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Title details for After Annie by Anna Quindlen - Available

After Annie

A Novel

by Anna Quindlen
Gilli Messer
Audiobook
15 of 21 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
15 of 21 copies available
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.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    February 27, 2024

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593824047
      • File size: 225231 KB
      • Duration: 07:49:13

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      January 15, 2024
      A 30-something mother of four dies unexpectedly in the affecting latest from Quindlen (Alternate Side). “Bill, get me some Advil, my head is killing me” are the last words Annie Brown says to her husband before she drops dead on the kitchen floor in front of him and their four kids. Practical, kind, and unassuming, Annie was the glue that held together their lives, and the life of her best friend Annemarie. Without Annie, Bill falls apart and has an affair with an old girlfriend. Annemarie spirals back into the drug use that Annie saved her from. Bill and Annie’s oldest son acts up, the middle boy wets the bed, and the youngest son, at six, still believes Annie will walk back through the front door. It’s left to the boys’ older sister, 13-year-old Ali, to come up with makeshift dinners and do the wash. The lesson Quindlen offers is universal and incontrovertible: love and memories are powerful antidotes to grief. After Ali starts seeing her school counselor, things begin to turn around for the family. Though the ending ties everything together a bit too neatly, Quindlen makes the magnitude of her characters’ loss feel palpable to the reader. It’s another acute portrait of family life from a virtuoso of the form.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Gilli Messer delivers a tender, emotional performance of a family in grief in this contemporary novel. When vibrant and funny Annie Brown suddenly dies, her young family struggles to adapt to life without her. Messer's pleasant, expressive voice lends itself well to the Brown family, as well as their friends, and neighbors; she portrays children, adults, and the elderly with equal success. In the Brown household, teenage Ali attempts to keep everything running while her brothers are angry and confused and widower Bill is shattered by grief. Annie's best friend, Annemarie, finds herself at a loss as to how to interact with the Browns and relapses into pill addiction. Quindlen's story of the complexities of grief is beautifully rendered by Messer's sympathetic narration. C.R. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      May 31, 2024

      The prolific Quindlen (Alternate Side) captures the emotional and practical struggle families face when a loved one dies. Annie Winter passes away unexpectedly just before dinner one cold February night, leaving her family stunned and confused. Husband Bill doesn't know how to help himself, much less his children, and he gets no pity from his mother, who never liked Annie. Annie's sister Cathy is on hand but can't leave her own life for long. Annie's best friend, recovering from addiction, relapses as she grieves. Ali, Annie's oldest child, is forced to take on much of the day-to-day responsibility for her brothers and the household, but just keeping food on the table is a new experience for her. Ali's school has mandatory counseling sessions for students when a parent dies, and it is this counselor and her empathy that finally help the family move forward. Narrator Gilli Messer gives each character a unique voice, shining in her expert depiction of the children's vulnerability and grief. VERDICT A deeply moving story for Quindlen's many fans and those seeking an emotionally resonant portrait of a family grappling with sudden loss.--Joanna M. Burkhardt

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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