Tod Wodicka

The history of literature—up to and including the stuff piled on the new arrivals tables at your local bookstore—is crammed with oddballs and anachronisms. That said, it’s still a rare novel that can take such raw materials and make something truly funny, compelling, and moving out of them. Based on the early reports, Tod Wodicka’s debut novel—which features a tunic-wearing medieval re-enactor as a protagonist—consistently hits all the right grace notes. British reviews have consistently remarked on both the book’s comedy and its compassion, and All Shall Be Well has drawn comparisons to both Don Quixote and the novels of Charles Portis. It doesn’t get much more promising than that.