not to know much about it, I think that is the best way to enjoy a book, because then you have no chance of getting it spoiled when you are googling about it.
So I will start with Judith’s character, I really loved her, although after everything she had been through, she was still willing to fight and survive. Although her mother tends to just ignore her and not want her to speak, she still does things for her and tries to just help around the house. As the book stars we learn what things she went through and seeing her best friend murdered in front of her and then kept in captivity, when she came out of it she was still strong. The only difference was is that she no longer had a tongue. So she couldn’t talk, well she thought she couldn’t. With the help of Maria she begins to learn she can talk and she helps her learn to talk slowly without a tongue and she manages to start talking, still struggling on some words, but she managed to do it again. So I really did love Judith, she’s that strong female and she isn’t one of those girls you find in novels where someone has to come to her rescue, she comes to herself by telling the truth about what happened when Lottie was killed and she was taken by Lucas’ father.
Lucas. This boy. The way Judith talks about him. It’s beautiful, you can tell how much she loves him with how she talks about him. You can tell the love between them even if Judith didn’t realise Lucas liked her like that, you can still tell from how it was written. The fact that Maria is about to marry Lucas and then bad news gets into town she breaks it off and goes with Leon. Although it took time for it to happen, I was so happy it happened. I think both Maria and Lucas just used each other because they couldn’t have the people they really wanted. But when Maria finally went to Leon, Lucas realised he could do the same and go with Judith. It takes the whole book for them to say I Love You. I was just like hurry up and say it already. We all know what you want to say.
Lucas does sometimes ask probing questions to Judith, about if his father killed Lottie or if he was the one who hurt and kidnapped her, and you could understand why someone would want to know all that. But I found that he seemed slightly pushy about it, she was trusting him again and as soon as he mentioned something like that she would freeze up, he just needed to be patient with her, but he wouldn’t. Until you know he was arrested for his father’s crimes and then they got moved onto Judith and a few other charges. Only then does he really find out the truth about his father. When Judith knows that she has to tell the truth everyone in the town needed to know what happened. That’s when he knew. That’s also when Lucas said ‘oh by the way priest i want to marry her.’ Okay so it wasn’t done like that but you get the just of what he could have said.
Her brother Darrel he was so sweet and he was always on her side, when she wanted to keep the horse, when she wanted to go to school with him. When she wanted to learn to talk, he was always there for her and always had her back. And it was the other way round too, Judith would help him get to school and just do things once he had lost his foot. They were both there for each other and I loved it.
Her mother. Well I already started that mini rant, I understand that the mother might have been angry because when she went missing he went to look for her and then got ill and died. But still it was her father’s choice to go look for her, so I don’t see why she should be angry at Judith, it’s not like she could really come out and say ‘oh I’m here’ it’s not like she wanted her dad to die. So I don’t understand why her mother blames her!
I loved the plot. It was beautiful and it was so good. I was turning and turning the pages just wanting to read more and know more, and although the book is around 280ish pages, it’s very fast paced but it works. How the book is written it really does work, and I love that about this book. With some books I end up like wishing there was something more that would come with it, this time I didn’t. I liked how it ended it felt finished.