âCandid and complex â and ultimately quite hopefulâ Claire Lombardo
âBeautiful and deeply movingâ J. Courtney Sullivan
âA story of abiding hopeâ 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 Annieâs best friend Annemarie is lost to old bad habits without Annieâs support. It is Annieâs 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 Quindlenâs 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
âLeaves the reader feeling grateful, wide awake, lucky to be aliveâ Michael Chabon
âSimply impossible to forgetâ Alice Hoffman
âQualities 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 heartâ Elizabeth Jane Howard
âBreathtaking... Quindlen writes superbly about families, grief and betrayal. I was completely mesmerisedâ Lisa Jewell
âEngaging, immaculately constructed storytellingâ Guardian
âOne of our most astute chroniclers of modern lifeâ New York Times Book Review
âBrave and beautifulâ The Times
âHer storytelling is exemplaryâ Sunday Telegraph
âWith relentless and dazzling brilliance, Quindlen grapples with the lancing pain and the swirls of disorientation experienced by anyone who has loved and lostâ Daily Mail
âA wise, closely observed, achingly eloquent bookâ Huffington Post
âOverwhelmingly movingâ New York Times