Anna by David Reed (1976)

Anna
by David Reed
Publisher:  Basic Books, Inc.
Copyright:  1976
Book Club Edition

Anna is the harrowing story of a beautiful young woman's mental breakdown and descent into madness -- and of her husband's decision to care for her at home, surrounded by her children, family, friends, and sensitive "helpers," rather than permit her to be institutionalized and subjected to electro-shock therapy.

Everybody meant well -- from the family who wanted to save Anna's individuality and human dignity, to the doctors who thought that caring for her at home might work,to the psychotherapists, most of them of the Laingian persuasion, who thought that in time the problem would disappear.  But nothing disappeared.  Instead came pure horror, rape, attempted murder, and the agony of Anna's lingering death from self-inflicted burns.

"Anna" and "David Reed" are pseudonyms, but Anna is a tragically true story.  Every painfully revealing biographical detail, every lacerating description of the inexorable destruction of Anna's life is recorded with devastating honesty.  The names have been changed in order to protect the living; none of us, on reading this profoundly disturbing book, can know how we would behave if confronted by this appalling dilemma.

Anna is the most powerful and moving story of love and the tragedy of madness to be published in our time.

Condition:  Used.  Hardcover.  Dust cover is lightly discolored and shows a bit of scuffing.  Previous owner's "Library Of" stamp is on the front endpaper.  Pages are tanning from age.

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