Synopsis
Born to shanty Irish on one side and Park Avenue privilege on the other, Laura navigates a turbulent childhood filled with the alcohol-fueled abuse of her volatile father and her mother’s excessive drinking. As the middle child of three girls, she assigns herself the role of her mother’s protector, who dies when Laura is thirteen, leaving her heartbroken and adrift.
Insecure, anxious, and fearful, she tries drugs, random sex, and a sequence of lovers. Along the way she becomes a successful painter and has a bad first marriage. Nothing however seems to assuage her emptiness and her sense of loss. Eventually, she marries a caring man and has a loving daughter. It is only at the end of her life and by way of an unusual and unexpected turn of events that she is finally able to make peace with herself, to let go of the feeling that she never really grieved, and said goodbye to her beloved mother, and to appreciate that though we work at love and acceptance, sometimes the most wonderful experiences in our lives come in unanticipated and unsought ways.
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Praise
Because I tend to read fiction cinematically, I saw each chapter of Exit Wounds as fully realized scenes in a movie. It isn’t a happy book and it’s not a sad book. It’s a brave, raw story of redemption infused with clever and witty black Irish humor. — Moritz Borman, Producer Snowden, Terminator Salvation, Basic, Savages
It manages to be harrowing and hopeful in equal measure. The scenes of a childhood defined by a brutal drunk beating a young girl’s dying mother are as scarifying as any coming of age novel I’ve read, and the scenes of a life lived in defiance of the script she was handed is no less than thrilling. — Tom Lutz, Distinguished Professor and Chair of Creative Writing, UC Riverside/Founding Editor in Chief and Publisher of the Los Angeles Review of Books
Exit Wounds, Annie O’Neill Stein’s debut novel will draw you in, tug at your heart, and help you appreciate the subtle pleasure of black Irish humor. She hooks you in with her original voice and takes you on a journey without sugar coating or apology and helps one understand the importance of an examined life. — Bob Wallace, Former Managing Editor, Rolling Stone
Annie O’Neill Stein’s novel Exit Wounds is a striking debut. Her writing is sensory, emotionally honest, and darkly comic. Like Laura, her main character, Stein is a rule breaker. She takes the reader on a wild and satisfying ride. — Jan Cherubin, author of Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2020, The Orphan’s Daughter
Review
This book covers Laura’s life from a young girl until old age. There are flashbacks to her youth and the trials and tribulations she endured with her family. It was a dysfunctional family, but considering the era, not too surprising.
Laura is a typical middle child, seen but overlooked. Their life growing up was harder than some with alcoholic parents, but they made the best of it until they couldn’t anymore. Laura left home and struck out on her own. Her life had its ups and downs, but she rolled with it.
This story is raw, gritty, and honest. Laura has many frustrations in her life, and while it may seem that she has it all, she wants something more. She learns how to make the best of it despite everything. I liked that, in the end, she took control of her life despite a debilitating illness. It just shows us that we all need to live life to the fullest, no matter what hand is dealt to us.
We are all searching for something in our life, and only we will know if we have found it.
We give this book 4 paws up.
About the Author
Native New Yorker Annie O’Neill Stein moved to Los Angeles in the early eighties as an actress. After many small parts in TV series, from Miami Vice to Charlie’s Angels, she decided to follow her true passion, writing.
Being accepted to Sewanee Writers Conference to study with Alice McDermott planted the seed for Exit Wounds, her first novel.
Annie has written for several magazines, More, Los Angeles Times Magazine, Distinction, Folks, and was a regular contributor to The Huffington Post for several years.
One of the things she’s proudest of is leading creative writing workshops with foster teens, which led to editing and publishing Beauty From Ashes, a collection of short stories and poetry written by foster youth.
She lived in LA with her husband until her recent passing. She has two grown daughters. Like most writers, she regarded Ex
Wendy Rich Stetson is a New York City girl who still considers the Central Pennsylvania countryside to be her home. She grew up road tripping in a 1979 VW camper van, and she keeps a running list of favorite roadside attractions from coast to coast. Now an author of sweet, small-town romance, Wendy is no stranger to storytelling. She’s a Broadway and television actress, an audiobook narrator, and a mom who likes nothing more than collaborating on children’s books with her teenage artist daughter. Wendy lives in Upper Manhattan with her family of three and rambunctious Maine Coon kitty.
Briana Cole is an acclaimed author, motivational speaker, sex educator, and actress. Her novels are known for exploring unconventional relationships and making readers question all expectations about love, lust, and monogamy. An Atlanta native, she graduated cum laude from Georgia Southern University and is a proud member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. Her motto and ultimate drive toward success is a famous quote from Mae West: “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”
Christina Romeril loves to plot murders, especially by poisoning. When she’s not plotting how to kill one of her characters she’s coming up with ways to dispose of the body. Since writing her debut novel her husband’s friends have been regularly checking on his well-being.
James Wade, whose first two novels were praised as “rhapsodic” and “haunting,” delivers his most powerful work to date—a chilling parable about the impossible demands of hate and love, trauma and goodness, vividly set in the landscapes of Texas and Louisiana.
James Wade lives and writes in the Texas Hill Country with his wife and daughter. He is also the author of River, Sing Out and All Things Left Wild, a winner of the prestigious MPIBA Reading the West Award for Debut Fiction, and a recipient of the Spur Award for Best Historical Novel from the Western Writers of America.
Rebecca McKinnon enjoys playing with her imaginary friends and introducing them to others through her writing. She dreams of living in the middle of nowhere but has been unable to find an acceptable location that wouldn’t require crossing an ocean.
