Annie Brown is fixing dinner in her kitchen one evening when she collapses and dies. Her husband, best friend and her four children must find a way to continue without her. Bill, Annie's husband, is the struggling widow and hard working plumber, who is trying to step up to take care of the children that he has not made time for in the past. Ali, Annie's teenage daughter, is forced to take care of her three younger brothers, who are not coping well, while Ali herself is also struggling to survive life without her mother. Annemarie, is Annie's best friend, who has always depended on Annie to help her combat the drug addiction and infertility that plagues her.

This was a beautifully written and emotional novel about a family learning to survive after losing the one person that held them together as a family. Anna Quindlen writes such wonderful characters that are so real, that you feel as though they live right next door.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the Advanced Reader Copy. I will definitely recommend to my friends who love a character driven novel about family, love, loss and hope. #AfterAnnie #NetGalley

On grief, friendship, love, and life. Another beauty with a lot of feeling from Anna Quindlen.

Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

After Annie is a very emotional story of the year after Annie, young wife, mother and friend suddenly passes away. She also worked as an aide at a Nursing Home and is missed by the residents also. Everyone grieves in their own way and we see that clearly in this story. The characters are so realistic that I wanted to hug them, shake them and yell at them to wake up at times. Ali, her middle school daughter, has a lot going on her life beyond losing her mother.
I have read several books by Anna Quindlen and none have ever disappointed. Many years ago I had the honor of meeting her in person at a Literacy conference. She is as open and kind as she cones across in her writings. I feel privileged to be able to read this ARC.
I received an advance copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

“‘Having somebody die makes people mad,’ she’d said to Miss Cruz…’But maybe mad is just to cover up the other feelings. Maybe mad is just sad in disguise.”

After Annie is an emotional, heartfelt, and eye opening peek into a family in the aftermath of the mother’s death. With one husband, four kids, and an addict best friend left behind, this family struggles to cope and survive.

The writing sucks you right into this family. I was so emotionally invested! The audiobook really helped in that aspect as the narrator did a great job of capturing the emotion of the adults and the children through their thoughts and words.

After Annie is a book that grips you and doesn’t let go. I will be thinking about this one for a long time, of that I am certain.

Thanks for the free audiobook @PRHAudio #prhaudiopartner and to Netgalley, Random House Publishing, and the author for the ARC

Anna Quindlen has written an absolutely beautiful novel, immersed in the grief of a family after the death of Annie, wife to Bill, mother to Ali, Ant, Benny and Jamie, and best friend to Annemarie. The impact of Annie’s life can be seen by the way those closest to her reacted to her death. Bill shuts down, leaving the kids to find their own way. Annemarie finds herself reverting to bad behavior, while my favorite character, Ali, tries to cope with all her new responsibilities and life without her mom. This book made me cry, but there is also a strong element of hope. Highly recommended. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Anna Quindlen is a literary treasure. I have been reading her fiction and non-fiction for decades now. The appearance of a new novel, After Annie, was a wonderful surprise. What was not a surprise was how good the novel is. Sad yes, but so good. Quindlen opens with a devastating event - young mom Annie Brown dies suddenly, leaving a husband, a best friend and four young children to navigate a world without her. The topic is a tough one yet in Quindlen's deft hands there are moments of grace, growth and beauty. Highly recommend for fans of other the other "Ann"s - Anne Patchett and Anne Tyler. Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the E-Arc.

⭐️: 4/5

When Annie Brown dies suddenly, her family and closest friend are left in turmoil, trying to find a way forward without the most important woman in their lives. Over the course of the next year, she is ever-present in their minds, as they find they each find the power and will to go on without her.

After Annie was a surprisingly emotional and human book that provided a deeply moving reflection on grief and how it can impact people in different ways. It touches on a lot of subjects that could be deeply triggering to a lot of readers, such as the loss of a loved one, addiction, sexual assault, and others, so definitely go into this with caution, if you’re worried about content. I really loved how the book was split into seasons, and how each season showed a progression in the grief of each of the main characters. I also really liked the choices of which characters we got POVs from (Annie’s husband Bill, her best friend Annemarie, and her daughter Ali), since they covered each of Annie’s most important connections in her life, and showed how the loss of someone important can impact those around them differently, depending on what their relationship to that person was. For a relatively short book, it felt complete and well rounded, and by the end, I was deeply invested in the lives of each of the characters.

Thank you to @netgalley and @randomhouse for this free eARC!!

Annie is a young mother who suddenly passes away while cooking her family dinner. This book focuses on her husband, eldest daughter, and best friend while they navigate the first year after her death.

This book told a story that was quiet and yet somehow very powerful. It felt like peeking in on a core memory in a family’s life.

Through the three different pov’s we get a really good picture of who Annie was and how she fit in to each of their lives specifically. We got to see how the characters grieved individually and as a collective, and saw the massive impact this death had on all their lives.

There’s a lot of great character development in this one that I really loved. The author really did a deep dive into each of the main characters that felt very intimate and real.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This book begins with the death of a young mother during the preparation of their evening meal. The reader is taken through a year in the life of the immediate family and those closest to the family. We see the husband and the children as they work through the stages of grief and then the realization of what life is now like.

I did state, as an educator, that I would recommend this for a student to read…which I would on a maturity and individual situation. A student who has lost a parent might benefit from reading this so they might not feel so alone in their personal journey..

If a teacher actually did small reading groups, this could be read and discussed as there are some good points to discuss beyond just the grief felt by the family.

This book is a fairly easy read for all it covers.

Tragic. Beautiful.
Would you still let yourself fall in love with someone if there was a chance it wouldn't last long?
The answer is yes, because we all believe we have forever.
Until we don't.
IF you are reading the novel's reviews then the book itself intrigues so I won't relate Annie to you step by step.
Annie is a young mom. Gone.
Annie is a lively wife. Gone.
Annie is a best friend, who takes your secrets to her grave.
This author has been a well-loved one of mine for years because of her novels never shying away from how women really feel. And how women are really treated. and most importantly, how women keep going.
That makes this novel a bit of a departure in that since this time around the woman in question is gone. Physically. As with grief, the person and the absence of the person are never really gone. Throughout the pages of After Annie, we read and empathize through teary eyes as those left behind find their new normal. The seasons changing offering a guide as to how they should be coping.

4.5/5 stars

A very real gut-punch of a book of a family dealing with the loss of the one who held them together.

Annie is a 30-something wife and mother of four, who dies suddenly of an aneurysm in front of her husband and children (ages 6-13) while cooking dinner.

This story is told from three perspectives: Bill, Annie’s husband; Ali, Annie’s oldest and only daughter; and Annemarie, Annie’s life-long best friend. Each perspective contains bittersweet flashbacks of Annie, who the reader never really gets to know, but by the end of the story, we have a fully recognized character…her strengths, her faults, her loves, her life.

Obviously, each character’s view of Annie and what she meant in their lives is unique, but also unique to each is how to begin to fill the hole from her death in not only themselves but in their family as well. The process of grieving is seen through: Ali as the oldest, trying to step up as the caregiver while also having to navigate her own adolescence on her own; through Bill, who began as a somewhat bemused and reluctant husband/father but grew into those roles through Annie’s own embracement and joy of her own wife/mother roles; and through Annemarie, who has to learn to navigate her mess of a life without her mentor, guiding light and soul sister.

My favorite characters here were Ali and Philomena Cruz, a warm-hearted counselor, but each cast member tugged at my heart in different ways as well.

I enjoyed reading this book, and I recommend it.

My sincere thanks to the author, NetGalley and Random House Publishing for providing the free early arc of After Annie for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

A lovely, quiet novel of healing from Anna Quindlen about what happens when a family loses the person that had held them all together in the first place. Poignant, heartfelt, and emotional, even given some tough subjects - death, sexual abuse, and addiction.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy of this forthcoming novel.

Moving story and family and friends that become family. Annie and her best friend Annemarie were inseparable as children and both had dreams for their future. Annie gets pregnant and gets married. Four kids later it’s a settled life, while Annemarie has been living on the wild side and is now sober. Then, the world turns upside down on a devastating loss that will change everything including how the children see themselves after Annie. I love stories about family, family dysfunction, perseverance and prevailing. Loved this story and although not a page turner, I had to see how this would all turn out.

This is my third Anna Quindlen novel as I had previously read Miller's Valley and Alternate Side. I love Quindlen's smooth, flowing style.

As I was reading After Annie, I felt as though I was taking a family heirloom quilt, unfurling it, and getting the opportunity to examine all of the pieces.

This novel, I feel, is more of a character examination. The main event in the novel occurs in the first few sentences. Annie, a vibrant 37 year old wife and mother to four children, tragically and suddenly passes away one evening as she is serving dinner to her family. The rest of the novel concentrates on the characters' attempts to deal with loss and grief as the lynchpin of their family was taken from them without warning.

Not only does Quindlen chronicle the characters' ability and sometimes near inability to deal with loss and their own grief, she shows us how vital a wife, mother, and friend is in the lives of others. Besides Annie's family, her lifelong best friend, Annemarie (a recovering addict), is an important character in the loss grieving process.

The book's cast is completed by Annie's acidic mother in and law and also by a caring school counselor. Perhaps my favorite character portrayal was that of Ali, Annie's 13 year old daughter. Quindlen portrays the heart wrenching ordeal of her having to grow up too soon with sharp acuity.

I would highly recommend Quindlen's new novel and want to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the opportunity to read this ARC.

A beautifully written story about a family whose mom died suddenly. This book perfectly captures the ebb and flow of grief on those who are closest to, and depend on, someone who dies. We spend the first year with this family, learning about some history and attempts to move forward. There is a scene of child molestation. There is also recovery and a bit of closure. The counseling scenes shed a positive light on the success of that treatment. I am so glad to have read this book. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a touching, heart-wrenching and raw story about the family and friends left behind after the death of their loved one who is the glue holding everything and everyone together.

Annie, a wife, mother, sister, friend and daughter, dies suddenly of an aneurysm. Her husband Bill, is so consumed by his grief that its palpable. Bill can’t imagine how he’ll live without her and how he’ll manage the four children trying to cope with their loss. Her life long best friend, Annemarie, is an addict that relied heavily on Annie for support. We follow all of them through the heartbreaking year after Annie’s death , as each of them tries to figure out how to do life without her.

As to the children, Ali, the oldest and only daughter, bears more responsibility than she should have to. Ant’s sadness manifests itself in anger. And the two youngest boys eight and six, are lost and just want their mommy to come home.

Annemarie, an addict and Annie’s best friend, loses control. The depth of their friendship is wonderfully portrayed.

This is such a realistic story that connects the reader emotionally with well developed characters. I think anyone who has lost a loved one will be moved. Highly recommend.

This one is on a lot of TBRs for 2024! It is the journey of a family after the loss of a young wife, mother, and best friend. And what an emotional journey it is for all trying to reconcile the loss and navigate their new lives. I related to this on several levels and became invested quickly. Needed to know that they would all be "fine". Would one describe it as a family drama…maybe, officially. Not a lot happens though, but a lot is processed. Pub day: February 27. Thank you @randomhouse and @netgalley for this gifted copy in exchange for my honest review.

I'm a big Anna Quindlen fan and this did not disappoint. I started reading her books when I was newer to many of the topics that she addresses including dying, death, loss and grief. Now as someone with both lived and academic experience and knowledge in these areas I read "After Annie" with a deep sense of gratitude because Anna Quindlen is as educator with her books and someone who normalizes and socializes these essential topics through her writing. I think I would've liked to have been friends with Annie - she seems like the kind of woman I would have loved. Anna Quindlen has an art to character development that helps us to see pieces of the squishy humans that we love in her writing and help us to better understand them and be better humans in our interactions and loving of them. Read this book to increase or validate your own understanding of grief and loss. Of the phrases Anna Quinlen uses are artful and stay with you long after the book is finished. Can't wait to read what she puts out next!

Anna Quindlen’s latest novel After Annie, is a beautifully written story about grief, loss and spirit. Annie is a loving wife, with four children and a job as a caregiver at a nursing home. She dies very suddenly in her home, leaving not only her family but her best friend, Annemarie.

Told from the perspectives of Annemarie, Annie’s husband Bill and oldest child Ali, the reader gets a complete picture of Annie and her impact on those who loved her. Very much a character-driven novel, After Annie is exquisitely sad but never maudlin. Fans of Dear Edward will love this book. It is a moving tribute to the difference one ordinary person can make to so many.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read this wonderful novel.

Thank you Random House for the review copy of Anna Quindlen's After Annie, also available to me from PRH Audio as an audio influencer program member. This is one of those so sad but so good stories, the kind of story that really delves into the in between spaces of loss and grief and moving on, the balance of looking back to honor and cherish Annie (a mother, wife, and friend who passes away suddenly), seeing how she is present in the daily lives of her children, her husband, and her best friend as they find ways to come to terms with their loss and uncovering how much she shaped their lives in important ways, and how perhaps it is the very strengths and love that she gave them become what helps them all shift into next steps by the end of the story.

What really stood out was that Quindlen gave voice to the different roles Annie played in different characters' lives. It wasn't just that each person was sad and dealing with grief, it was that an oldest daughter had to learn what her mother's life meant to her and how to grow up without her and how to help her family while still being young; it was how much a husband was sad to have lost his love, his partner, and how that grief was separate from how other's felt because of the relationship he had with Annie; it was a love letter to the value of strong female friendship, of how a friend can be a soulmate/saving grace and that losing that can be a hard, especially when trying to stay strong and use the strength that Annie gave to her best friend. It is powerful to see how each character is given a voice and a way to grieve the same person but to grieve also a different person because Annie was a different relationship for each of the characters.