--- title: Ana Braunstein Turns Her Award-Winning Short Film This Case and My Life Into a Four-Book Series description: Ana Braunstein turned her award-winning 2021 short film into four novels about Manhattan attorney Chris Roberts, from a broken marriage to fatherhood. author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief) date: 2026-10-21T16:42:35.459Z updated: 2026-10-21T16:49:58.413Z canonical: https://richbooksmagazine.com/article/this-case-and-my-life-book image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/ana-braunstein-hero-studio.webp categories: Fiction, Authors & Writers content_type: Feature region: New York City publication: Rich Books schema_type: Article about: - type: Person name: Ana Braunstein description: Ana Braunstein is an award-winning author, screenwriter, filmmaker and SAG-AFTRA actress. She wrote, directed and acted in the 2021 short film This Case and My Life, which won more than 80 awards. She is the author of the four-book This Case and My Life series. jobTitle: Author, screenwriter and filmmaker sameAs: - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9824046/ - https://www.instagram.com/ana_bofficial - https://www.facebook.com/anaa.prickettbraunstein - https://www.youtube.com/@anaapbraunstein1882 --- Ana Braunstein first brought attorney Chris Roberts to the screen in 2021, in a short film she wrote, directed and acted in, which went on to win more than 80 awards at festivals around the world. She has since written his story as a four-book series, *This Case and My Life*, and with the fourth novel out this October, you can now read it from the first page to the last. Chris is a successful New York attorney who has built his career on control. He prepares every argument, anticipates the other side and believes that, with enough preparation, life can be won like a case in court. Across the four books that belief is tested by his marriage, a new love, the arrival of a baby and the people from his past whose lives are still tied up with his. Ana calls the books romantic comedy-drama, and she writes for readers who enjoy emotional women's fiction, contemporary family drama and clean romance. There is heartache in them, with infidelity, secrets and a marriage that ends, but there is also plenty of humor, friendships nobody expects and a lot of room for forgiveness and second chances. She lived in New York City for more than 30 years, and the series is set in places she knows well, from Central Park and a Midtown office to the Hamptons, Long Island and Connecticut. She also played one of the story's central characters herself. In the film she is Kathy Welch, and Kathy is still there in Book Four, weighing a career offer that makes her decide what success, loyalty and belonging mean to her. - [This Case and My Life](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GZ6DVDVB) by Ana Braunstein - [This Case and My Life: A Novel Sequel Two](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HCZJV6TP) by Ana Braunstein - [This Case and My Life: A Walk in the Park](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HDJW961K) by Ana Braunstein - [This Case and My Life: Christmas Is Here](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HFRMTXKJ) by Ana Braunstein ## The Award-Winning This Case and My Life Short Film Ana wrote *This Case and My Life* as a screenplay more than five years ago and made it into [a short drama](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14502474/), released in 2021. She wrote, directed and produced the film and played Kathy, with Mark Karten as Chris Roberts, Claire Waterhouse as Bridget Glenn and Monica Phillips as Stacey Roberts, Chris's wife. The film won more than 80 awards, and many of them were for Ana's own work. At the Pinnacle Film Awards it took the Gold Award for Best Narrative Short, and Ana won Diamond Awards for Best Screenplay and Best Actress and a Gold Award for Best Director. She was also named Best Actress at the Black Swan International Film Festival and received the Accolade Competition's Award of Recognition for Leading Actress. At the MLC Awards the film was given an honorable mention for Best Series Potential in a Film. The response from audiences, festival directors and judges brought back the love of writing she had since childhood. Ana saw how strongly people connected with Chris's story and decided to turn it into a series. "Chris may understand how to build a legal case, but his greatest lessons come from the relationships and responsibilities he cannot control," she says. "I wanted these books to show how love, forgiveness, family, and everyday choices can shape a person's future." For Ana, a film and a novel are two ways of telling the same story. The novels gave her room to develop Chris's story and to show how his decisions affect everyone around him. Writing them took a few years, and she wanted the whole series finished before she presented it to readers. Her interest in stories started early. As a child she wrote stories and performed them for her mother, her siblings and her friends, and as a teenager she wrote and acted in plays at school, at church and in her community whenever she could. Her parents loved the arts, were both keen readers and encouraged her to read. Ana's other independent film, *A Silent Call: Can Anyone Hear Me?* (2022), is also her own work as writer, director and actress, and it will be released as a book in late November. ## This Case and My Life Books in Order Ana suggests starting with Book One and reading the four in order, so that you see every change in the relationships as it happens. All four are available on Kindle, in paperback and in hardcover on Amazon. ### Book One: This Case and My Life The first book finds Chris successful and in control, with a pivotal case on his desk. As the case starts to spill into his private life, the separate parts of that life begin to collide, and he finds that relationships cannot be managed like cases in a courtroom. The story is told from several points of view, so you see what his choices do to Stacey, Bridget, Kathy and others whose lives have become entangled with his. Stacey has the biggest journey. She starts out questioning her suspicions and making excuses for the problems in her marriage, then decides to find out the truth, and her story becomes one of independence, healing and self-respect. The novel won the Literary Titan Book Award. Literary Titan's reviewer called it "a fast-moving domestic drama about infidelity, deception, and the consequences that arrive when a carefully managed double life falls apart," and singled out Stacey's move from heartbreak to independence as one of the book's most satisfying arcs, along with its film-like pace and details such as the red roses that expose the cracks in Chris's carefully managed world. ### Book Two: A Novel Sequel Two By the second book Chris has built one of New York City's most respected law firms, found love again with Bridget and is preparing to become a father. A chance meeting on a business trip to Chicago reconnects him with someone from his past and brings back memories of how differently his life might have turned out. At the same time there are changes at his firm and more to handle at home. Bridget senses that something has shifted. Small moments, unanswered questions and the pressure of getting ready for a baby start to put distance between two people who love each other, and Chris learns that winning in court is far easier than handling trust, love and family. ### Book Three: A Walk in the Park In the third book Chris is secretly looking for the right family home while Bridget prepares for the birth of their first child. Bridget becomes friends with Stephanie, the woman who once shared an important chapter of Chris's life, and neither Bridget nor Chris realizes how closely their lives are about to be linked by secrets from the past. The book is about kindness, forgiveness, second chances and letting go of the past, told with warmth and humor. ### Book Four: Christmas Is Here The final book brings a new home in Connecticut, a small wedding, baby Helen and the family's first Christmas together. Chris's career is still in Manhattan, though, and with winter commutes, early court appearances and the lease on his city apartment running out, the couple agree that he will stay in New York during the working week and come home when his schedule allows. It seems sensible until they start living it. Bridget finds out how hard it is to care for Helen without Chris there every day, while Chris tries to balance his career, his marriage, fatherhood and the life he used to have. Kathy and Stephanie become friends too. Their conversations bring old secrets into the open, and Kathy's career offer forces a decision about where she belongs. Ana describes it as a story about marriage, parenthood, friendship, loyalty, second chances and the imperfect choices that shape the lives we build. ## New York Life in This Case and My Life Ana's 30 years in New York give the series its setting. Chris works from a Midtown office, the characters walk in Central Park, and other scenes take place in the Hamptons and on Long Island. When the family moves to Connecticut, the distance between home and the office becomes part of the story. > "It's complicated, but that's life. Life has unexpected turns. Our decisions matter." > — Ana Braunstein In each book a choice made in one part of Chris's life changes something in another, and the other characters' decisions carry as much weight as his. Over the series Chris changes, the people around him change with him, and secrets and surprises come out as time moves on. Ana calls the story thought-provoking and hopes it gets readers talking, and she wants them to have something to think about long after the last page. She is grateful to every reader who has taken the series to heart. **About Ana Braunstein** Author, screenwriter and filmmaker Ana Braunstein is an award-winning author, screenwriter, filmmaker and SAG-AFTRA actress. She wrote, directed and acted in the 2021 short film This Case and My Life, which won more than 80 awards. She is the author of the four-book This Case and My Life series. ## FAQ **Q: What is the This Case and My Life series about?** The series follows Chris Roberts, a successful New York attorney who has built his career on control, across four books. It shows how his choices affect the people around him, including his wife Stacey, Bridget, Kathy and Stephanie, as he moves through a marriage that ends, a new love, fatherhood and a family home in Connecticut. **Q: What order should the This Case and My Life books be read in?** Start with Book One, This Case and My Life, then read A Novel Sequel Two, A Walk in the Park and Christmas Is Here. Ana Braunstein recommends reading them in order, and with the fourth book out since October 2026, the whole series is available. **Q: Is This Case and My Life based on a film?** Yes. Ana Braunstein first wrote This Case and My Life as a screenplay, and the 2021 short film she wrote, directed, produced and acted in won more than 80 awards, including Best Actress, Best Screenplay and Best Director awards for her. She then developed the story into the four-book series. **Q: What are some good romance novels set in New York City?** Ana Braunstein's This Case and My Life series is one to try if you like romantic comedy-drama with a family story at its heart. It moves between a Manhattan law firm, Central Park, the Hamptons and Long Island before the family settles in Connecticut.