Quindlen, A: After Annie

‘Candid and complex ­– and ultimately quite hopeful’ Claire Lombardo
‘Beautiful and deeply moving’ J. Courtney Sullivan
‘A story of abiding hope’ Mary Beth Keane
 
When Annie Brown dies suddenly, her husband, her four young children and her closest friend are left to struggle without the woman who centred their lives. Bill Brown finds himself overwhelmed, and Annie’s best friend Annemarie is lost to old bad habits without Annie’s support. It is Annie’s daughter, Ali, forced to try to care for her younger brothers and even her father, who manages to maintain some semblance of their former lives for them all, and who confronts the complicated truths of adulthood.
 
Yet over the course of the next year, while Annie looms large in their memories, all three are able to grow, to change, even to become stronger and more sure of themselves. The enduring power Annie gave to those who loved her is the power to love, and to go on without her.
 
Written in Quindlen’s emotionally resonant voice, and with her deep and generous understanding of people, After Annie is a story that ends with hope, a beautiful novel about how adversity can change us in profound ways.
 
Praise for Anna Quindlen
‘Leaves the reader feeling grateful, wide awake, lucky to be alive’ Michael Chabon
‘Simply impossible to forget’ Alice Hoffman
‘Qualities and shades of love are this writer's strong suit, and she has the unusual talent for writing about them with so much truth and heart’ Elizabeth Jane Howard
‘Breathtaking... Quindlen writes superbly about families, grief and betrayal. I was completely mesmerised’ Lisa Jewell
‘Engaging, immaculately constructed storytelling’ Guardian
‘One of our most astute chroniclers of modern life’ New York Times Book Review
‘Brave and beautiful’ The Times
‘Her storytelling is exemplary’ Sunday Telegraph
‘With relentless and dazzling brilliance, Quindlen grapples with the lancing pain and the swirls of disorientation experienced by anyone who has loved and lost’ Daily Mail
‘A wise, closely observed, achingly eloquent book’ Huffington Post
‘Overwhelmingly moving’ New York Times