After Annie
Books | Fiction / Family Life / General
4.5
Anna Quindlen
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Part of Quindlen’s gift is that you don’t just read about these characters, you inhabit them. . . . Luminous with life, hope and the power of love.”—People (A Book of the Week Pick) “[A] quietly revelatory and gently gleaming gem of a book.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice) Anna Quindlen’s trademark wisdom on family, friendship, and the ties that bind us are at the center of this novel about the power of love to transcend loss and triumph over adversity, by the author of Still Life with Bread Crumbs and One True Thing.When Annie Brown dies suddenly, her husband, her children, and her closest friend are left to find a way forward without the woman who has been the lynchpin of all their lives. Bill is overwhelmed without his beloved wife, and Annemarie wrestles with the bad habits her best friend had helped her overcome. And Ali, the eldest of Annie’s children, has to grow up overnight, to care for her younger brothers and even her father and to puzzle out for herself many of the mysteries of adult life.Over the course of the next year what saves them all is Annie, ever-present in their minds, loving but not sentimental, caring but nobody’s fool, a voice in their heads that is funny and sharp and remarkably clear. The power she has given to those who loved her is the power to go on without her. The lesson they learn is that no one beloved is ever truly gone.Written in Quindlen’s emotionally resonant voice and with her deep and generous understanding of people, After Annie is about hope, and about the unexpected power of adversity to change us in profound and indelible ways.
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Author
Anna Quindlen
Pages
304
Publisher
Random House Publishing Group
Published Date
2024-02-27
ISBN
0593229819 9780593229811
Community ReviewsSee all
"Oftentimes the people in our lives come as naturally as brushing our teeth in the morning. So naturally, it’s only when they’re gone that we realize how deeply they were woven into our daily existence. They are the unseen threads that hold everything together, and when they’re no longer there, those threads unravel, leaving several missing pieces in the puzzle of our lives.<br/><br/>Annie Brown was in the kitchen cooking dinner when she had an aneurism that took her life. The kitchen, her four kids, her husband, Bill, and that home would never be the same. Only in losing Annie did they realize she was like a work laptop running dozens of programs in the background—quietly keeping everything in order, even when no one noticed. Annie’s presence kept their world together, even in the life of her best friend, Anne Marie, who was battling addiction. Now, their backbone and fighting force was somewhere in the great beyond.<br/><br/>Having just lost my own mother, I’ve come to understand that those little, unnoticed threads—the ones that keep the machine of our lives running—are often fueled by the unstoppable force of someone who loves us deeply. My mother was that force for our family. Without her, Sunday dinners became scarce, conversations dwindled, and holidays became moments of travel and fending for ourselves rather than celebration. Some of us seemed to move on faster than others, but that’s only because we didn’t talk about her as much as we wanted to, or maybe needed to. Like with the Browns, you learn quickly that life doesn’t pause to let you catch your breath. It moves forward, whether you’re ready or not.<br/><br/>Life is short, and like Ali, the Browns' eldest daughter, you may be forced to grow up faster than you ever planned. When the thread that binds you together comes undone, it takes the whole family to weave it back together—it’s never just one person’s burden to bear.<br/><br/>So hold close the people who keep your world running in the background. They’re not just part of your life; they’re the heartbeat of it."
Marissa Fielding