Annabel

Lauren Oliver — 2012

Lena's mother, Annabel, has always been a mystery—a ghost in Lena's past. Until now. Discover her secrets in Lauren Oliver's brilliant original digital story set in the world of New York Times bestsellers Delirium and Pandemonium. Lena Halloway's mother, Annabel, supposedly committed suicide when Lena was only six years old. That's the lie that Lena grew up believing, but the truth is very different. As a rebellious teenager, Annabel ran away from home and straight into the man she knew she was destined to marry. The world was different then—the regulations not as stringent, the cure only a decade old. Fast forward to the present, and Annabel is consigned to a dirty prison cell, where she nurtures her hope of escape and scratches one word over and over into the walls: Love. But Annabel, like Lena, is a fighter. Through chapters that alternate between her past and present, Annabel reveals the story behind her failed cures, her marriage, the births of her children, her imprisonment, and, ultimately, her daring escape.

Reviews

Yaz@yasxx

Sep 3, 2023

loved seeing lena’s mums pov! what her life was like before, and what it was like in the crypts!

Talia Dominguez @taliac36

Dec 22, 2022

Ok can I just say, the way Lena remembers her mom sets a soft tender tone for Annabel in this novella. I really liked the way the author portrayed her as a loving wife, a loving nurturing mother and strong woman! in this book we finally see how she just wanted freedom of choice. She didn’t want to be “dead” like the rest. And so we also see how her actions led her to be in Prison and how she was finally able to escape. I mean she was in there for a while but i liked that she never lost hope of escaping. Even though Lena thought she was dead, (I mean that’s what everyone thought anyway and made her believe too), We still don’t know what tipped the government To put her into ward 6. Because we know in Delirium, the death of her husband cut her deep and she was seen weeping a picture of her husband or whatever. I mean she was under the procedures 3-4 times. But there is that gap where we really don’t know what happen after. So I think that should have been included in this novella. The author kind of left us hanging on that side of the story. She didn’t really gave us an answer there. Anyways aside from that I really liked it. I recommend you to give this a read.