It seems all families have their secrets, things they'd prefer outsiders not know for one reason or another. But what about secrets within the family? Imagine discovering you had a close relative you never knew even existed.
That's what happened to Washington Post senior editor Steven Luxenberg, and his recent memoir, Annie's Ghosts: A Journey Into A Family Secret, is the story of his quest to discover how & why it happened. More importantly, it's the story of who: one Annie Cohen, Steven's Aunt, a woman of whom not a photograph and barely a written record existed.
Author Luxenberg Discovers an Aunt He Never Knew Existed
Having grown up with the "knowledge" that his mother Beth was an only child, something she took every opportunity to make imminently clear, Luxenberg (along with his four siblings) was stunned to find she had a sister. Due to Beth's failing health, however (and figuring she had her reasons), the Luxenbergs did not confront their mother about the secret.
After her passing, Steven, who'd been taking the lead in researching the family secret, stepped up his investigation. What he discovered was a story that will leave the reader both frustrated and touched (and perhaps a bit angry): a young woman whose physical, mental and emotional health forced her family to have her "committed" to an institution.
While this in itself is not that unusual, the decision by Luxenberg's mother to hide her sister's existence from even her own children, perhaps is. That decision is at the center of Annie's Ghosts, and Luxenberg does an admirable job of maintaining the precarious balance between journalist and son as he attempts to come to grips with it.
The author reports that on more than one occasion he stifled the impulse to stick up for his mother's actions. This was especially true when interviewing perhaps the most intriquing character in the book, Anna Oliwek, a cousin of the Luxenbergs. Oliwek, has her own, relatively justified reasons for holding a lifetime grudge against Beth Cohen's behavior, but she is also one Luxenberg's keys to unlocking the reasons behind his mother's secret.
Annie's Ghosts Addresses Holocaust, Mental Health Care, Family Dynamics
In the course of his research, Luxenberg reveals some history lessons, in the form of holocaust stories, the state of U.S. mental health care in the early to mid-twentieth century and of Detroit's Eloise Hospital in particular.
Perhaps the clearest thing revealed, however, is the distance we've come not only in how we treat those who suffer with physical or mental deficiencies, but with how much more humanity we view them. Annie Cohen would likely have been treated at home had she been born 50 years later as a regular member of the family.
For the reader, this highly recommended memoir will raise tough questions about how we communicate within and view our families. In the end, however, Annie's Ghosts is about one of the forgotten many. What Steven Luxenberg accomplishes with this book is to un-erase just a bit of what time, bureaucracy and ignorance had erased of a human life. It is to the author's credit that, as one of those closely affected, he manages to do so with an even-handed , forgiving pen.
Luxenberg, Steven. Annie's Ghosts: A Journey Into A Family Secret, Hyperion/Harper Collins, 401 pages. (ISBN: 978-1-4013-2247-2)
