A Very Fine House: A Mother’s Story of Love, Faith, and Crystal Meth

Stoefen opens her memoir at the moment she learns that Annie, her troubled daughter, is addicted to methamphetamine. Annie was a bright, beautiful, happy child, and the family—“mom and dad, boy and girl, dog and cats, a bountiful table”—led a “Norman Rockwellesque existence” until Annie’s adolescence, when she struggled with depression. But Stoefen was totally unprepared for her daughter’s drug addiction. The author explores the nuances of her emotions with refreshing honesty, and records the chaos and destruction of dreams that go along with addiction. “I was furious with God,” she admits. Her despair, her anger at God, and the ways her faith did and did not help her will resonate with readers. She peppers the book with familiar 12-step slogans—“Let go and let God,” for example—but they are truly lived in her narrative. The book contains a list of resources to help other families, as well as detailed information about addiction. Meth addiction and alcoholism don’t prefer broken homes, it turns out. Today Annie is clean and sober, one day at a time. [em]Agent: Alice Crider, WordServe Literary. (Sept.) [/em]