Annika Alone

About the Book

It is 1865 in New York City as fourteen-year-old Annika Svensson inks her mamma’s death date into the family Bible. As she looks around her sparsely furnished live-in maid quarters and contemplates her future, her employer’s husband, Walter Brown, creeps into her room under the cover of darkness and rapes her. When Annika realizes she is pregnant, she is seemingly left without options until she writes to her mamma’s cousin, Noak, and his wife, Kjerstin, for help. After she confronts Brown and resigns, Noak arrives to accompany Annika by train and steamboat to Stillwater, Minnesota, where they are met by Noak’s neighbor, Oscar. When Annika reveals she is with child, Noak and Kjerstin urge her to consider marriage. After Annika rejects Oscar’s attempts to woo her and he leaves town, she gives birth to a son. But when a letter brings news of Brown’s death and his wife’s invitation for her to return, Annika embarks on a journey of self-discovery that leads her to God and ultimately into the arms of the one who unconditionally loves her. Annika Alone is the historical tale of a teen servant’s determined quest to escape her dark past in New York City and carve out a new beginning in Minnesota.

About the Author

Sharon Graham is a freelance writer and retired licensed clinical social worker with twenty-five years of experience counseling with families, children, and adults. A resident of northwest Missouri, she treasures time spent with husband and family. Annika Alone is her debut novel.