AFTER ANNIE by Anna Quindlen

5 stars!

What an unexpectedly lovely, heartwarming, ultimately upbeat book!

And that’s not at all what you expect when Annie, beloved Mom of four young kids, drops dead on her kitchen floor from a brain aneurysm right before finishing dinner for the family.

Bill, her husband is devastated, Ali her only daughter and her oldest tries valiantly to hold herself and the other kids together, Ant her oldest son turns sullen and silent, Benji her youngest son assures everyone she’s coming home from the hospital though he’s repeatedly told otherwise, and her middle son starts wetting his bed. Annie’s best friend Anne Marie faces a relapse into opiod use without her best friend there to keep a watch, and Annie’s sister Kathy is sluggish and bereft.

But love and the sharing of memories about Annie has her emerging as the vibrant central character in a story that starts right as she dies. From an unexpected pregnancy to her sheer daily joy in marrying Bill and raising her kids, she takes what seems to her friend Anne-Marie as a hopelessly ordinary life into something transcendent. And the elderly residents whom she cared for in a nursing home share hilarious ad touching memories of all Annie did for them, and how much she shared about each of her kids.

Having suddenly lost my mom at age 13, about the same age as Ali, I could so relate to the story as well as appreciate the brilliance that Anna Quindlen, who lost her own mom young, brings to the grieving process. There are the lingering smells – from hand lotion to clothes, that powerfully bring back memories; the having to clear out personal belongings, the voicemail message still playing on Annie’s cell phone, and the weeping willow planted by the residents of the old age home in Annie’s honor. Add into the mix an old-soul new middle school counselor who brings warmth and compassion to Ali and Ant, and eventually even Bill.

Everyone ever so slowly finds their way back to happiness in a world post-Annie, sheltered in the continuing glow of her love for them all.

Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy.

Stacy DeBroff

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central.com and social and digital consultancy, Influence Central, is a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. A sought-after expert for national media, she trend-spots regularly with national brands and speaks frequently to national and international audiences on a wide range of subjects, including influencer marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and consumer trends. A passionate cook, gardener, reader, and tennis player, she adores this new chapter of post-college-age parenting.