Review: After Before by Jemma Wayne

That was the day that Mama made the rules: If they come, run. Be quiet and run. But not together. Never together. If one is found, at least the other survives….
During a cold, British winter, three women reach crisis point. Emily, an immigrant survivor of the Rwandan genocide is existing but not living. Vera, a newly Christian Londoner is striving to live a moral life, her happiness constantly undermined by secrets from her past. Lynn, battling with an untimely disease, is consumed by bitterness and resentment of what she hasn’t achieved and what has been snatched from her.
Each suffering their own demons, their lives have been torn open by betrayal: by other people, by themselves, by life itself. But as their paths interweave, they begin to unravel their beleaguered pasts, and inadvertently change each other’s futures.

After Before follows the lives (before and after) of three women, all living in London. The overall idea of the story was very interesting. I like stories where characters who are apparently strangers are then brought together and become connected and where history is gradually revealed. In my opinion, flashbacks are used well and don’t stall the story in any way.

To me, this is a story of forgiveness and acceptance.

The plot elements concerning each of the three women are all interesting and compelling (and in parts outright heart-breaking.) I didn’t find myself favouring any story over another and I didn’t find that I was battling through one character’s story in order to get back to another.

Emily is alone in the city having escaped the Rwandan genocide. Deciding to make something more of herself, she decides to train to be a carer as she tries to escape the memories of her past. Emily is lost and vulnerable and from the beginning you sense that there is a huge part of her she is holding back. The book starts with Emily’s story and it immediately pulled me into the story. I was intrigued as to how she would develop as a character.

Emily, after quitting her job as a cleaner, ends up working for Lynn; an older lady who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and who is questioning her life choices and the job she did in raising her two sons, John and Luke. Lynn is very bitter and once I began to read more into her background, I started to understand why. Most of the characters are flawed in some way. It was one of the main things I liked about this book in general. On the surface, reading about these women in the present, it’s only when you discover more about their past that you can fully understand them and the more you read, the more rounded and real they become.

We finally have Vera who is a born again Christian hiding a very disruptive secret from her past. She’s an ex party girl who is now trying to get her life back on track but is finding it difficult when a decision from her past is ever-present, especially as her fiancé knows nothing about it. I did find myself very drawn to Vera’s story (I did outwardly gasp when her secret is revealed,) and throughout the book, I was constantly wondering how she was going to pull herself out of the burden of her past decisions and whether the people around her were going to be forgiving.

I am not a very religious person and therefore, the religious aspects of the book were the only thing I actually struggled with.

Overall though, the book is beautifully written with some wonderful descriptive prose. It’s emotional, intense and very character driven. It’s one book that will definitely stick with me I think. A great debut novel from Jemma.

After Before is published by Legend Press, June 2014. It’s available to buy in Paperback and e-book. Buy it now from Amazon.

by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.