“It’s gone so quickly” Annie said. “I think that life speeds up as it reaches its end. I’m praying for time to remember.” Milwaukee. Is it a place? A person? Or the painful memory of a night to forget? It could be any of them. For Mary it is the name of her father. For Annie her mother it is an anonymous American GI. For her grandmother it is a place in Wisconsin and an opportunity for revenge. Each clings to her illusions and the result is an explosion of lies that fragments and destroys a family. Milwaukee is Annie’s story which she tells from her hospice bed to her best friend Clemmie. Her memories cut no corners but face the whole - they are a plea for understanding and forgiveness. Moving and emotional Milwaukee is Bernice Rubens at her most telling and compassionate.
