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A Journey Into a Family Secret
Hyperion
May 2009
On Sale: May 5, 2009
416 pages
ISBN: 1401322476
EAN: 9781401322472
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
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.
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