Like all Anne Wilensky's novels, Topsy Turvy, is based on her own real life experience. Anne wakes up Christmas morning 2012 to her email not working, then her phone broke, her TV went to heaven, and then her computer blew up.
As soon as she gets all her electronics squared away an unbelievable fatigue sweeps over her as she sits at the computer.
She staggers to the tool room cot next to her computer room. And instantly plummets to the bottom of her mind. For 6 weeks she does not eat or sleep.
It is all disturbing memories from her past. And when she does doze off for a moment, it doesn't refresh her or relax her. The dreams are just as intense as her waking thoughts, and like a comment on them.
She isn't scared or upset because she is with her Higher Self all thru it. But she doesn't know what is happening. Yet it all feels so purposeful, she knows it has to be.
When Spring arrives, both the earth and Anne rise up at the same time. And it is a glorious spring. Anne discovers her happiness has gone up another notch. "Everything just feels new," she says.
The year continues to have surprises for Anne, some wonderful, some terrible. It was not a usual year. But when that bizarre winter ends and delivers Anne back on the shores of life again, she discovers she has a new confidence in Life itself.
We watch Anne get knocked down and bounce back quickly.
We share her daily life with her. Her friend Jim is teaching her how to drive.
Jim had been her husband's friend. When Bill went to Heaven 2 years ago, Jim arrived instantly and said, "The first thing is to teach you how to drive. Driving is easy, I can teach you in 5 minutes."
But when the book opens we discover Jim has now been teaching Anne to drive for 2 years, with zero progress.
Every morning before her swim he sits next to her while she drives around her neighborhood. Then they switch seats and he drives Anne to pool and grocery store.
The daily intimacy of the driving lessons has bloomed into a beautiful friendship.
Anne says, "It is like being with my cousin Richie when we were kids and before I was interested in boys. All Jim and I do is laugh and play and kid around."
After 40 years of being a devoted wife (she had loved Bill more than the universe) Anne is having so much fun kicking up her heels.
And because Jim is just a friend, not a boyfriend, he delights in her wildness. And like her cousin Richie submits to her teasing him mercilessly from morning to night.
But not always. When she goes too far, he reminds her what Officer Jeffries said.
Back in February, a girl cop brand new to the force had pulled Anne over.
When Anne got out of her truck to ask her what is taking so long? She ordered Anne back into her vehicle.
When Anne got out a second time to find out what is taking so long, Officer Jeffries asked, "Do you have a comprehension problem?"
Anne said "no".
"You were told to stay in your vehicle!"
Each time she goes too far teasing Jim, he says "I'm not the one with a comprehension problem."
That shuts up Anne quick.
In the middle of the year her Higher Self talks her into revealing what she has never revealed before. Anne is clearly reluctant to do it, but she does.
And I am glad she did. It adds an unexpected depth to the book. It is just a small chapter in middle of book but it alone is worth the price of admission.
The experience Anne relates occurred before she and Bill moved from NYC to Tucson, so it is not about her life this year.
Except for shedding light on how Anne came to be in the place she now is. It is what got her on a different path in life, and why Anne calls that chapter, How It All Began.
It's like sending out a ray from her heart.
Anne Wilensky's previous novels are fun to read, and much of Topsy Turvy is fun and funny too. But this one has a soulful side to it also.
Author Biography:
Anne Wilenksy (aka Anne Forer Pyne) lives in Tucson Arizona. She was born in NYC and grew up there. At age 25 she met Bill Pyne.
After living together for 20 years in an East Village tenement, their life in NYC collapsed.
Anne's aunt in Tucson Arizona found them an apt. They flew out with their dog.
Anne instantly fell in love with the beautiful desert, huge sky, bright sunshine. Birds sing all winter.
She loved living in NYC. You meet people from every walk in life. But it was time for a change.
In Tucson Bill fulfilled his dream of going to art school. And Anne discovered the New Age in the Tucson public library.
Her life in Tucson was radically different from her life in NYC. In NYC she had so many close friends.
In Tucson she has many many loving acquaintances but close friendships never came her way.
She discovered internet. She joined a news forum. They talked about current events, and kidded around with each other. And became surprisingly close.
Eventually Bill succeeded in convincing her to go back to her writing. Which is a huge favor he did for Anne. She has been writing ever since.
All her novels are based on her life experiences.
She discovered self publishing when she wrote her first novel in 2008.
Publishing it was difficult, but the angels on the community board at Create Space walk the newbies thru it.
She added Bill's cartoons to Sweet Sound of Bird Song, Haboob, Topsy Turvy.
She loves Bill Pyne's cartoons, they make her laugh out loud and make publishing the books a joy for her.
Because she was in the women's liberation movement when it first started in 1967 in the East Village, Bill suggested she write about it.
He said "Everyone wants to know how the women's liberation movement started. It is real history. You were there, why don't you write about it."
So she did. She wrote and published Not What You'd Expect, How the womens liberation movement started, My personal experience of it
It is short, just about her first year in the women's liberation movement.
In spring 2011, out of nowhere and for no reason, her husband suddenly went to Heaven. Anne had so much practice holding onto her happiness no matter what life threw at her, that when Life hit her with its best shot, she held onto her peace and happiness.
It meant instant new life. And to her surprise she found it thrilling to have a brand new life.
