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After You'd Gone
 
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After You'd Gone (Paperback)

by Maggie O'Farrell (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (122 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
Price: £4.65 & eligible for Free UK delivery on orders over £5 with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell

After You'd Gone + The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox
Price For Both: £9.64

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Product details

  • Paperback: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Headline Review; New Ed edition (11 Aug 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0747268169
  • ISBN-13: 978-0747268161
  • Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 2.7 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (122 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 5,575 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #2 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > O > O'Farrell, Maggie

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Product Description

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'

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

After You'd Gone
81% buy the item featured on this page:
After You'd Gone 4.6 out of 5 stars (122)
£4.65
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox
8% buy
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox 4.2 out of 5 stars (80)
£4.99
The Distance Between Us
4% buy
The Distance Between Us 3.9 out of 5 stars (30)
£5.99
The Other Side of You
4% buy
The Other Side of You 4.7 out of 5 stars (28)
£5.99
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Customer Reviews

122 Reviews
5 star:
 (94)
4 star:
 (17)
3 star:
 (6)
2 star:
 (3)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (122 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars HEART-WRENCHING!, 7 Jan 2002
By T. M. Nunley (Surrey, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
It sounds melodramatic, but this book took my heart and squeezed every drop of emotion out of it.

Having read some of the other reviews here,it seems other people have also been profoundly effected by this book - so that makes me feel slightly less embarrassed! Although one shouldn't be ashamed to be moved by such a beautifully written work of fiction anyway.

Since finishing it two days ago I've walked around physically exhausted, with a weight in my guts, as if the events described here happened to me personally.

Without giving too much away...O'Farrell has created some central characters that the reader really can fall in love his(or her)self, making the eventual outcome all the more affecting.

The small details of intimacy - such as Alice standing behind John and pulling 'shaving' faces at him in the mirror - all add up to deliver a real emotional blow as events unfold.

Although the jump in narrative from 3rd to 1st person is unexpected at first, it never 'jars' and the flow continues smoothly. A multiple perspective enhances the story, rather than distracting from it.

I think everyone will be able to relate to this poignant tale, whether they have experienced the many issues raised or not.

One word of advice: don't read this book in public - unless you don't mind complete strangers coming up and offering you wads of Kleenex!

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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Easy to review, 10 Aug 2006
By Ms. L. J. BEARD (Sussex, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
To use a cliché, this was a real rollercoaster of a read. I cried and laughed in equal measures -- a novel that I had misjudged as light chick-lit turned out to be one of the best reads of my year.
The other O'Farrell books left me a little disappointed, especially "My Lover's Lover", but this novel is set above the others by its clever use of cross-cutting and changes in narration. The reader is drawn into the story by the use of second person; placing us into the role of Alice and showing us the world through her eyes, before switching to a colder third person to narrate her situation in a more abstract way.
The ending is memorable, if a little predictable, but - much like Atkinson's "Case Histories" - the numerous plotlines come together successfully to solve Alice's mystery at an emotional climax.
One of the very few books that I have finished and immediately reopened at the very first page.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Proper Novel, 12 Jun 2001
By A Customer
I was becoming quite disillusioned with modern fiction - it had been over a year since I'd read what I would consider to be a 'proper' book - ie; an affecting, moving, gripping book, well-written but not over-written, poetic yet accessible and, most importantly, a page-turner. And then a friend recommended After You'd Gone and I found it. What an incredible book. It reflected back at me all the sad little thoughts and paranoid fears I have about the possibility of losing my partner and I can only imagine that Maggie O'Farrell was inspired to write this book by the strength of her feelings for her own partner. I really indentified with O'Farrell's vision of love and was deeply moved by it.

If you enjoyed this book, I would thoroughly recommend an equally well-written and touching book - Shouting at the Ship Men by Tim Geary.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant novel, the best i've read in a long time
This book is absolutly gut wrenchingly perfect. Its description of love and family ties is spot on and speaking as someone who has been in a coma, its exactly as Maggie O'farrell... Read more
Published 29 days ago by Ms. L. Walters

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read
I loved this book. I wanted to read it after readingThe Vanishing Act of Esme Lennoxand enjoying it so much and this was every bit as good. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Kat

4.0 out of 5 stars After You'd Gone - novel
Arrived in good time. In reasonable condition.
However, having received it, I realised I have already read it!!!!
Published 3 months ago by Amazon Adventurer

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartbreakingly good
I have just finished reading this and I feel quite robbed about the ending. I have been in floods of tears = literally I had to change my top it was so wet with tears from the... Read more
Published 7 months ago by D. E. L. Parslow

1.0 out of 5 stars Hated this book
I loved The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox and couldnt wait to get my hands on another Maggie O'Farrell book and with so many rave reviews I opted for this one, well was it a... Read more
Published 7 months ago by L. J. Hikmet

5.0 out of 5 stars Breathtaking and Devastating! Read it! Read it!
I've just finished reading this book and I am so glad I picked it up and bought it and didn't just put it back on the shelf! Read more
Published 9 months ago by Michelle

4.0 out of 5 stars Poetic, Haunting and Captivating
I've had this book on my bookshelf for well over a year and always put off reading it thinking that it wasn't my sort of thing and I can't believe how wrong I was and that I had... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Miss Jessica

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, excellent, excellent!!!!!
Heart wrenching, powerful and gripping are just some of the words that I would use to describe this book. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Aphrodite

3.0 out of 5 stars Good
I read this after reading and loving The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox and have been left with mixed feelings about it. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Ms. Nadine L. Doyle

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic
Heartwrenching, I felt I really knew the main character and completely empathised with her. Disappointed when I finished reading it - what am I going to do with my time now and... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Mrs. L. J. McKain

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