Publication Date: March 2018 from Trapeze
Source: Review Copy
“I saw you, and I knew instantly that I could grow old with you. We’d be future-proof.”
When Rachel and Aidan fell in love, they thought it was forever.
She was a brilliant, high-flying scientist. He was her loving and supportive husband.
Now she’s gone, and Aidan must carry on and raise their daughter alone.
But Rachel has left behind her life’s work, a gift of love to see them through the dark days after her death.
A gift called iRachel.
The After Wife is an emotional story about love, loss, longing and belonging. For readers who loved The Time Traveller’s Wife, Me Before You and The Lovely Bones.
A little while ago now I sat down with an early early copy of The After Wife and I read it first page to last in one huge emotional gulp of a sitting, enthralled throughout, beautiful beautiful writing and one of those stories you devour.
Not my usual kind of thing this – it deals with love. Uurgh. I’m not terribly sentimental – but Cass Hunter has written a barnstormer of a story that is utterly gripping, sad yet uplifting, dealing with love and with loss and with the way we cling to things – and she does it using an unusual and thought provoking premise. A little bit of a genre bender that allows the themes explored to hit you right in the heart. RIGHT IN THE HEART DAMMIT.
Rachel dies but in some ways she is not gone – as her Husband and Daughter attempt to deal with this terrible loss, they also have to deal with the echoes left behind – the relationships Cass Hunter draws between them and how they deal with their new reality is really beautifully done, a multi-layered story that speaks not only to how we cope with loss but how we define being human. It is fascinating, compelling and utterly addictive.
Fair warning, there are a couple of heart wrenching scenes in the finale that had even cynical little old me sobbing into my pillow and unable to speak – but in style and substance The After Wife is a life affirming, ultimately uplifting, poignant and genuinely touching story of life, love and all the things in between.
I loved it. Consider me converted.
Highly Recommended.
Happy Reading!
