Exit Wounds

More about the book

Laura, the middle of three Irish Catholic sisters, has had a turbulent childhood, born to Shanty Irish on one side and Park Avenue privilege on the other, she has had to navigate an abusive household of alcoholics, especially her volatile father. As a young child she assigns herself the role of protector of her adored mother. Then her mother dies when Laura is only thirteen, leaving her heartbroken and adrift. Insecure, anxious, fearful, she tries drugs, random sex, a sequence of lovers. She also pursues painting, a field in which she shows some talent. But nothing seems to assuage her emptiness, her sense of loss, Eventually she marries a caring man and has a loving daughter, but it is only at the end of her life and by way of an unusual and unexpected turn of events that she is able finally to make peace with herself, to let go feeling that she never really said goodbye to her beloved mother and to appreciate that though we work at love and acceptance, sometimes the most wonderful experiences in our lives come in unanticipated and unsought ways. Annie Stein has an original voice-- quirky, funny, full of original observations and expressions, as she adroitly and with a bit of edge explores the mysteries of the human heart.