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Life, After

Antoine Leiris author Sam Taylor translator

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Vintage Publishing

Published:10th Feb '22

Should be back in stock very soon

This hardback is available in other editions too:

Life, After cover

'A beacon of hope in a dark world' Cathy Rentzenbrink, on international bestseller You Will Not Have My Hate

A moving account of single fatherhood in the wake of bereavement.


When Antoine Leiris lost his wife, Hélène, in a terrorist attack in Paris, he was left to care for their baby alone. In this wry and honest book Antoine talks about how they have both fared since that terrible day.

Grief is a succession of transformations. Four years later, I am no longer the same man. The same is true for Melvil. He isn't a baby anymore, but a happy little boy.

Life, After follows a single father learning how to create a happy home for his son. From imagining the reviews he might receive as a parent, to dealing with the complicated emotions that arise around a new relationship and talking to children about bereavement, Antoine charts the course of their life together with remarkable humour and self-awareness.

At times heartbreaking and at times vibrating with the joy of the companionship of a lively little boy, Life, After finds a way to answer the question 'How can I go on?'

That is when it begins. Life, after.

Powerful and revealing... a heartbreaking study in the unconscious denial that so often attends traumatic loss -- Matt Rowland Hill * Guardian *
A figure of hope...the portrayal of an everyday struggle to come to terms with loss and with single-parenthood. * The Times *
An astonishing feat... I defy anyone not to shed tears at least once when reading this book * Sunday Times, on You Will Not Have My Hate *
A book for our times * Guardian, on You Will Not Have My Hate *
Heartbreaking and beautifully written * Daily Mail on You Will Not Have My Hate *

ISBN: 9781787302631

Dimensions: 207mm x 138mm x 20mm

Weight: 264g

192 pages