The story is set in New York, where the girls meet at a museum and immediately grow fond of each other. The girls continue to visit many of the places New York has to offer and in this way are able to keep their love secret from relatives and friends, visiting places where they are not likely to come across them. Neither one of them knows immediately what those feelings mean, since neither one is openly gay. Annie is attending a public high school, and has a gift for singing, often participating in recitals. Liza's life is a little more complicated, due to the fact that she attends a private school and every detail of her life is often judged or reprimanded. As student council president, she must always carry herself in a dignified manner, and protect Foster Academy from any scandal which may place the school's integrity and its good name in danger.
After only months of having met, the two teenagers realize that they do in fact love each other, but work hard to keep their relationship a secret. When eventually they are indeed discovered, the girls, most of all Liza, must face a difficult decision. The lives of the people around them, especially of two wonderful teachers at Foster Academy, are greatly affected by this discovery and Liza's guilt keeps her from getting any closer to Annie. Throughout Liza's retelling of events, she is debating whether depriving herself of true love has been the wisest decision.
Nancy Garden's use of third and first person viewpoints help the reader visualize Liza going through a terribly difficult debate about the entire situation. The reader is taken into Liza's thoughts as she retells the events and tries desperately to sort things out, and then is transported to Liza's college dorm at MIT where the reader sees her crumble letter after letter to Annie. The story is touching and the love between the two is pure and tender. The content of the story seems to be an attempt to make readers aware of the author's feelings towards some reader's oppossing viewpoints dealing with homosexuality. Ms. Stevensons' and Ms. Widmer's reaction to losing their jobs was taken in a very understanding manner. They said it wasn't anything the girls should feel guilty about because it wasn't their homosexuality that caused it, but "what people wrongly made of it." Ms. Stevenson goes on to say that the girls shouldn't punish themselves, "for people's ignorant reactions to what we all are." Some readers may find this, as well as some references to the Bible, offensive.
Garden, Nancy. 1982. Annie on my mind. Canada: Harper Collins Canada, Ltd PZ7.G165An
