After You

After You by Julie Buxbaum
Adult New Book Display-Main Level – BUXBAUM

The unthinkable happened; Lucy Stafford was murdered walking her eight year old daughter to school. Lucy and Sophie were walking along the tree lined streets of Knotting Hill in the morning on the way to school when a man came out of nowhere and brutally stabbed Lucy. Ellie Lerner and Lucy have been best friends since they were 4 years old. When Ellie heard what happened she dropped everything in Boston and took off for London to be with her goddaughter, Sophie and Lucy’s husband, Greg.

In the short time after the accident Sophie had stopped talking all together and Greg started working more and drinking, completely forgetting that he has a daughter at home who needed him. Ellie was there to try and pick up the pieces of their shattered life. Ellie is desperate to help Sophie in any way she can. Together Ellie and Sophie started reading The Secret Garden. As time went on and the two found comfort in the book things gradually got better for Sophie and worse for Ellie. As Ellie tried to pick up the pieces that Lucy left behind she learned terrible secrets about her. The longer Ellie stayed in London the more her marriage and life in Boston started falling apart to the point where it might be unfixable. Ellie learns that she needs to face the problems in her marriage as well as the betrayal that Lucy caused her husband and daughter. Through this heart wrenching journey Ellie learns a lot about herself and Lucy and has finally come to terms with what she wants.