Random House
When Alice and Joseph meet, they fall quickly into a tentative but serious relationship. She is a nurse, he a painter and decorator; both are still young and hopeful of each other, but each brings with them an emotional burden. Alice’s father has been a yawning absence all her life, and her beloved grandmother – who helped raise her – has recently died.
For his part, Joseph refuses to speak about his army experiences in Northern Ireland and Alice suspects that his general reticence hides an even more deeply troubled past. When her widowed grandfather begins to tell Joseph about his own RAF experiences in l950s Kenya – stories he had shared only with his wife – something still raw is tapped in Joseph; his reaction to the older man’s unburdening of guilt is both unexpected and devastating for them all.
Morally complex, understated, and powerfully moving, Afterwards confirms Rachel Seiffert’s remarkable talent.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Anne Tyler
Jane Harris
Xiaolu Guo
Kiran Desai
Rachel Cusk
Nell Freudenberger
Melanie Wallace
Anne Tyler
Jane Smiley
Rachel Seiffert
Deborah Robertson
Stef Penney
Catherine O'Flynn
Lisa Moore
Lori Lansens
M.J. Hyland
Jane Harris
Xiaolu Guo
Rebecca Gowers
Margaret Forster
Patricia Ferguson
Kiran Desai
Rachel Cusk
Clare Allan
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Barbara Kingsolver
Ruth Ozeki
Susanna Clarke
Maggie O'Farrell
Tayari Jones
Kamila Shamsie
Naomi Alderman
Lisa McInerney
Ali Smith
Eimear McBride
A.M. Homes
Madeline Miller
Téa Obreht
Barbara Kingsolver
Marilynne Robinson
Rose Tremain
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Lionel Shriver
Andrea Levy
Valerie Martin
Ann Patchett
Kate Grenville
Linda Grant
Suzanne Berne
Carol Shields
Anne Michaels
Helen Dunmore
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