‘We’re alive. So let’s start living.’
Two strangers
Jack was sporty and outgoing. Alice was bookish and introverted. Their lives were on completely different paths.
One life-changing tragedy
That is before the day they were in the wrong place at the wrong time: before the day their lives were torn apart in a bombing.
A hopeful new friendship
Struggling to cope with their new worlds, their unlikely new friendship helps them find hope. But can they help each other rebuild their lives and start again?
Powerful and compelling After the Rain is the brand-new novel from Natália Gomes, perfect for fans of The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon.
My Thoughts
⭐⭐⭐⭐
After The Rain follows the story of teenagers Jack and Alice. Alice is a quiet, intelligent girl who would much rather curl up at home with a good book on a Friday night than be out partying. Jack on the other hand is the opposite – he is a sporty guy who is always looking for his next opportunity to compete.
This unlikely pair are thrown together when a bombing in Leicester square leaves them both wounded. Both of them are injured in different ways – Jack is left with physical injuries, where as Alice is struggling on a mental level, but one thing that they both have in common is their journey to recovery following the most traumatic of events.
This book was overflowing with emotion from the moment It began. Tackling some rather difficult subjects including PTSD alongside Anxiety and Depression, which understandably both Jack and Alice are having to deal with following that traumatic day that changed their lives in ways they couldn’t begin to imagine possible.
On top of all of this, both of them are struggling with a real sense of survivors guilt, as despite how difficult they are finding things at times they didn’t lose their lives as so many others did. What follows is their journey to recovery, and the many people that play a pivotal role in helping them heal on various levels.
The story is told from the perspectives of both Alice and Jack who each tell the story from their own experiences, and we get a much deeper insight as to how it has all impacted upon their lives as individuals. This provides us with some really emotional moments that make you feel such a raw connection to these characters and all they have survived. Both Alice and Jack have complex, unique personalities and are given their own voice by the author, something which I thought was fantastic.
A gripping, emotional story that will stay with me for quite some time.
About the Author
Natália Gomes grew up in a small village in the north-east of Scotland. She spent twelve years in the US working in public schools before returning to Scotland. Her debut YA novel ‘Dear Charlie’ was longlisted for Dublin’s International Literary Award in 2018 and her third book ‘We Are Not Okay’ was selected at Nottingham’s Big City Reads in 2019. She has appeared on author panels at London’s YALC, Dublin’s DeptCon and for reading campaigns such as Big City Reads. Natália has Master’s degrees in Education and Literature, and is working on her doctorate in English.
Follow her on Instagram @ndgomes and on Twitter @nd_gomes
*Thank you to Sian at HQ books and Natália Gomes for providing me with a gifted copy of this book in return for my honest review. All thoughts are entirely my own and not influenced in any way.*
Victoria Wilks 