J. Fran Baird

Annie's Portion J. Fran Baird

An amazingly rich family saga fueled by an obsession-redemption. Narrated by three distinctly different Jewish women, each representing her own generation, Annie's Portion offers a candid new view of an historic story by means of wonderfully diverse characters, settings and secrets.

Sarah's journey from an old-world shtetl to Manhattan's 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, Sarah's 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, Annie's teen-age daughter, has led a carefree life in Hawaii. Her mother's 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.