Synopses & Reviews
New York Times bestseller
From the award-winning New York Times bestselling author of Still Alice and Left Neglected, comes a heartfelt novel about an accidental friendship that gives a grieving mother a priceless gift: the ability to understand the thoughts of her eight-year-old autistic son and make sense of his brief life.
Two women, each cast adrift by unforseen events in their lives, meet by accident on a Nantucket beach and are drawn into a friendship.
Olivia is a young mother whose eight-year-old severely autistic son has recently died. Her marriage badly frayed by years of stress, she comes to the island in a trial separation to try and make sense of the tragedy of her Anthony’s short life.
Beth, a stay-at-home mother of three, is also recently separated after discovering her husband’s long-term infidelity. In an attempt to recapture a sense of her pre-married life, she rekindles her passion for writing, determined to find her own voice again. But surprisingly, as she does so, Beth also find herself channeling the voice of an unknown boy, exuberant in his perceptions of the world around him if autistic in his expression — a voice she can share with Olivia — (is it Anthony?) — that brings comfort and meaning to them both.
Review
"There’s a point in the narrative where one of the characters becomes so engrossed in reading a book that she loses track of time. Readers of Genova’s latest excellent offering might very well find the same happening to them." Kirkus
Review
"Lisa Genova's novels ring true. Love Anthony, like Genova's two previous novels, is beautifully written, and poignant to the point of heartbreak....Anyone who has had even a passing contact with an autistic child will relate. USA Today
Review
"Writing with deep empathy and insight, Genova has created an engaging story that fearlessly asks the big questions." Booklist
Review
“Autism is like a Zen
koan—a riddle without answers.., with effects that are myriad, mysterious, and confounding. The same could be said about
love. This book upended my perceptions of both conditions, leaving me feeling with my mind and thinking with my heart.
Everyone should read this book!" --Jamie Ford,
New York Times bestselling author of
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet Review
"Lisa Genova has essentially created her own genre, the 'Lisa Genova' novel, in which complicated topics become accessible to readers through beautifully-drawn characters and profound, human-scale stories. Love Anthony dares to ask enormous questions, the big questions that bedevil all of us. Better yet, Genova has the wisdom to know which ones can be answered, and which cannot." --Laura Lippman, New York Times bestselling author of And When She Was Good
Review
"Love Anthony broke my heart in the best way! I read it spellbound and breathless. If you don't know Lisa Genova's work already, meet your new favorite writer, storyteller, enchanter." --Heidi W. Durrow, author of The Girl Who Fell from the Sky, Winner of the Bellwether Prize
Review
“Genova's deep and empathic insight once again has blown me away -- particularly her intensely accurate portrayal of autism parenting. Her characters are complicated people, with unique, believable and, sometimes frustrating struggles. But perhaps Genova's true mastery is in the way she never fails to give us very real people to love.” --Susan Senator, author of Making Peace With Autism
Review
"With every line of that last letter as written from Anthony, I wept harder ... My heart, my chest, my throat, my face, my eyes pulsated with something so painful, yet so beautiful and happy at the same time ... and if there is one thing every Mom with a child of Autism should know, it’s the perspective written within that letter." T. Elaine, < i=""> Goodreads <> reviewer
Review
"It’s not just a good book about autism, it’s a good book that happens to have autism in it." N. McKibben, < i=""> Goodreads <> reviewer
Review
"In Love Anthony, Olivia is dealing with the death of her autistic young son, Anthony … Genova's writing is getting stronger with each book, in my opinion. I recommend all of her books. I cannot wait to read anything else she writes." < i=""> Melissa's Book Picks <>
Synopsis
From bestselling author and neuroscientist Lisa Genova--whose novel Still Alice is now an Academy Award-winning film starring Julianne Moore--comes a novel about autism, friendship, and unconditional love. Look for Lisa Genova's latest novel, Inside the O'Briens, available now.
In an insightful, deeply human story reminiscent of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Daniel Isn't Talking, and The Reason I Jump, Lisa Genova offers a unique perspective in fiction--the extraordinary voice of Anthony, a nonverbal boy with autism. Anthony reveals a neurologically plausible peek inside the mind of autism, why he hates pronouns, why he loves swinging and the number three, how he experiences routine, joy, and love. In this powerfully unforgettable story, Anthony teaches two women about the power of friendship and helps them to discover the universal truths that connect us all.
Synopsis
From neuroscientist and bestselling author of Still Alice, a moving novel about autism, friendship, and unconditional love. In an insightful, deeply human story reminiscent of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Daniel Isn't Talking, and The Reason I Jump, Lisa Genova offers a unique perspective in fiction--the extraordinary voice of Anthony, a nonverbal boy with autism.
Anthony reveals a neurologically plausible peek inside the mind of autism, why he hates pronouns, why he loves swinging and the number three, how he experiences routine, joy, and love. In this powerfully unforgettable story, Anthony teaches two women about the power of friendship and helps them to discover the universal truths that connect us all.
Synopsis
I'm always hearing about how my brain doesn't work right....But it doesn't feel broken to me.
Olivia Donatelli's dream of a “normal” life shattered when her son, Anthony, was diagnosed with autism at age three. He didn't speak. He hated to be touched. He almost never made eye contact. And just as Olivia was starting to realize that happiness and autism could coexist, Anthony was gone.
Now she's alone on Nantucket, desperate to find meaning in her son's short life, when a chance encounter with another woman brings Anthony alive again in a most unexpected way. In a piercing story about motherhood, autism, and love, Lisa Genova offers us two unforgettable women who discover the small but exuberant voice that helps them both find the answers they need.
Synopsis
I’m always hearing about how my brain doesn’t work right…But it doesn’t feel broken to me. Olivia Donatelli’s dream of a “normal” life shattered when her son, Anthony, was diagnosed with autism at age three. He didn’t speak. He hated to be touched. He almost never made eye contact. And just as Olivia was starting to realize that happiness and autism could coexist, Anthony was gone.
Now she’s alone on Nantucket, desperate to find meaning in her son’s short life, when a chance encounter with another woman brings Anthony alive again in a most unexpected way.
In a warm, deeply human story reminiscent of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and Daniel Isn’t Talking, New York Times bestselling author Lisa Genova offers us two unforgettable women on the verge of change and the irrepressible young boy with autism whose unique wisdom helps them both find the courage to move on.
About the Author
Lisa Genova is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Love Anthony, Left Neglected, and Still Alice. Love Anthony, her latest, is the moving story of the mother of a boy with autism. She graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in Biopsychology and holds a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Harvard University. She travels worldwide, speaking about the causes, treatments, ways to prevent, and what it feels like to live with Alzheimer’s Disease. She has appeared on The Dr. Oz Show, The Diane Rehm Show, CNN, Chronicle, Fox News, and Canada AM and is featured in the documentary film, To Not Fade Away. She lives with her husband and three children in Cape Cod.