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Here After is a poetic, raw depiction of an unlikely love followed by a dizzying loss. A stunning, taut memoir from debut Canadian author Amy Lin that will resonate deeply with anyone who has been in grief's grasp.
"When he dies, I fall out of time."
Amy Lin never expected to find a love like the one she shares with her husband, Kurtis, a gifted young architect who pulls her toward joy, adventure, and greater self-acceptance. On a sweltering August morning, only a few months shy of the newlyweds' move to Vancouver, thirty-two-year-old Kurtis heads out to run a half-marathon with Amy's family. It's the last time she sees her husband alive.
What follows is a rich and unflinchingly honest portrayal of her life with Kurtis, the vortex created by his death, and the ongoing struggle Amy faces as she attempts to understand her own experience in the context of commonly held "truths" about what the grieving process looks like.
Here After is an intimate story of deep love followed by dizzying loss; a memoir so finely etched that its power will remain with you long after the final page.
"As the author navigates the wake of her inexplicable loss, readers will be both humbled by and grateful for the way she brings us into her world. A beautifully visceral and emotionally intimate depiction of young widowhood."
―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Told in short, poetic vignettes that stun in their depth, love, and pain. It's heartbreaking, beautiful, and above all, honest with ... a small light of hope. Highly recommended."
―Booklist (starred review)
"This book is a little wonder―a clear, utterly courageous act of love."
―ELLE
"It has been years since I have been so rocked, so moved, by any book, as I have been by Here After by the earthquaking new talent Amy Lin. Lin invites us into this place of exquisite pain and beauty; what a great gift she has given us." —Lauren Groff, author of Fates and Furies
"Amy Lin's debut memoir is a testament to everything beautiful and heartbreaking and necessary in this world. With sheer precision and unflinching candor, she shares the depths of love and loss, hope and healing. Not since Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking has a book cracked open my heart the way Here After has." ―Debbie Millman, author of Why Design Matters and host of Design Matters
This information about Here After was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Amy Lin is a writer and educator who lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. A recipient of residencies from Yaddo and Casa Comala, her work has been published in Ploughshares. Here After is her debut memoir.
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