Rabbit Remembered

"Rabbit Remembered" is a 2001 novella by John Updike and his "Rabbit" series. It first appeared in his collection of short fiction titled "Licks of Love". Set in late 1999, it concerns itself with the interjection of the now deceased Harry Angstrom's illegitimate daughter, Annabelle, into the life of his middle-aged son Nelson, now separated from his wife Pru. Other key characters from the Rabbit series appear: Janice, Harry's widow who has married Harry's old nemesis Ronnie Harrison; Judy, Harry's granddaughter, now nineteen, who is planning to become a stewardess and his fourteen year old grandson Roy, an intellectually giftedcomputer enthusiast.

Nelson and Annabelle, along with Pru and an old friend of Nelson, see the film "American Beauty". During the discussion that follows, Annabelle reveals that she was sexually abused by her stepfather as a teenager. The novella ends with the hope that Nelson and Pru may reconcile.