Why does a beautiful, talented woman take her own life? That's the mystery behind Richard Engling's Visions of Anna, a novel that takes us to the Paris of poets and writers, on and off a movie set in Hollywood, and to an epic ritual in the desert of Utah.
It is a story about healing the wounds of grief, setting a troubled soul to rest, and finding redemption in love.
Although it is a stand-alone novel, Visions of Anna was first released as part of The Afterlife Trilogy, which also included the world premiere of Richard's play Anna in the Afterlife and She Plays in Darkness by Fern Chertkow. Richard and Fern became close friends in graduate school studying fiction writing. The two spent a year in Europe after graduate school living as novelists in Paris. Affected by Fern's suicide, Richard used his friend as inspiration for Anna in his novel and play, each touching on friendship, self-destruction, and renewal.
