Annie's Ghosts: A Journey Into a Family Secret

This author's true story of his hidden aunt is both a gripping detective story and a haunting memoir ( New York Times –bestselling author Walter Isaacson).

Beth Luxenberg was an only child. Or so everyone thought. Six months after Beth's death, her secret emerged. It had a name: Annie.

Steve Luxenberg sleuths his family's hidden history with the skills of an investigative reporter, the instincts of a mystery writer, and the sympathy of a loving son. His rediscovery of one lost woman illuminates the shocking fate of thousands of Americans who disappeared just a generation ago. —Pulitzer Prize-winner Tony Horwitz

Annie's Ghosts is one of the most remarkable books I have ever read . . . From mental institutions to the Holocaust, from mothers and fathers to children and childhood, with its mysteries, sadness, and joy—this book is one emotional ride. —Pulitzer Prize-winner Bob Woodward

It's a riveting detective story, a moving family saga, an enlightening if heartbreaking chapter in the history of America's treatment of people born with what we now call special needs. — New York Times –bestselling author Deborah Tannen

This is a memoir that pushes the journalistic envelope . . . Luxenberg has written a fascinating personal story as well as a report on our communal response to the mentally ill. —Helen Epstein, author of Children of the Holocaust

Annie's Ghosts will resonate for many, whether the chords have to do with family secrets, the Depression, memories of a thriving Detroit, the Holocaust's horrors, or the immigrant experience. — The Detroit Free Press