Afterwards

Grace Covey narrates Afterwards to her husband as she’s explaining what happened after the fire that put both herself and their daughter Jenny into the hospital, in comas and not responsive. Grace was at her newly 8 year old’s school for sports day, and Jenny was helping out as the school nurse when a fire struck the old Sidley House that housed the school.

Fortunately, the vast majority of people were outside the school already when it happened, with only a preschool class inside that was easily evacuated. Except Adam, their son, had gone to the school to get his cake to bring out to sports day and wasn’t back yet. Grace rushes over and sees him safe outside but doesn’t see Jenny and rushes in to save her. Grace manages to find her near the second floor but collapses before she can pull her out, and both are in the hospital in comas.

And both are having out of body experiences where they can see and talk to each other and watch all the action happening at the hospital but communicate with no one else.

The fire is quickly deemed a suspicious one, and detectives are brought in to help determine the cause of the blaze and who set it. Grace’s sister-in-law Sarah McBride, someone she has never liked and never felt she was equal to, would normally have been part of the detective team but has been temporarily relieved because of the tragedy that has hit her family. That doesn’t stop Sarah as she doggedly – and sometimes illegally – pursues any lead she can to find out who did this to her sister-in-law and niece.

Jenny’s heart is weakening and she needs a transplant within days to survive and Jenny’s tests are showing no cognitive function. With her husband having to deal not only with this but his son Adam being accused of the one setting the blaze, there is tragedy on all sides. He refuses to believe that his son did it but never actually tells Adam he believes he is innocent, something that breaks Grace’s heart. Instead, he focuses all his effort on everything he can do – and convince the doctors to do – to get his wife and daughter healthy again.

Meanwhile, the mystery into who did set the deliberate blaze deepens with too many people having motives for wanting to harm the school or people associated with it, and the murk deepens. It makes this a gripping tale, though somewhat confusing as it is constantly narrated in second person to Grace’s husband and this isn’t always easy to remember. There are constant surprises, and Sarah McBride turns out to be one of my favorite characters with her tenacity and loyalty and yes, secrets of her own.

It is only through observing life and being unable to interact with it that Grace’s eyes are opened to all that she has missed over the years, regrets flooding her as she realizes what she hasn’t taken advantage of, bittersweet along with the acknowledgement that Sarah isn’t the cold person Grace always thought she was.

I also invite you to check out my blog post inspired by Afterwards.

Michelle would love to be a fly on the wall observing everyone in her life one day, but not in this way. See what insights she’s had around her life on her blog Honest & Truly!. You can also follow her on Twitter where she is also @HonestAndTruly.