After You'd Gone

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 * A memorable debut * Daily Telegraph * '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 An engrossing study of loss and family ties, delivered with the page-turning pace of a thriller * Independent on Sunday * 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 * Such an accomplished performance... A memorable debut * Shena MacKay, Telegraph * Grips the reader from its first, dramatic pages... Kept me up half the night, unable to put it down * Mail on Sunday * A writer of rare insight and intellect with a feel for language that renders her love story both tender and tragic * Financial Times * Dazzlingly good... When I finished it, I'm not embarrassed to say, I wept * Big Issue * 'Deeply moving... O'Farrell textures the plot brilliantly, wrapping the bare bones in a rich flesh' * Times Metro * '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 * '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 * '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 'A fine novelist' The Times 'A first novel with considerable psychological depth, excellent dialogue and always convincing. There is very real talent here... Definitely an author to watch' Publishing News '[An] assured and seductive tale of adult loss... In sensitive and almost blood-curdlingly honest detail, O'Farrell has constructed a love story dealing with the need to mine the past for clues to the present' Literary Review 'AFTER YOU'D GONE is incredibly affecting. Not because its story is unusual, but because O'Farrell really captures the power families hold. No matter how you try to cut the bonds, they always seem to choke you in the end. A devastating debut' The Face 'O'Farrell is blessed with a tender, solicitous intelligence... Honest, moving and wise beyond its author's years' Time Out 'Poetic and captivating' Woman's Journal 'Touching, funny' Evening Standard '... precise, evocative prose ... powerful themes of love, loss and grief... a vivid and readable debut novel, which has provoked considerable excitement in the publishing world. Expe

Maggie O'Farrell is the author of HAMNET, Winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction 2020, and the memoir I AM, I AM, I AM, both Sunday Times no. 1 bestsellers. Her novels include AFTER YOU'D GONE, MY LOVER'S LOVER, THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US, which won a Somerset Maugham Award, THE VANISHING ACT OF ESME LENNOX, THE HAND THAT FIRST HELD MINE, which won the 2010 Costa Novel Award, INSTRUCTIONS FOR A HEATWAVE, THIS MUST BE THE PLACE and THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT, which was shortlisted for the Women's Prize. She is also the author of three books for children, WHERE SNOW ANGELS GO, THE BOY WHO LOST HIS SPARK and WHEN THE STAMMER CAME TO STAY. She lives in Edinburgh.