After You'd Gone: Amazon.ca: Maggie O'Farrell: Books

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Paperback, May 2 2012

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Book Description

Publication Date: May 2 2012

Maggie O'Farrell's groundbreaking debut: a stunning, best-selling story of wrenching love and grief. A distraught young woman boards a train at King's Cross to return to her family in Scotland. Six hours later, she catches sight of something so terrible in a mirror at Waverley Station that she gets on the next train back to London. AFTER YOU'D GONE follows Alice's mental journey through her own past, after a traffic accident has left her in a coma. A love story that is also a story of absence, and of how our choices can reverberate through the generations, it slowly draws us closer to a dark secret at the family's heart.

#outer_postBodyPS { display: none; } #psGradient { display: none; } #psPlaceHolder { display: none; } #psExpand { display: none; } Maggie O'Farrell's groundbreaking debut: a stunning, best-selling story of wrenching love and grief. A distraught young woman boards a train at King's Cross to return to her family in Scotland. Six hours later, she catches sight of something so terrible in a mirror at Waverley Station that she gets on the next train back to London. AFTER YOU'D GONE follows Alice's mental journey through her own past, after a traffic accident has left her in a coma. A love story that is also a story of absence, and of how our choices can reverberate through the generations, it slowly draws us closer to a dark secret at the family's heart.

Product Details

Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Headline (May 2 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0747268169
ISBN-13: 978-0747268161
Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 2.5 x 19.8 cm
Shipping Weight: 240 g

Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (41 customer reviews)

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #206,293 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

From Amazon

Like a pointillist painting, Maggie O'Farrell's fine debut After You'd Gone is, from one perspective, formless--short vignettes, told from multiple points of view and in multiple voices, that are somewhat puzzling on their own and apparently have no connection to each other. Ultimately, however, these elements merge into a coherent and moving portrait of a young woman's journey toward a life-threatening crisis.

In London, one cold day in late autumn, Alice Raikes impulsively boards a train home to Scotland. Shortly after joining her two sisters in the Edinburgh train station, she sees something "odd and unexpected and sickening" in the station's restroom that causes her to immediately flee back to London. Later that evening, while walking to the grocers, Alice broods over what she has seen, then abruptly steps into oncoming traffic. As she lies comatose in her hospital bed, a swirl of voices and images gradually reveals her past--her parents, especially her mother, Ann; her beloved grandmother, Elspeth; her two sisters, so unlike her, both physically and temperamentally; and John Friedman, whom she loved and lost--and hints at her precarious future.

The unnamed spectacle of the opening washroom scene resurfaces in Alice's semiconscious haze and its eventual elucidation comes as less of a shock than a confirmation of all we have learned about her tumultuous existence. Sharply observed details of everyday life and language, original and telling figures of speech and deftly handled plot twists reach a moving climax, while subtly raising the question of whether the objects of Alice's affection--and the sources of her agony--were worth enduring. --Alex Freeman

From Publishers Weekly

Like a pointillist painting, this fine debut is, from one perspective, formless--short vignettes, told from multiple points of view and in multiple voices, that are somewhat puzzling on their own and apparently have no connection to each other. Ultimately, however, these elements merge into a coherent and moving portrait of a young woman's journey toward a life-threatening crisis. In London, one cold day in late fall, Alice Raikes impulsively boards a train home to Scotland. Shortly after joining her two sisters in the Edinburgh train station, she sees something "odd and unexpected and sickening" in the station's restroom that causes her immediately to flee back to London. Later that evening, while walking to the grocery store, Alice broods over what she has seen, then abruptly steps into oncoming traffic. As she lies comatose in her hospital bed, a swirl of voices and images gradually reveals her past--her parents, especially her mother, Ann; her beloved grandmother, Elspeth; her two sisters, so unlike her, both physically and temperamentally; and John Friedman, whom she loved and lost--and hints at her precarious future. The unnamed spectacle of the opening washroom scene resurfaces in Alice's semiconscious haze, and its eventual elucidation comes as less of a shock than a confirmation of all we have learned about her tumultuous existence. Sharply observed details of everyday life and language, original and telling figures of speech and deftly handled plot twists reach a moving climax, while subtly raising the question of whether the objects of Alice's affection--and the sources of her agony--were worth enduring. Foreign rights sold in seven countries.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Mesmerizing tale of secrets, love and loss Dec 15 2011

By Samantha TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

From the opening pages, it is clear that Alice is suffering from a double whammy of traumatic heartache but we don't know why. The novel unfolds in an interesting fashion of perspective changes and flashbacks, deftly handled, to reveal, piece by piece, the history, love story, secrets and tragedy that defines Alice and explains her emotional state and suicidal behaviour. O'Farrell's writing is superb. I was deeply drawn in. Alice is an intense, complex character that is rendered fully dimensional. I do, however, have a couple of niggling complaints about the novel that resulted in lowering it from a 5 to a 4 star rating: 1) There was some immature melodrama involved with the love story; it seemed jarringly out of place and irritating 2) I had to reread the first few pages and the last few to try to figure out what was happening. I understand that the beginning was meant to be mysterious, but it was the mechanics of how Alice saw what she saw that was so confusing--through a mirror on a hand dryer in a Superloo (large public washroom, I'm assuming), with two teenagers fooling around in the stalls. Even after finishing the novel, I wondered, how did Alice see what she saw? While the ending, in theory, was perfect for this novel, the way it was written threw me. But, overall, it was a good read and I will seek other titles by the author.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully Written Mar 13 2002

By "sylsbooks"

Format:Hardcover

Alice Raikes is both heroine and victim. Just one short year ago she had the life she dreamed of and the love of her life at her side. An act of random terror changes Alice's life forever and subsequently that of her family. As Alice struggles with depression she reaches out to her sisters, Beth and Kirsty, deciding to pay them an impromptu visit in Scotland. Unbeknownst to her sisters Alice witnesses yet another event that shatters her already fragile mind.

Rushing home to London Alice steps off a curb into oncoming traffic. An accident or suicide, no one knows for sure. As Alice lays in a coma in a hospital with her family by her side, the secrets from her past unravel. Alice's will to live resurfaces as she is faced with her memories and the voices of her loved ones' reach below the surface of her mind.

This is a truly remarkable story. Maggie O'Farrell writes with such emotion I couldn't help but be drawn into the lives of Alice and her mother Ann, her sister's Becky and Kirsty.

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5.0 out of 5 stars An Amazing Story. Feb 26 2002

By Diane

Format:Hardcover

This book has it all, love, loss, humour and exquisite writing. The full range of emotions are explored and will leave the reader in anticipation of more from this wonderful new writer.

Alice Raikes is the key character in the novel. In the opening scene she boards a train bound for Scotland to see her sisters. While at the train station she encounters something horrible, something that will leave leave her changed forever. She returns to London only to be involved in an accident which leaves her in a coma.

Through a series of flashbacks we are transported back and forth in time to enter into the lives of Alice, the love of her life~ John, her sisters, her grandmother and of course her mother.

The end result is a moving tale that made me laugh at times and cry at others. I loved the character of Alice, her determination and passion for her soul mate was astounding. All true love should feel like this.

I did not want this book to end. The story, the characters and the writing were all part of the journey. It was an emotional rollercoaster that I did not want to finish. Maggie O'Farrell is an author to look for. You will not be disappointed. I know that I wasn't.

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