Yoli gets home only to find that Nora has moved a boyfriend in while she was gone. Yoli is cheered by the news that Aunt Tina is coming to visit and will help Lottie keep an eye on Elf since Nic works full time. The hospital can’t keep Elf because she is there voluntarily. Yoli is worried because she thought Elf sounded like she was giving a rehearsed speech when discussing her concert, but Yoli doesn’t know what else to do. Music has always been the defining passion in Elf’s life and her family hopes that doing the tour will help her re-develop an interest in life.Īt this point, Yoli heads back home to Toronto since her son Will, who has been babysitting Yoli’s 14-year-old daughter Nora, needs to get back to university in New York. Lottie returns from vacation and Elf appears to be getting better as she is talking about doing her concert tour. Neither has a viable plan to make Elf do anything. They never seem to get anywhere, as Nic thinks Elf has to be forced to take her meds and Yoli thinks her survival instinct has to be shocked back to life. However, Yoli spends most of her evenings with Nic trying to sort out some kind of plan for Elf’s life after she is released from the hospital. To try to deal with the divorce she has taken two lovers: Finbar, a lawyer in Toronto and Radek, a violinist in Winnipeg. While this is going on, Yoli is in the middle of divorcing her second husband, Dan. They figure Elf will be safe in the hospital so it is a good time for Lottie to have a break. Nic and Yoli immediately pack Lottie off for a Caribbean cruise so that she can get some much needed rest. Yoli has flown to Winnipeg from Toronto to help Elf’s husband Nic and Lottie look after Elf. This is Elf’s second suicide attempt, as the reader learns that she has previously tried to starve herself to death.

Her mother, Lottie, found her and called 911. She has finally decided that she simply can’t go on.Īs the novel opens Elf is in the hospital after she has unsuccessfully attempted to overdose on painkillers. Elf is a successful concert pianist who has always struggled with feelings of overwhelming sorrow. Yoli is the author of a series of young adult cowgirl novels and is currently working on a serious novel about sisters. It is narrated by and told from the perspective of her little sister Yolandi (Yoli). eBook.Īll My Puny Sorrows tells the story of Elfrieda (Elf) von Riesen’s suicide.

The following edition was used for the creation of this guide: Toews, Miriam.

All my puny sorrows book