Annie's ghosts

a journey into a family secret

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Last edited by MARC Bot
December 31, 2022 | History

Annie's ghosts

a journey into a family secret

  • 7 Want to read
  • 1 Currently reading

Beth Luxenberg was an only child. Everyone knew it: her grown children, her friends, even people she’d only recently met. So when her secret emerged, her son Steve Luxenberg was bewildered. He was certain that his mother had no siblings, just as he knew that her name was Beth, and that she had raised her children, above all, to tell the truth.By then, Beth was nearly eighty, and in fragile health. While seeing a new doctor, she had casually mentioned a disabled sister, sent away at age two. For what reason? Was she physically disabled? Mentally ill? The questions were dizzying, the answers out of reach. Beth had said she knew nothing of her sister’s fate.Six months after Beth’s death in 1999, the secret surfaced once more. This time, it had a name: Annie.Steve Luxenberg began digging. As he dug, he uncovered more and more. His mother’s name wasn’t Beth. His aunt hadn’t been two when she’d been hospitalized. She’d been twenty-one; his mother had been twenty-three. The sisters had grown up together. Annie had spent the rest of her life in a mental institution, while Beth had set out to hide her sister’s existence. Why?Employing his skills as a journalist while struggling to maintain his empathy as a son, Luxenberg pieces together the story of his mother’s motivations, his aunt’s unknown life, and the times in which they lived. His search takes him to imperial Russia and Depression-era Detroit, through the Holocaust in Ukraine and the Philippine war zone, and back to the hospitals where Annie and many others were lost to memory.Combining the power of reportage with the intrigue of mystery, Annie’s Ghosts explores the nature of self-deception and self-preservation. The result is equal parts memoir, social history, and riveting detective story.

Publish Date
Publisher
Hyperion Books
Language
English

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Annie's ghosts
Annie's ghosts: a journey into a family secret
2009, Hyperion Books
in English
Cover of: Annie's Ghosts
Annie's Ghosts
2009, Hyperion
Electronic resource in English

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Book Details


Edition Notes

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Published in
New York
Genre
Case studies

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
306.875/408740977434
Library of Congress
HQ755.86 .L89 2009

The Physical Object

Pagination
p. cm.

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL23150175M
Internet Archive
anniesghostsjour00luxe_0
ISBN 10
1401322476
ISBN 13
9781401322472
LCCN
2008055661
OCLC/WorldCat
244767101
Library Thing
7726948
Goodreads
4994121

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History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON / OPDS | Wikipedia citation
December 31, 2022 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
November 15, 2022 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
December 20, 2020 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
July 16, 2019 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
April 28, 2009 Created by ImportBot Imported from Library of Congress MARC record