After Anna

After Anna by Lisa Scottoline            Audio Book: 10 hours, 51 minutes     Paperback Book  416 pages               

Another winner by Lisa Scottline.    This is the first title I have read by Lisa Scottoline of her murder mysteries and it was just as good as her other writings.   I am such a fan of her work.   I know now that if Lisa Scottoline wrote it I will like it.    In this story,  Maggie Ippolitti goes through post partum psychosis after giving birth to her daughter.   Her husband at the time was wrapped up in his career and more seldom spending much time at home, never helping Maggie with the baby nor taking her pleas for help seriously.    Finally one day, Maggie calls a neighbor to come and get the baby without really going into why.    Maggie knew something was wrong but she couldn’t seem to make it right.    She told the neighbor when she arrived to please take the baby that there was something wrong with her and she needed medical attention.   What was actually going on was Maggie was hearing voices telling her to drop the baby on the ground and Maggie didn’t want to obey the voices.   She admitted herself to psychiatric care and was diagnosed with post partum psychosis and began treatment for it.    While she was institutionalized her husband got custody of their daughter and eventually divorced Maggie, had her proven an unfit mother and legally gained full custody of their daughter.   He moved out of the country with their daughter, Anna and swore Maggie would never see her again.    Maggie finally was released but believing she still might be a threat to her daughter decided not to try to see her again as she feared the voices might come back and she loved her daughter and didn’t want to take the chance on hurting her believing it would be better to be broken hearted than to take a chance on harming her beloved child.  Her ex-husband remarries and remains in France sending Anna to boarding school.    Maggie felt Anna was being slighted by her father but did not raise a fuss about it hoping in spite of their rocky beginning that she and Anna might somehow meet again one day.   In the meantime Maggie meets Dr. Noah Alderman, a Pediatric Allergist and widower with a young son.   They fall in love and marry, and are living a happy life together.   Boom, Boom, Boom – Maggie’s ex and family suffer a fatal car accident in France.   Anna was spared because she was away at boarding school but her father, step-mother and two siblings are killed in the wreck.   Now after all these years Maggie may get the daughter back she lost so many years ago but now at 17 years of age, while a reuniting may be imminent how will Anna feel about that?   How will Maggie’s new family feel?    Can there be a happily ever after?   Maggie worries about her mental illness recurring.   Is she truly cured?   Could Anna be a trigger?    Her husband’s son, Caleb, and Maggie got along, but, Caleb had never called her mother but only by her name, “Maggie.”   Will the kids get along?    Her new husband, Noah, is a great guy, but, he didn’t sign on for this.   Will he be o.k. with bringing her daughter into their family.   She told him about Anna, but, this will change their family dynamic but hopefully for the better.     I will let you find the answers and so much more good storyline and it soars from that point to the end.   Unexpected twists and turns and so many things going on.    Dealing with grief, angst, feelings of losing control, betrayal, and when the big stuff starts happening it is like a dam bursting!   GOOD BOOK!  I highly recommend this book to everyone.   

- Shirley J.