Product Description

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 which 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. (20011218)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19665 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04-05
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
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

Independent on Sunday
'an engrossing study of loss and family ties, delivered with the page-turning pace of a thriller'

Review
'The first proper novel I've read in an age. It is beautifully yet accessibly written and deals with the subject of grief in such an astute, touching and real way that I was on the verge of tears for most of the book' Lisa Jewell (Daily Mail 20011218)

After You'd Gone was no.10 in the Sunday Express bestseller list (20011218)

After You'd Gone was chosen by Fi Glover as her favourite read in the Mail On Sunday 23/9 (Mail on Sunday 20011218)

'Rarely have I been forced to give up my life so entirely to dedicate myself to a book. And I felt the strands of the story tied together beautifully, so that as well as being funny, rich and harrowing, it ws also a deeply satisfying read' Esther Freud (You Magazine 20011218)

'This fantastic novel... The characters and story will really touch your emotions' (Best 20011218)

'This weepy... Is guaranteed to leave you out of Kleenex... Your life stands still as you turn the pages. An amazing study of grief as it poses the wrenching question: What do you do with all the love you have for someone when they're gone?' Glamour (20011218)

'A memorable debut' Daily Telegraph (20011218)

'Maggie O'Farrell keeps the reader guessing right up to the end in this engrossing psychological mystery... the characterisation is excellent and the dialogue immaculate' Sunday Telegraph

'an engrossing study of loss and family ties, delivered with the page-turning pace of a thriller' Independent on Sunday

'Details of Alice's childhood in North Berwick, its landscape and the well-observed objects that texture everyday life are convincingly done... cleverly constructed plot and great ending' Observer

'A story of passion and romance, of lost opportunity and chance happenings, of happiness and grief. This combination of love story and mystery is a moving and powerful debut and a sign of great things to come' Sunday Mirror

'Intriguing and mysterious novel' Express

'A contemporary and unflinching look at passion and attachment' Independent

'AFTER YOU'D GONE may be Maggie O'Farrell's first novel, but it shows a maturity that more experienced writers would mortgage their typewriters for... O'Farrell possesses a fine eye for the absurdities of human behaviour, which lightens, but does not diminish the tragedy that pervades this compassionate and engrossing book' Glasgow List

'A compellling and beautifully crafted tragedy about the past getting in the way of the present' Nottingham Evening Post

'This weepy, now out in paperback, is guaranteed to leave you out of Kleenex... your life stands still as you turn the pages. An amazing study of love and grief as it poses the wrenching question: What do you do with all the love you have for someone when they're gone?' (Glamour )

'A memorable debut' (Daily Telegraph )

'Maggie O'Farrell keeps the reader guessing right up to the end in this engrossing psychological mystery... the characterisation is excellent and the dialogue immaculate' (Sunday Telegraph )

'an engrossing study of loss and family ties, delivered with the page-turning pace of a thriller' (Independent on Sunday )

Customer Reviews

At last - a good read
At last. After months of searching for a good book to read to follow Atonement and Kite Runner, etc, I was given After You'd Gone and could not put it down. I think it is a beautifully written love story. O'Farrell's writing is so clear that I felt I knew the characters personally and so was deeply moved by the events as they unfolded. I don't want to give away the story - suffice to say that I recommend this book 100%.

Beautiful; a gifted writer
I picked up After You'd Gone, having loved several others by this author, and after a difficult start I'm so glad I persevered.

I trouble initially getting into this book, but the relationship between John & Alice was just wonderful, and kept me turning the pages. Ms O'Farrell's powers of description are unparalleled; her narration of the lovers interaction was just wonderful, and Alice's later grief was rendered with such perfection I cried my way through the latter part of the book.

A mesmerising novel; after a few chapters the change in perspective is easy to get used to, I advise reading this book in as few sittings as possible, as picking it up and putting it down does lead to some confusion - I read this novel mostly at bus stops, so I speak from experience!

Not her greatest novel (The Distance Between Us is superior) but a great novel nonetheless.

Disappointed
I read this as a suggestion for our book group. I'd not heard of the author before but was assured by my friends who had already read it, that it was a tear jerker and a brilliant first novel. However, I have to say I was very disappointed. I think the style of chopping and changing was confusing, the story line was weak and the characters underdeveloped although the love the main characters, John & Alice have for each other was obvious from the about of carnal lust displayed! I wouldn't say the book was rubbish however, there are obviously a great many positive reviews out there, it just didn't do it for me.