After Annie: A Novel

Anna Quindlen

Feb 2024 · Sold by Random House

About this ebook

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.

Ratings and reviews

This is a powerful story of loss and surviving a future without the person who held everything together. Annie Brown, a young mother of four, dies suddenly at the beginning of the book. She leaves behind her husband Bill, her best friend Annemarie and her four children. Ali is the child we get to know the best and the oldest who assumes responsibility to keep the family going. She is a young teen who uses the strengths that her mother passed on. All opinions are my own.

A remarkable story relating the thoughts, reactions, and adjustment of a family and a wife’s best friend after the wife’s unexpected death. Bill’s, Ali’s, and Annemarie’s thoughts and actions mirror the devastation of everyone and are powerfully portrayed as they move through the first year after Annie’s death. Life after Annie is bleak and filled with pain for the survivors as each is vastly dependent on her. Annemarie copes with her addiction. Ali is swamped with all the caregiving she must do for her brothers. Bill is completely lost. They all hear Annie;s words in their heads giving advice and counsel. A very touching novel. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

About the author

Anna Quindlen is the author of many bestselling books, including the #1 New York Times bestselling novel Rise and Shine, the #1 bestselling memoir Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, and A Short Guide to a Happy Life. Her other novels include Blessings, One True Thing, the Oprah Book Club Selection Black and Blue, and Still Life with Bread Crumbs.