Life After

An intense novel of loss, betrayal, and rising to face the ashes, Christy Award-winner Katie Ganshert's powerful contemporary fiction reminds readers that there's always a chance at new life and love. Autumn Manning is the sole survivor of a terrible tragedy on the El tracks in Chicago, but while the nation calls her "a miracle," the life she has known has ended. Her days are spent locked alone, in her apartment, away from family and friends, hiding from the world. Her only interest is in digging up information about the victims, the thirty others who lost their lives when she lived. A year after the event, Autumn is stirred to life again by twelve months of letters from eleven-year-old Mia Elliot, a hurting daughter trying to make sense of losing her mother in the tragedy. Autumn wants to see healing for Mia, and she wants to bring attention to all the victims, to bring their stories to life and for people to remember their legacies. James Elliot worries his daughter is slipping away, obsessed with her mother and a reclusive, damaged stranger. He just wants to move on, to keep the secrets of that day on the tracks buried and rebuild what's left of his family. Autumn's sudden interest in telling ghost stories can only cause trouble for the Elliots. Yet she is the only one who can reach Mia. Can they help each other and find healing for the deep wounds of heartache and betrayal?