Annie's Portion

Book excerpt: An amazingly rich family saga fueled by an obsessionredemption. Narrated by three distinctly different Jewish women, each representing her own generation, Annies Portion offers a candid new view of an historic story by means of wonderfully diverse characters, settings and secrets. Sarahs journey from an old-world shtetl to Manhattans Eastside is related through the eyes of an eight-year-old. Her eventual victory over a lifethreatening illness and the indifference of an alienated family, is a testament to her courage and moral fiber, setting the standard for her progeny. Annie, Sarahs unconventional daughter, struggles with conflicting values, recounting a tale of family tradition, deprivation, promiscuity, and prosperity. Impulsively, she takes her family across a continent from New York to Hawaii where she succeeds beyond imagining. A fiftieth birthday initiates another change, more shocking and defining than any that had come before. Untouched by past tribulations of mother and grandmother, Sam, Annies teen-age daughter, has led a carefree life in Hawaii. Her mothers abrupt pronouncement forces Sam to embark on a self-exploratory journey. She develops a passion with ill-fated consequences, and brings us to the emotional, unexpected conclusion.