Blog: Announcing Tinder Press!

Both a Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller and a Richard and Judy Book Club pick, WHEN GOD WAS A RABBIT has been praised as one of the most striking and original?novels of the year.1968. The year Paris takes to the streets. The year Martin Luther King loses his life for a dream. The year Eleanor Maud Portman is born.

Young Elly's world is shaped by those who inhabit it: her loving but maddeningly distractible parents; a best friend who smells of chips and knows exotic words like 'slag'; an ageing fop who tapdances his way into her home, a Shirley Bassey impersonator who trails close behind; lastly, of course, a rabbit called God. In a childhood peppered with moments both ordinary and extraordinary, Elly's one constant is her brother Joe.

Twenty years on, Elly and Joe are fully grown and as close as they ever were. Until, that is, one bright morning when a single, earth-shattering event threatens to destroy their bond forever.

Spanning four decades and moving between suburban Essex, the wild coast of Cornwall and the streets of New York, this is a story about childhood, eccentricity, the darker side of love and sex, the pull and power of family ties, loss and life. More than anything, it's a story about love in all its forms.
'Gloriously offbeat... Winman's narrative voice is beautifully true, with a child's unsentimental clarity. A superb debut''Beguiling... you can't quite get the voice out of your head''Captivating... rendered with an appealing frankness, precision and emotional acuity''Thronging with incident, wonder and outr? language... sharply funny, whimsical and innovative'Sarah Winman grew up in Essex. She attended the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and went on to act in theatre, film and television. WHEN GOD WAS A RABBIT is her first novel. She lives in London.Sarah's writing has echoes of Kate Atkinson, Barbara Trapido and Patrick Gale, but she has a gloriously unique voice of her ownBooks like this don't come along very often and we will be publishing it at the very highest level. We will build a cohensive word-of-mouth campaign, starting with the distribution of thousands of proofs across the trade and mediaSarah is tremendously promotable and through her acting and screenwriting background has great contacts in TV and filmForeign rights already sold in America, Holland, france, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Israel, China, Spain'Absolutely brilliant. Loved it so much. Up there with One Day and Skippy Dies in my 2010 faves.' (Graeme Neill, The Bookseller); 'Bloody excellent book - the sort of thing Brit writers don't do very often - not so well, anyway. Kind of like a Brit John Irving.' (David Barnett, Guardian); 'This is a stunning book, absolutely beautiful. There are very few books which come along and make you feel changed from the person who first started to read, but this is definitely one of them.' (Matthew Watterson, Asda); 'I am truly loving it, this is definitely one of those books I will be insisting everyone reads. It is so beautifully written...can't wait to get home to finish it.' (Helen Brennan, Amazon); 'A fantastic novel; sensitive and heartbreaking it shows a tender portrayal of familial love and friendship but also contains an optimism I found genuinely warming. A riveting read.' (Nicola Budd, Daunts Bookshop)WHEN GOD WAS A RABBIT is the complete package: both hilarious in parts and devastatingly moving in others, this book will make you laugh and cry. It has everything you could want from this kind of fiction

A magical novel with a distinctly grown-up sensibility, THE SNOW CHILD will appeal to fans of imaginative reading group fiction, such as THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE, THE LOVELY BONES and THE BOOK THIEF

A bewitching tale of heartbreak and hope set in 1920s Alaska.

Jack and Mabel have staked everything on making a fresh start for themselves in a homestead 'at the world's edge' in the raw Alaskan wilderness. But as the days grow shorter, Jack is losing his battle to clear the land, and Mabel can no longer contain her grief for the baby she lost many years before.

The evening the first snow falls, their mood unaccountably changes. In a moment of tenderness, the pair are surprised to find themselves building a snowman - or rather a snow girl - together. The next morning, all trace of her has disappeared, and Jack can't quite shake the notion that he glimpsed a small figure - a child? - running through the spruce trees in the dawn light. And how to explain the little but very human tracks Mabel finds at the edge of their property?

Written with the clarity and vividness of the Russian fairytale from which it takes its inspiration, The Snow Child is an instant classic - the story of a couple who take a child into their hearts, all the while knowing they can never truly call her their own.

'This book is real magic, shot through from cover to cover with the cold, wild beauty of the Alaskan frontier.  Eowyn Ivey writes with all the captivating delicacy of the snowfalls she so beautifully describes' 

'If Willa Cather and Gabriel Garcia Marquez had collaborated on a book, THE SNOW CHILD would be it'

'An enchanting tale of isolation, hope and love'

'a magical, heartbreaking story... gorgeous'

'A mystical tale of heartbreak and hope'

'an original and magical debut'

'a stunning debut novel'

'It's beautifully written, imaginative and the story expresses real human emotions of love and loss... I think this could be one to win lots of prizes this year'

"Ivey grew up in Alaska, and still lives there with her family, and it's the harsh beauty of the landscape that gives this stunning first novel its unique shape and atmosphere"

"what sets Ivey's brand of magicial realism apart if her ability to convey, in prose as crystalline as a snowflake, the wildness of the frozen land and the privations suffered by settlers trying to make their lives there.  Her Alaskan landscape is a place of such extreme beauty and cruelty that the fairy tale its heart is only one of the spells it casts."

"it is the magic and not the realism that will sell a million copies of this book... calls to mind another debut The Time Traveller's Wife, whose readership this book aims (rightly and deservedly) to captivate"

"Taking its genesis from an old Russian fairy tale, the author fleshes out her story of emotional and geographical desolation and of enduring suffering and loss, with a terrific combination of toughness and delicacy."

"It is an exceptional book that deserves to melt millions of hearts"

"enchanting tale of love, hope and survival in the frozen North"

Named after a character from J.R.R. Tolkien`s The Lord of the Rings, Eowyn Ivey currently works at an independent bookstore in Palmer, Alaska. Before that, she was a reporter and editor for the Frontiersman newspaper and won a number of awards, including Best Non-Daily Columnist from the Alaska Press Club. Several of her short stories have been published in the anthology, Cold Flashes, and the literary journal, Cirque. Eowyn lives in Alaska with her husband and two daughters. The Snow Child is her debut novel

Brilliantly evoking the beauty and extreme harshness of the  Alaskan landscape, THE SNOW CHILD will appeal to readers passionate about the natural world: fans of THE TENDERNESS OF WOLVES, but also WILDWOOD

A novel which explores both a childless couple's longing for a child and their experience of learning to love, and also to let go of, the little girl who comes unexpectedly into their lives, this is an unusually insightful and deeply moving exploration of what it means to be a parent

A beautifully designed bespoke package.  THE SNOW CHILD takes as its inspiration a classic Russian fairytale, and the hardback package will reflect this timelessness and sense of wonder.  This will be a book to cherish and to give

An unforgettable novel of love and motherhood from bestselling author Maggie O'FarrellWinner of the 2010 Costa Novel Award, THE HAND THAT FIRST HELD MINE is a gorgeously written story of love and motherhood, a tour de force from one of our best loved novelists

When the sophisticated Innes Kent turns up on her doorstep, Lexie Sinclair realises she cannot wait any longer for her life to begin, and leaves for London. There, at the heart of the 1950s Soho art scene, she carves out a new life. In the present day, Elina and Ted are reeling from the difficult birth of their first child. Elina struggles to reconcile the demands of motherhood with sense of herself as an artist, and Ted is disturbed by memories of his own childhood that don't tally with his parents' version of events. As Ted begins to search for answers, an extraordinary portrait of two women is revealed, separated by fifty years, but connected in ways that neither could ever have expected.
'O'Farrell has a remarkable ability to convey the texture of human emotion with precision''Like Daphne du Maurier...O'Farrell writes books designed to...bring our most primal fears to the surface''O'Farrell is a skilful, impassioned writer...engaging and fluent''Genuinely unputdownable...evidence of her place as one of Britain's most engaging contemporary novelists'Maggie O`Farrell is the author of five novels, AFTER YOU`D GONE, MY LOVER`S LOVER, THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US, which won a Somerset Maugham Award, THE VANISHING ACT OF ESME LENNOX, and THE HAND THAT FIRST HELD MINE, which won the 2010 Costa Novel Award. She lives in Edinburgh.Maggie O'Farrell is consistently a Sunday Times Top Ten bestselling author in hardback. THE VANISHING ACT OF ESME LENNOX sold over 200,000 copies through BookscanMaggie is the author who invented the 'word-of-mouth' bestseller with AFTER YOU'D GONE (over 250,000 copies sold, through Bookscan). Her most emotionally satisfying novel to date, THE HAND THAT FIRST HELD MINE is set to repeat that successThis is the first time Maggie has tackled the subject of motherhood so directly. THTFHM is the brilliant retort to insipid 'mum lit' that readers have been clamouring forForeign rights have so far been sold to France, Holland, Germany, Norway, Serbia and Turkey

Praise for Andrea Levy: 'There is great skill in the way she presents characters and dialogue; she has powers of observation and an ear for language that make her books a pleasure to read' Times Literary SupplementFrom the critically acclaimed Andrea Levy, Orange Prize winning author of SMALL ISLAND, comes this breathtaking, hauntingly beautiful, heartbreaking and unputdownable novel, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and longlisted for the Orange Prize.

You do not know me yet. My son Thomas, who is publishing this book, tells me, it is customary at this place in a novel to give the reader a little taste of the story that is held within these pages. As your storyteller, I am to convey that this tale is set in Jamaica during the last turbulent years of slavery and the early years of freedom that followed.

July is a slave girl who lives upon a sugar plantation named Amity and it is her life that is the subject of this tale. She was there when the Baptist War raged in 1831, and she was present when slavery was declared no more. My son says I must convey how the story tells also of July's mama Kitty, of the negroes that worked the plantation land, of Caroline Mortimer the white woman who owned the plantation and many more persons besides - far too many for me to list here. But what befalls them all is carefully chronicled upon these pages for you to peruse.

Perhaps, my son suggests, I might write that it is a thrilling journey through that time in the company of people who lived it. All this he wishes me to pen so the reader can decide if this is a novel they might care to consider. Cha, I tell my son, what fuss-fuss. Come, let them just read it for themselves.

'THE LONG SONG is is told with irresistible cunning; it is captivating, mischievious and optimistic, generating new stories and plot lines throughout the tale'

'Bittersweet and mischievous, Levy's keenly awaited new novel is worth the wait for all fans of her SMALL ISLAND'

'Slavery is a grim subject indeed, but the wonder of Levy's writing is that she can confront such things and somehow derive deeply life-affirming entertainment from them... Levy's aim, she says, was to write a book that instilled pride in anyone with slave ancestors and THE LONG SONG, though "its load may prove to be unsettling", is surely that book'

'This is a terrific book: beautifully written and imagined, and full of surprises'

'As well as being beautifully written THE LONG SONG is a thoroughly researched historical novel that is both powerful and heartbreaking'

'Thoroughly captivating'

'A novel such as SMALL ISLAND is a hard act to follow, but in her new book Levy has moved into top gear... She dares to write about her subject in an entertaining way without ever trivialising it and THE LONG SONG reads with the sort of ebullient effortlessness that can only be won by hard work'

Beautifully written, intricately plotted, humorous and earthy... Those who enjoyed SMALL ISLAND will love THE LONG SONG, not just for the insights on the "wretched island", but as a marvel of luminous storytelling'

'Levy brings her distinctive lightness of touch to what is otherwise unrelentingly bleak subject matter... This is a beautifully written and cleverly constructed novel that projects convincing personal relationships on to the feral backdrop of the Jamaican plantations'

'Levy has a rare ability to channel the maelstrom of history into the most intimate of human dramas'

'[Levy] has painted a vivid and persuasive portrait of Jamaican slave society, a society that succeeded with bravery, style and strategic patience both to outsmart its oppressors and to plant the seeds of what is today a culture celebrated worldwide'

'A tumultuous tale, superbly evoked'

'Levy has slipped through the cracks of history and beautifully animated a subject about which, on a human level, we know depressingly little'

'A vivid, sometimes brutal and incredibly absorbing story'

Andrea Levy was born in England to Jamaican parents who came to Britain in 1948. She has lived all her life in London.  After attending writing workshops when she was in her mid-thirties, Levy began to write the novels that she, as a young woman, had always wanted to read - entertaining novels that reflect the experiences of black Britons, which look closely and perceptively at Britain and its changing population and at the intimacies that bind British history with that of the Caribbean.

Her second novel, NEVER FAR FROM NOWHERE, was long listed for the Orange Prize, and her last novel, SMALL ISLAND, won the Orange Prize for Fiction, the Orange Prize for Fiction: Best of the Best, the Whitbread Novel Award, the Whitbread Book of the Year Award and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize

SMALL ISLAND has now been adapted into a major BBC TV drama

Andrea Levy has been a judge for the Orange Prize for Fiction, Orange Futures and the Saga Prize, and has been a recipient of an Arts Council Award

Praise for Andrea Levy's SMALL ISLAND: 'What makes Levy's writing so appealing is her even-handedness.  All her characters can be weak, hopeless, brave, good, bad - whatever their colour.  The writing is rigorous and the bittersweet ending, with its unexpected twist, touching...  People can retain their dignity, however small their island' Independent on Sunday

In this delicately wrought and profoundly moving, multi-award winning novel, Andrea Levy handles the weighty themes of empire, prejudice, war and love, with a lightness of touch and a generosity of spirit that challenges and uplifts the reader.Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction, as well as many other awards, Andrea Levy's SMALL ISLAND is a delicately wrought and profoundly moving novel of empire, prejudice, war and love. It has now been adapted into a major BBC TV drama.

It is 1948, and England is recovering from a war. But at 21 Nevern Street, London, the conflict has only just begun. Queenie Bligh's neighbours do not approve when she agrees to take in Jamaican lodgers, but Queenie doesn't know when her husband will return, or if he will come back at all. What else can she do? Gilbert Joseph was one of the several thousand Jamaican men who joined the RAF to fight against Hitler. Returning to England as a civilian he finds himself treated very differently. It's desperation that makes him remember a wartime friendship with Queenie and knock at her door. Gilbert's wife Hortense, too, had longed to leave Jamaica and start a better life in England. But when she joins him she is shocked to find London shabby, decrepit, and far from the golden city of her dreams. Even Gilbert is not the man she thought he was...'A brilliantly deft and humane account of two ordinary couples in post-war London' Evening Standard, 3 February 2004Every scene is rich in implication, entrancing and disturbing at the same time; the literary equivalent of a switch-back ride'Small Island is never less than finely-written, delicately and often comically observed, and impressively rich in detail and little nuggets of stories' Evening Standard, 2 February 2004What makes Levy's writing so appealing is her even-handedness. All her characters can be weak, hopeless, brave, good, bad - whatever their colour. The writing is rigorous and the bittersweet ending, with its unexpected twist, touching... People can retain great dignity, however small their island'Small Island is as full of warmth and jokes and humanity as you could wish...Such a rich saga, stuffed full of interlocking narratives' Time Out, 2 February 2004'A cracking good read''A great read...honest, skilful, thoughtful and important''An involving saga about the changing face of Britain' Mirror, 6 February 2004'It's an engrossing read - slyly funny, passionately angry and wholly involving' Daily Mail, 6 February 2004'Explores the Caribbean experience of immigration to Britain with great sensitivity''Wonderful...seamless...a magnificent achievement''I know it is a fiction, but I emerged from the book full of admiration for the patience and resilience of that generation...Levy has written one of those rare fictions that tells you things you didn't know but feel you should have known...the writing is deft and striking, without being pretentious' Sunday Herald, 8/2/04'With this funny, tender, intelligent fourth novel Andrea Levy looks set to become as commercially popular as she is critically acclaimed' Sainsbury's magazine, February 2004'Never less than finely written, delicately and often comically observed, and impressively rich in detail and little nuggets of stories''An engrossing read - slyly funny, passionately angry and wholly involving''An impressive break-through novel' Publishing News, 23/1/04'It is a work of great imaginative power which ranks alongside Sam Selvon's THE LONELY LONDONERS, George Lamming's THE EMIGRANTS and Caryl Phillips' THE FINAL PASSAGE in dealing with the experience of migration' Linton Kwesi Johnson'A work of great imaginative power''As full of warmth and jokes and humanity as you could wish''What makes Levy's writing so appealing is her even-handedness. All her characters can be weak, hopeless, brave, good, bad - whatever their colour. The writing is rigorous and the bittersweet ending, with its unexpected twist, touching... People can retain great dignity, however small their island' Independent on Sunday, 25/1/04'A bevy of luminaries have garlanded Andrea Levy's fourth novel with advance praise - and it's no surprise. Using elements of her own family background, Levy has vividly animated London in the immediate aftermath of World War II... She weaves a wonderfully detailed and vibrant story' Red magazine, February 2004 issue'Gives us a new urgent take on our past''A terrific book' Alan Plater'Wonderful...seamless...a magnificent achievement' Linda Grant'A cracking good read...I think what appealed to me most was the passion and anger in the writing all the way through, yet it was always leavened with a particularly wry sort of humour - the sort that, tho' you find yourself smiling, you at the same time realise you almost shouldn't be' Margaret Forster'I enjoyed SMALL ISLAND enormously and wish it every success. It conjures up so vividly the era of the 1940's and expresses so vividly through the lives of its four protagonists the conflicts and racist attitudes that existed at that time. A wonderful insight into a little understood period' Joan Bakewell'A worthy winner of the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction...Levy does not set out to preach, and her light touch, wry humour and down-to-earth, almost gossipy tone make this novel as readable as it is challenging' The Sunday Times, 19/9/04'Small Island is a brilliant picture of the dented dreams of Jamaicans in post-war Britain' Financial Times, Dec 04'Soon you will be enchanted. It is good enough to compete against anything written this year' Jasper Gerard, News Review, Sunday Times 13/6/04'Small Island is an astonishing tour de force by Andrea Levy. Juggling four voices, she illuminates a little known aspect of recent British history with wit and wisdom. A compassionate account of the problems of post war immigration, it cannot fail to have a strong modern resonance' Sandi Toksvig, Orange Prize judge, 8/6/04'Levy offers her readers rich satisfaction from both story and character' The Times, 10/7/04'This won the Orange prize for its insight, compassion, wealth of historical details and its cracking plot' Independent on Sunday, 11/7/04'Levy's trinity of voices gently refutes the idea that the story of West Indian immigration has anything to do with (free) teeth or glasses' Guardian, 9/10/04'The small islands of Andrea Levy's title are not Britain, Jamaica or the outlying Caribbean islands - they are the blinkered mindsets of both the hopelessly optimistic West Indians and the reflexively racist Britons who have to learn to live together both during and after the war. But Levy's concern is not to browbeat but to educate and entertain. This deserving winner of the Orange Prize never loses its wit, energy or power' Observer, 30/10/04'A touching, eloquently written story...Andrea Levy expertly captures the turbulence of a time of momentous change' Sunday Telegraph, 17/10/04'It's more than a novel, it's a recreation of a largely unexplored episode of our history...the narrative voices seem so authentic that it is easy to become lost in their sometimes dark, sometimes joyous worlds' Daily Express, 15/10/04'Levy handles themes of empire, prejudice, war and love with a lightness of touch and an uplifting generosity of spirit' Age, Melbourne'Levy tactfully delves into her family history while tackling the heavy issues of prejudice, assimilation and love in the ordinary lives of Jamaican migrants' MX, Melbourne, 31/5/04'Levy's book brings freshness and humour as well as indignation and pity to its survey of social and racial prejudice half a century ago' The Sunday Times, 28/11/04'A spellbinding story... An enthralling tour de force that animates a chapter in the history of empire' Kirkus Reviews'Levy's must-read novel seems to gain stature with time' Sunday Express magazine, 12/6/05'What a deserved winner she is. It was a very good shortlist but in my opinion Small Island stood out at the longlist stage - for its writing, its wit and the impressively light touch she brought to the subject' Minette Walters, 15/6/04'Small Island operates on a larger canvas than Levy's previous novels. It's neither splashy nor experimental, but for thoughtfulness & wry humour cannot be faulted' Telegraph 21/2/04'Small Island is a great read, delivering the sort of pleasure which has been the traditional stock-in-trade of a long line of English novelists. It's honest, skilful, thoughtful and important. This is Andrea Levy's big book' Guardian 14/2/04'Andrea Levy gives us a new urgent take on our past' Vogue 13/2/04'[A] moving, funny, honest novel' Elle 13/2/04'Every scene is rich in implication, entrancing and disturbing at the same time; the literary equivalent of a switch-back ride' The Sunday Times, 29/2/04'Here is the book I have been waiting for... an ample, sprawling story of nearly 450 pages, mirroring an expansive inner and outer landscape, spanning two islands and three continents, and incorporating a hybrid cast of humanly idiosyncratic characters; and above all, a book in which the author, Andrea Levy, never once forgets she is telling a story, delighting us, improbably, in this nasty tale of race, with the effervescent style of Dickens' Globe & Mail, Toronto, 12/6/04'Very ambitious and beautifully written... in addition [it's] funny and fiercely satirical' Richard Eyre in the Guardian, 16/6/05'Small Island is a slyly humorous, rich feast of a book' Mail on Sunday, 17/10/04'A beautifully crafted, compassionate novel, well worth reading' Bulletin with Newsweek, 4/5/04'[Hortense] has guts and this portrait of her world is created with strong feeling that is subtly, and brilliantly, rendered' Sydney Morning Herald, 1/5/04'Funny, poignant and profoundly moving...Small Island deals with the weighty themes of empire, prejudice, love and war with such humour and compassion that Levy has been praised for her even-handedness by some, condemned for it by others' West Australian, 1/5/04'Levy's story is a triumph in perspective...a triumph of poise, organisation and deep, deep character - the sort of work that can only be achieved by an experienced novelist' Age, Melbourne 17/4/04'Everything about the plot, characters and clever end twist of SMALL ISLAND [is] beautifully drawn... This is an epic book that brings the patois of Jamaicans alive, fills the world of war-torn London with amazing detail and is a great history lesson about the era when England changed forever as migrants braved bitter racism to flood her shores' Herald Sun (Melbourne), 10/4/04Andrea Levy was born in England to Jamaican parents who came to Britain in 1948. After attending writing workshops when she was in her mid-thirties, Levy began to write the novels that she, as a young woman, had always wanted to read - entertaining novels that reflect the experiences of black Britons, which look at Britain and its changing population and at the intimacies that bind British history with that of the Caribbean.

She has written five novels, been a judge for the Orange Prize for Fiction, Orange Futures and the Saga Prize, and has been a recipient of an Arts Council Award. Her most recent novel, THE LONG SONG, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and her acclaimed novel SMALL ISLAND won the Orange Prize for Fiction, the Orange Prize for Fiction: Best of the Best, the Whitbread Novel Award, the Whitbread Book of the Year Award and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, was adapted into a major BBC TV drama.SMALL ISLAND has sold in twelve countries, including the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Macedonia, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain and the USAPraise for SMALL ISLAND:
'A terrific book' Alan Plater; 'Wonderful...seamless...a magnificent achievement' Linda Grant; 'A cracking good read...I think what appealed to me most was the passion and anger in the writing all the way through, yet it was always leavened with a particularly wry sort of humour - the sort that, tho' you find yourself smiling, you at the same time realise you almost shouldn't be' Margaret Forster; 'I enjoyed SMALL ISLAND enormously and wish it every success. It conjures up so vividly the era of the 1940's and expresses so vividly through the lives of its four protagonists the conflicts and racist attitudes that existed at that time. A wonderful insight into a little understood period' Joan Bakewell; 'It is a work of great imaginative power' Linton Kwesi JohnsonCharacterised by its humour, wit and passion, Andrea Levy's work is as accessible as it is ambitious.Praise for FRUIT OF THE LEMON: 'Always refreshing and undogmatic' Sunday Telegraph; 'A novel of return, and of identity regained... Funny and moving... [Levy is] an ironic comedian, whose subtle, intelligent novel steers well clear of whimsy' Guardian; 'She has powers of observation and an ear for language that make her books a pleasure to read' TLS; 'An astute observer of modern British life' Financial TimesSMALL ISLAND has been awarded the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction, the 2004 Whitbread Book of the Year Award and the 2005 Commonwealth Writers Prize as well as being shortlisted for the RNA Romantic Novel of the Year Award 2005 and two Nibbies

A stunning, best-selling story of wrenching love and grief

Maggie O'Farrell's groundbreaking debut: a stunning, best-selling story of wrenching love and grief.

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 that 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.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?A memorable debutMaggie O'Farrell keeps the reader guessing right up to the end in this engrossing psychological mystery... the characterisation is excellent and the dialogue immaculatean engrossing study of loss and family ties, delivered with the page-turning pace of a thrillerMaggie O`Farrell is the author of five novels, AFTER YOU`D GONE, MY LOVER`S LOVER, THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US, which won a Somerset Maugham Award, THE VANISHING ACT OF ESME LENNOX, and THE HAND THAT FIRST HELD MINE, which won the 2010 Costa Novel Award. She lives in Edinburgh.