"Ambitious . . . specific, lush and transporting . . . The great success of this novel is the author’s sustained exploration of a woman in early midlife who . . . bravely re-evaluates how her life has unfolded in order to progress as a mother to herself. The sentences breathe with the softness of shared human experience across time.”—The New York Times

"The Mother of All Things glistens with passion, like wet paint. Alexis Landau has written a revelatory novel about the age-old disparity in power between men and women, focusing in on Ava, a wife and mother and stalled academic who feels a mixture of rage and bewilderment about the path her life has taken. Bursting with fresh insights into the merciless passage of time and the impossibility of protecting one’s children from the world's incursions, this novel is as original as it is accessible, written with a deft touch for the prosaic details of ordinary life as well as the seduction of mythic female narratives."—Daphne Merkin, author of This Close to Happy and Twenty-two Minutes of Unconditional Love

"A delicious fever dream of a novel about female rage and longing, Alexis Landau executes a high-wire act in The Mother of All Things, seamlessly weaving together ancient tragedies and contemporary dramas with dazzling results. Readers of Claire Messud and Rachel Yoder won’t be able to resist Landau’s sophisticated examination of ambition, desire, and anger." —Katy Hays, New York Times bestselling author of The Cloisters