All Shall Be Well; And All Shall Be Well; And All Manner of Things Shall Be WellA Novel

Promising debut novel chronicles the medieval times of a hapless hero.
The title may be a mouthful, but with an audiobook you can fast-forward straight to the comic/tragic story of Burt Hecker. You should. Burt, a 63-year-old widower with a big nose and a bigger drinking problem, would rather you call him Eckbert Attquiet, the name he’s adopted as founder of the medieval re-enactment society the Confraternity of Times Lost Regained. Like the coffee he eschews in favor of homemade mead, Burt is stubbornly, tragically “Out Of Period.” Tod Wodicka’s dazzling debut tells the story of how he got there.

History is not always written by the winners. We first meet our unlikely hero in “AD 1998.” Burt’s in Europe for an Early Music symposium and he has no interest in going home once it’s over. Why bother? His wife Kitty succumbed to cancer two years ago and he’s been estranged from his adult children ever since. His plan instead is to elude “my own history. Specifically my middle ages.”

Wodicka conjures a fantastic, fractured account of Burt’s medieval times — one shot-through with scenes from Kitty’s childhood, their unlikely marriage and her death — then returns to present-day Prague. There, past and present painfully collide as Burt and his son and daughter re-enact the misunderstandings marking a family history that is equal parts tragedy and farce.

Jason Culp deftly narrates Burt Hecker’s centuries-spanning story. There are sly, hilarious set pieces you’ll want to play for others, followed by heartbreaking passages best listened to alone, through headphones, with tissues close by.