Lillie Lainoff Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Lillie Lainoff is an accomplished published author. Her first novel came out in 2022 and is titled One for All.

The author attended Yale University and graduated with her B.A. in English, focusing also on a concentration in creative writing with a distinction within the major. She attended the University of East Anglia where she got her MA in creative writing prose fiction and resides in Washington, D.C.

Lillie’s book One for All received a lot of positive attention and reviews. It was picked by NPR as a Best Book of 2022, was named by Booklist as a Best First Novel for Youth of 2022, the Chicago Public Library named it a Best Book of 2022, and Buzzfeed and Paste Magazine named it a Best YA Book of 2022. The novel also served as a selection for the Junior Library Guild and was a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults selection in 2023.

Lainoff’s work in poetry, non-fiction, and fiction have made their way to such publications such as the Yale Daily News, Washington City Paper, the Disability Visibility Project, The Washington Post Outlook, The LA Review, Today’s Parent, and more.

The author has also been recognized by Glimmer Train as well as The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Lainoff won the 2019 LA Review Literary Award as well for short fiction. She is the founder of Disabled Kidlit Writers and has been a featured disability activist with Rooted in Rights.

When she was an undergraduate at Yale, Lillie also belonged to the Varsity Fencing team. She qualified individually for a NCAA Championship event as a senior, one of the first physically disabled athletes to do so. She helped her team get to a tenth place ranking at the end of the season (ranking done by the National Coaches Poll). To this day, the author continues to fence competitively as well as coach in the sport. She received the inaugural Spirit of Sport Award in 2017 from the US Fencing Association.

One for All is Lillie Lainoff’s debut fictional novel. It was released for audiences to enjoy in 2022. If you have been looking for something new, this new telling of The Three Musketeers that has been gender-bent might just be the right pick for you.

In this book, a girl that has chronic illness takes on the training to become a Musketeer. In the process, she will uncover all types of things, from sisterhood to secrets and self-love.

The main character is Tania de Batz, a young woman that always feels that she is most like herself when she has a sword clutched firmly in hand. The people in town believe that her dizziness that is almost always with her is the reason why she is weak. She is not a master swordsman to them but just a sick girl that will never be more than that to anyone.

It appears that things are not going well and even her mother is somewhat going along with this way of thinking because her mother wants nothing more than to try to find a way for Tania to be married away in the name of security for her daughter and their family.

Tania de Batz does not want this at all, and she has her own goals in mind for her life. Her mother may want her to get married, but Tania wants to be like her father. She wants to be a fencer, she wants to be independent, and she wants to be strong. There is no part of her that wants to identify with the identity of being a weak girl, and she wants to prove that she could be just like her dad, the former Musketeer, and her largest idol and champion.

The only thing getting in the way of that is the fact that her father is then murdered. No one knows who did it, but Tania does get to hear that his final wish was for his daughter to go to finishing school. Tania is dismayed, but then she starts to realize that the academy that she is going to is anything but a finishing school.

The new location Tania finds herself at is a secret place that serves as a training ground for what would be a new style of Musketeer. This is for women who on the surface act as socialites, but are also the type of women that secretly have daggers strapped to them hiding beneath their skirts, can seduce a man and get him to tell all of his secrets, and pursue their job to protect France at all costs. If it takes taking on a sword fight, all the better.

Tania also has a new group of friends and all of her sisters at the academy are strong and determined, just like her. Being here gives her a sense of purpose, and Tania gets to feel for the first time that she belongs someplace. When she meets Etienne, he is the target that might help her get to the bottom of a potential assassination plot.

Tania also finds the man fairly attractive– okay, very attractive. Etienne is also charming and nice, and he definitely seems like he might know what happened with her father and if he was really killed and by whom.

Tania must steel herself against the feelings that are rising inside of her and trust in her sisters if she is going to get to the bottom of this. She’s got to either figure out what her priority is or count on losing just about everything that she has worked so hard for.

She desperately wants to figure out what happened with her father, but will Etienne prove to be the ultimate distraction? Can she rely on her sisters to help her discover the ultimate in prized information, or will Tania fall victim to her own desire? It’s anyone’s guess in this fun book and a strong debut by Lillie Lainoff. Find out what happens in the end by picking up a copy of this book!