Larsen, Judy Merrill 1960-

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Larsen, Judy Merrill 1960-

PERSONAL: Born April, 1960, in Whittier, CA; married; children: five. Education: Graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1982; earned master’s degree from Washington University.

ADDRESSES: Home— St. Louis, MO. Agent— Marly Rusoff & Associates, Inc., P.O. Box 542, Bronxville, NY 10708.

CAREER: Writer and educator. Worked variously as a waitress, grocery checker, copy center clerk, deli clerk, sales clerk, substitute teacher, and English teacher.

WRITINGS

All the Numbers (novel), Ballantine Books (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS: Judy Merrill Larsen moved around a lot as a child before studying in Wisconsin and settling in St. Louis, Missouri, with her husband and five children. Along with holding a number of different addresses, Larsen held numerous jobs. She stopped teaching to write her first novel, All the Numbers. Larsen explained her motivation in deciding to become a full-time writer in an interview on the Har-ford County Public Library Web site. She stated: “I had set a goal for myself that I would get to Europe and write a novel before I turned 40. So, in the summer of 1999, I took my sons to Europe for 17 days and then came home and wrote the first draft of this book. I turned 40 the following April.”

All the Numbers tells the story of a woman, who after losing her youngest son in an accident, copes with her loss, her other son, and her attitude towards the teen responsible for his death. A contributor to Kirkus Reviews liked the way Larsen “builds a tender portrait” of the family but noted that “the story is too predictable.” A Publishers Weekly reviewer concluded that “there are bright moments, but the book feels like a novella stretched too thin.” Deborah Donovan, writing in Booklist, commented that “Larsen depicts a mother’s year of grief and recovery with a sure and honest voice.”