After Life [9780063346147]

Overview

A Good Morning America Book Club YA Pick

"Gayle Forman has an uncanny ability to create characters in which we see ourselves, and her latest—which looks at where love goes, after a loss—is an honest, heartbreaking elegy to how memory makes relationships eternal." —Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author

"I was consumed by this thought-provoking, deftly written, multilayered novel. Gayle Forman reigns as the queen of breaking hearts with a touch of magic." —Adam Silvera, #1 New York Times bestselling author of They Both Die at the End

One spring afternoon after school, Amber arrives home on her bike. It’s just another perfectly normal day. But when Amber’s mom sees her, she screams.

Because Amber died seven years ago, hit by a car while on the very same bicycle she’s inexplicably riding now. 

This return doesn’t only impact Amber. Her sister, Melissa, now seven years older, must be a new kind of sibling to Amber. Amber’s estranged parents are battling over her. And the changes ripple farther and farther out: Amber’s friends, boyfriend, and even people she met only once have been deeply affected by her life and death. In the midst of everyone’s turmoil, Amber is struggling with herself. What kind of person was she? How and why was she given this second chance?

This magnificent tour de force by acclaimed author Gayle Forman brilliantly explores the porous veil between life and death, examines the impact that one person can have on the world, and celebrates life in all its beautiful complexity.

What does it mean to get a second chance when your first life broke everyone you loved?

• YA Magical Realism: Amber died seven years ago. When she rides her bicycle home one afternoon as if nothing happened, her return is a miracle that might be a curse.
• Multiple Points of View: Unravel the mystery of Amber’s life, death, and impossible return through the eyes of her sister, her estranged parents, her former boyfriend, and the many others her life touched.
• A Fractured Family: Amber’s death tore her parents apart. Now that she’s back, they must confront years of pain and secrets to decide what family means now.
• Grief and Second Chances: A thought-provoking exploration of loss and what comes after. Amber has to figure out why she’s back, but everyone she left behind has to decide if they can survive being broken all over again.