January Re-Read Challenge: Annie's Song

THE GIFT

Annie Trimble lives in a solitary world that no one enters or understands. As delicate and beautiful as the tender blossoms of the Oregon spring, she is shunned by a town that misinterprets her affliction. But cruelty cannot destroy the love Annie holds in her heart.

Alex Montgomery is horrified to learn his wild younger brother forced himself on a helpless "idiot girl." Tormented by guilt, Alex agrees to marry her and raise the babe she carries as his own. But he never dreams he will grow to cherish his lovely, mute, misjudged Annie—her childlike innocence, her womanly charms and the wondrous way she views her world. And he becomes determined to break through the wall of silence surrounding her—to heal—and to be healed by Annie's sweet song of love.

I blogged about Annie's Song almost two years ago.  Basically, Annie's song was one of the firstest ever romances I ever read and it was a library book so I had to take it back.  But I always kept an eye out for it and I struck gold April 2007.  I placed the book reverently on my shelf and promised it one day I would read it again.  Fast forward almost two years and I never picked it up.  But thanks to Nath's Re-Read Challenge, I had the perfect first book to kick it off.  And really, enough time (13 years) had passed that I only remembered what happened generally, not the finer details of the book.

Annie is the youngest daughter of the local judge.  Her mother has kept her out of sight for the last 18 years but people have seen her around.  Everyone thinks she's mad.  When Annie is raped by a rich local, his older brother steps in to do the right thing - whatever the right thing is.  

Alex Montgomery was shattered when he learned the truth that his beloved younger brother raped an innocent girl.  The fact that she is mentally handicapped really struck home the fact that his younger brother was rotten to the core and Alex couldn't deny the truth anymore.  So he kicks his brother out and promises Annie's father that if she turns out to be pregnant he will marry.

Four months pass and it is discovered that Annie is pregnant.  Annie thinks she is getting fat so she decides to stop eating.  When Alex comes to marry her and take her away to live at his home, she assumes that her parents don't want her anymore because she's fat so she really stops eating.  When the housekeeper discovers that Annie's nurse (that Alex hired) was abusing her (to get her to eat), the housekeeper demands that Alex spends more time with his new wife.  And as that happens, Alex realizes that Annie is not slow.  She's deaf!

Alex is furious on Annie's behalf and he slowly goes about building her trust and teaching her how to communicate.  Most importantly, he goes about righting all the wrongs that have been dealt her.

This book is so much deeper than my general description conveys.  This is a historical novel - small town America sometime in the 1800s.  Alex Montgomery is a well-to-do horse breeder of the small town and Annie's father is the judge.  The judge wants to keep the whole thing hush hush about the rape because he plans to run for office and he doesn't want the public to know about Annie.  Her father is a horrible character and Alex really hates him too.  

Annie became deaf after she was sick and had a high fever when she was 4.  So she was learning how to speak when it occurred and throughout her life, she taught herself how to read lips.  She could also hear really loud noises, so when people called her name, she would turn to look at them.  That's how her deafness escaped her mother's notice.  Her mother also never took Annie for any kind of testing because she thought insanity ran in the family and she thought her husband would divorce her if that was the case.

Can you see how those Annie should have trusted most would be the ones to let her down?  So Alex set about righting those wrongs and empowering Annie.  He's a great hero and she's a great heroine.

As a 13 year old, Annie's Song was a good read.  As an adult, Annie's Song takes on deeper meaning and I truly enjoyed it the second time around.  B