My Name is Anna by Lizzy Barber – Review.

About The Book

ANNA has been taught that virtue is the path to God. But on her eighteenth birthday she defies her Mamma’s rules and visits Florida’s biggest theme park.

She has never been allowed to go – so why, when she arrives, does everything seem so familiar? And is there a connection to the mysterious letter she receives on the same day?

ROSIE has grown up in the shadow of the missing sister she barely remembers, her family fractured by years of searching without leads.Now, on the fifteenth anniversary of her sister’s disappearance, the media circus resumes in full flow, and Rosie vows to uncover the truth.

But will she find the answer before it tears her family apart?

My Review

With thanks to the publisher for the copy received. My Name is Anna is a book that I have been looking forward to reading for weeks. I wasn’t disappointed. It was one of those novels that I knew from the first few pages that I would like.

It is a dual narrative novel. Rosie is a teenager who lives in London. If you disregard that her older sister was abducted when she was a baby she would have a fairly normal life. Never knowing the answers to what happened to Emily has impacted on all of their lives.

And then there is Anna. A few years older, she lives in Florida and her life is ruled by religion and cleanliness. She loves Mamma but also fears her. Understandably, Mamma is one of those characters who you sit in awe at. Just wondering what punishment or rule she would inflict on Anna next.

You are aware of a mystery surrounding Anna fairly early on in the novel. But there is more to this novel than I expected. It is only in the latter stages where you get to know who Mamma is and what happened to her. And it was the moment that I started to feel differently about her. It was also when I started to enjoy Anna’s tale a lot more. Until this point I preferred to read about Rosie.

I found this a great novel that I believe would make a brilliant movie. Lizzy Barber is an author I would happily read again.