In three words:
Sensitive, engaging, beautiful
What I thought:
On a perfect summers day, in the south of England, a school hosts its end of year sports day. While the school is awash with children, parents and siblings helping out, somone sets light to the art room and what results is an inferno that lands mother and daughter (Grace and 17 year old Jennifer) in hospital and seriously ill.
Afterwards is narrated by Grace who , in an out of body experience (along with daughter Jenny), is trying to make sense of just what happened and why. Grace does this by talking to her husband, Mike, whom cannot see or hear her but whom she reminisses about the past and confides her fears about the future, which I found this difficult to grasp at first as I kept having to remind myself who she was talking to.
I wouldn’t go as far as to say that this book is a literary thriller, but the prose and themes of love, faith and hope feel a step away from most crime fiction; however the mystery of what happened at the school is certainly the central theme. The language used is, in my opinion, at times beautiful and at times irritating (for bordering on gushy and being a little disney).
Despite the fact that the book sometimes felt a bit drawn out, I was sufficiently engaged enough to want to know who the arsonist was and why they had set fire to the school. There were twists, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say red herrings as certain characters were slightly too obvious to be real contenders.
Verdict: A lovely and engaging read and refreshing in style. Recommended.
(Source: This book is from my own shelves)
The Book Whisperer 
This sounds comparable to Jodi Picoult – am I correct? I like but do not love those books. This sounds like a book I’d happily read.
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I loved this book. I’ve learnt that I’ll love anything Rosund Lupton writes. I think she has an amazing way of writing but also creating the most engaging story.
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Have to say did not enjoy this book at all! Thought the style was so different to Sister…(the reason I bought it, enjoyed Sister very much) it just went on and on and…..!
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I really want to read Sister but this one makes me think maybe. I appreciate the honest review, gives me a real feel for the story.
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Hmmm… sounds interesting but not sure it would be a sell for me. Sounds like this author has written other books that are better – the mention of Sister sounds good! 🙂
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I liked Sister and I really wanted to like this book, but I really couldn’t take the out of body experiences and I just had to give up,
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I think the out of body thing can be done well, but perhaps not in this book? I would like to try Sister as it seems to be more well-liked than Afterwards.
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Oooh I shall have to try this one as I really enjoyed Sister.
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I really liked this one and thought the out of body experience added a very original touch. Haven’t read Sister yet!
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I’ve seen both, this book & Sister, and almost picked both up very many times. However, for some reason, I’ve not. Seeing your review though, I think I should… even the gist sounds quite tempting, and your thoughts re-affirm my first impression.
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Currebtly reading and loving Sister on my Kindle. Will be downloading this one afterwards as I love the style of Sister.
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