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And What About Anna?
by Jan Simoen
Age Range: 14+
Set in Belgium and the war-torn Balkans, sixteen-year-old Anna Bracke’s life is turned upside-down when a letter arrives from Rivinji (in what was once Yugoslavia) from Hugo Vadamme, a family friend.
The day had begun like any other day, only fifteen minutes earlier – a day full of omens that makes Anna feel her life will never be normal again. When Anna was eleven her brother Jonas dies of AIDS, three and a half years later her half brother Michael and his wife Marta were presumed dead from a land-mine accident in Bosnia. This unresolved grief has precipitated her parents’ separation but Anna has learnt to cope and believes she has put the past behind her. With the arrival of Hugo’s letter marked in red felt tip pen – which means ‘don’t tell anyone’! – the past is back with a vengence when he hints that her older brother, Michael may still be alive.
Anna travels to meet Hugo, now a music promoter, at a music festival in Ostend. On her journey she meets Daniel Devolder, the strange, elderly man on the train who turns out to play an important part in the past of her family.
This is a gripping story that explores the complex emotions and relationships within a family as they each deal with their loss over the years and it leads to a whole new awakening for Anna as she struggles to come to terms with the past. This book won the Belgium Youth Jury Award in 2001.
Book Reviews
Anna is famous at school. She’s the one who lived, the girl with the two dead brothers. Jonas had AIDS and Michael was blown up in a landmine accident in Bosnia. Anna has got used to being the only one… until one day a letter arrives from Hugo, a friend of Jonas and Michael. Michael’s alive… but Hugo doesn’t want anyone else to know. Follow Anna on a journey across Belgium and of self discovery as she puts her fragmented family back together, and discovers a lot about herself on the way.
This book is one you won’t put down. It commands attention from the opening sentence, the rather intriguing ‘I am Jonas, I am dead’ and just urges you to keep reading, as Jonas sets the scene for Anna, introducing us to his little sister. Anna is now sixteen but does not know what she is going to do with her life. As she sets off across Belgium, she seems to be finding herself as much as Michael.
Anna is an interesting character; she seems quite shy and self contained. We, as the reader, seem to know her thoughts, whereas other characters do not. Jan Simoen gives other characters the chance to narrate, too and this gives us an opportunity to see their thoughts and also be privy to information that Anna does not know, letting the plot slowly unfurl. The novel stresses the importance of communication, as various people have not been in touch or really spoken to each other for years, and via Anna and Hugo, start to talk again. In the midst of this, the quiet Anna slowly blossoms, comes into her own and defines herself, the more she hears and understands. This gives the progression of the story a really satisfying feel, and any teenager reading this will feel sympathy for Anna, and perhaps identify with her a little as she seems to discover herself, as this is something nearly all of us find at some point during our adolescence.
And What About Anna? is a book to read and reread. With a story about a family getting back in touch with each other, a young girl becoming a young woman, and a backdrop looking at the after effects of AIDS and the Balkan Wars there is so much to take in and appreciate in this novel.
Abby Phillips | 17/08/2010,15:19:41




































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































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