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    After You: A Novel
    After You: A Novel
    After You: A Novel
    Audiobook10 hours

    After You: A Novel

    Written by Julie Buxbaum

    Narrated by Amber Sealey

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    The complexities of a friendship. The unexplored doubts of a marriage. And the redemptive power of literature...Julie Buxbaum, the acclaimed author of The Opposite of Love, delivers a haunting, gloriously written novel about love, family, and the secrets we hide from each other—and ourselves.

    It happened on a tree-lined street in Notting Hill to a woman who seemed to have the perfect life. Ellie Lerner’s best friend, Lucy, was murdered in front of her young daughter. And, as best friends do, Ellie dropped everything—her marriage, her job, her life in the Boston suburbs—to travel to London and pick up the pieces of Lucy’s life. While Lucy’s husband, Greg, copes with his grief by retreating into himself, eight-year-old Sophie has simply stopped speaking.

    Desperate to help Sophie, Ellie turns to a book that gave her comfort as a child, The Secret Garden. As the two spend hours exploring the novel’s winding passageways, its story of hurt, magic, and healing blooms around them. But so, too, do Lucy’s secrets—some big, some small—secrets Lucy kept hidden, even from her best friend. Over a summer in London, as Ellie peels back the layers of her friend’s life, she’s forced to confront her own as well: the marriage she left behind, the loss she’d hoped to escape. And suddenly Ellie’s carefully constructed existence is spinning out of control in a chain of events that will transform her life—and those around her— forever. A novel that will resonate in the heart of anyone who’s had a best friend, a love lost, or a past full of regrets, After You proves once again the unique and compelling talent of Julie Buxbaum.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
    Release dateAug 25, 2009
    ISBN9780307578181

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    Reviews for After You

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    • 5/5
      I read this book about two years ago, really liked it, and forgot about it until I read another book of Julie's.
    • 4/5
      Emotional roller coaster for Ellie after she loses her best friend.
    • 5/5
      After enjoying my first book I was really looking forward to seeing what the next of my books from Transworld's Summer Reading Challenge was going to hold. "After You" appears to be marketed towards the Jodi Picoult reading market, it comes complete with a quote from her on the front cover. I've read most of Jodi Picoult books so thought I'd probably enjoy this one too. I actually found it to be a more straightforward read than most Jodi Picoult, it was less focussed on issues and moral debates.

      "After You" tells the story of Ellie who travels from America to London when her best friend Lucy is murdered. Lucy leaves behind a husband and daughter, both of them are reeling from the loss. As Ellie begins to help them find their way forward she starts to realise that maybe their lives aren't the only ones that are broken.

      I thought this book was well written and very easy to get stuck into. I read it in two sittings, but if I'd started reading it earlier than I did I would probably have stayed with it until the end. The characters were all well crafted, I especially fell in love with Lucy's daughter Sophie, a bookworm whose thirst for knowledge has left her socially isolated. I loved the fact that all of the characters were there for a reason, they all had their own plotlines rather than being there simply for padding.

      I shall definitely be looking to read more by Julie Buxbaum.
    • 4/5
      Thought this was a great book although it dealt with some dark subject matters: murder, child witnessing a parent's murder, in utero death, adultery, abandonment, divorce, and the dysfunctional family. Ms. Buxbaum deals with all subjects in a respectful and sometimes humorous manner. The characters are unique and all have flaws making them appear all the more human. Each person is dealing with major issues but they are all resolved in a very realistic fashion. Loved the homage paid to THE SECRET GARDEN.
    • 4/5
      Ellie rushes to London after her best friend Lucy is murdered on the streets of Notting Hill. Lucy's husband Greg and their daughter Sophie both need Ellie to help them pick up the pieces of losing Lucy. Bound by her love for her friend and the heartbreak of Sophie's trauma, Ellie decides to stay in Notting Hill. The book explores grief, loss, love and the complications of marriage. The main character Ellie stands out because she has suffered loss before and hasn't dealt with that loss. You feel her pain over losing her best friend, her love for Sophie, and her loss of hope over her own marriage. A really wonderful book about starting over and finding hope again.
    • 4/5
      Very quick read. Not finished; so far so good.
    • 5/5
      This was such a beautiful real story. The characters were done so wonderfully you felt like you were a part of the family. I laughed, cried, had tender sad times, just an amazing emotional book. It is like the best Lifetime movie turned book you have ever read.

      The writing style is just perfection, I have never felt like I am in a book and know the characters, I enjoyed all of them, even with their not so likeable characteristics. And I loved that it was the American girl in an English household, the little differences made me smile.

      When Ellie gets locked up, I haven't laughed so much, you know the moment you don't know if you want to cry or laugh, it was like that, I'm giggling now even at the thought.

      Anyone that has dealt with grief, loss of a child, parent, best friend should read this, it was a magical story. And the use of the book The Secret Garden was touching, I am putting that on my TBR list when my daughter is older.

      I am quietly wow'd by this story, I can't explain it really. i think I will remember these characters for a long time. I would recommend this to all fans of Women's Fiction.
    • 4/5
      Eight-year-old Sophie has been left traumatised after witnessing the murder of her mother, Lucy, in the street near their London home. Sophie's reaction to the tragedy is simply to stop speaking. Lucy's best friend, Ellie Lerner, has travelled from America to London to try to help her goddaughter and she becomes determined to break through Sophie's self-imposed silence. Knowing how much Sophie loves reading books, Ellie decides to introduce her to one of her own childhood favourites - The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

      I was very unsure about this book at first; it looked very 'chick lit' and I'm not usually a fan of chick lit. So why did I want to read it, you might ask? Well, the plot sounded interesting and the Secret Garden connection piqued my curiosity (The Secret Garden was one of my favourite books when I was a child). It's nice to think that sharing a special book with someone can help them through a difficult time. I also learned a few interesting facts about the book - I never knew Frances Hodgson Burnett was inspired by the walled garden at Great Maytham Hall, for example.

      The author has given Sophie a well-developed personality of her own, making her a believable and endearing eight-year-old. She's a girl who prefers reading to playing games and as a result isn't very popular with other children her age; Ellie's own love of books helps her to form a bond with Sophie and watching their friendship develop was one of the highlights of the story.

      This book is not just about Sophie though. I was kept guessing how Ellie's own problems and relationships were going to resolve themselves, as it wasn't immediately obvious what was going to happen. As the main character and narrator, I didn't always agree with Ellie's actions but as the book progresses it becomes obvious that she is grieving too - and not just for Lucy - and is trying to work out what she wants from life. Another aspect of the book I found interesting was the way Ellie, as an American woman from Boston, had to adapt to the British culture and life in London.

      So, although this was not a book I would usually have chosen to read, I did enjoy it. It was a much more complex and emotional story than I had been expecting with some important messages about love, loss, relationships and family.
    • 4/5
      Julie Buxbaum grew up in New York, attended the University of Pennsylvania and also Harvard Law School. After many years practicing law she realized it just wasn't for her so she quit and started writing her first book, "The Opposite of Love".

      Her second book, "After You" is a poignant look at tragedy and the effects it has on the lives it touches. Ellie Lerner receives the call that her best friend, Lucy, has been killed in a robbery attempt and her 8 year old daughter, Sophie, witnessed the whole thing. Ellie jumps on the next plane to London, England to be there for her goddaughter. While helping Sophie cope with what has happened secrets Lucy has kept are brought to the forefront and Ellie is left to wonder just how well she knew her friend. Ellie's marriage is also on the rocks and her husband thinks she needs to come home and deal with their marriage. As everyone tries to heal some things get better, while others get worse. Sometimes tragedy, both old and new can bring people together or tear them apart.

      When I first began to read this book I felt it was moving a bit slow, but sometimes in order to convey the enormity of emotion felt, the author must move slowly. I feel this author did just that, working through the shock, pain, grief, guilt and anger to bring the reader closer to the story. The story is tragic and sad, but also straight out of life. This story could easily have been written about someone in your local paper. A story that those of us with children and/or Godchildren hope we never have to be in. This is not your happily ever after story, it is a sincere look at the aftermath of crime and the healing that takes place.
    • 3/5
      "I had one job for those forty weeks, to create a snow-globe world for my baby, and I somehow shattered the glass," writes Julie Buxbaum (pp.227-228). This is Ellie's secret burden, and I would argue it is part of what brings her across the Atlantic to comfort her best friend Lucy's husband and daughter after Lucy's tragic murder. The arc of healing, the little redemptive acts--these are what most interested me about the book.

      Ultimately, though, it seemed like too much going on: not just one falling apart marriage but two; not just a dead baby but also a dead parent; not just miscarriage but also murder; not just a woman who longed to be a mother but one who longed not to be one; throw all that together and sprinkle the conceit of The Secret Garden on top?
    • 5/5
      When Ellie's long time best friend Lucy is suddenly murdered in London, Ellie flies to England to support her 9 year old goddaughter, Sophie. To help Sophie overcome the tragedy, which has rendered her mute, Ellie starts reading "The Secret Garden" with her. As Sophie and her father start to recover, Ellie begins to examine her life and choices as she feels torn from the troubled marriage she has suddenly abandoned in America and her feelings of love and responsibility toward heartbroken Sophie. This novel was at times sad and thought-provoking and at other times witty and hilarious. It is a well-written novel that can make you feel the full spectrum of emotions. I had trouble putting this book down as I fell in love with all the characters, and by proxy, the author.
    • 3/5
      This was an interesting book from several angles. The incorporation of The Secret Garden into the plot added to the poignancy of a child dealing with the death of her mother. Her mother, Lucy, seemed to be shallow and self-absorbed judging from the memories of her husband and friend, in addition to the events directly preceding her death; however, the grief of her best friend and her daughter were very real. Ellie, the narrator and best friend, becomes a more mature person during the course of this book. I think it is a disservice to call it "chick lit" and I will definitely read Julie Buxbaum again.
    • 3/5
      Ellie Lerner mourns her best friend Lucy's death by dissecting Lucy's life. She hopes to discover how to attain true happiness. "After You," Julie Buxbaum's second novel, explores via Ellie's character, the truth behind her close friend's "perfect" life, while dealing with imperfections in her own.

      Buxbaum's characters are believable and she does a good job of engaging the reader in Ellie's quest for answers.
    • 4/5
      Though others have categorized this book as chick-lit, I think that underplays the emotional truths laid out in the narrative. When Ellie's friend Lucy is killed on an upscale London street right in fron of her daughter, Ellie rushes to London to help care for Sophie who has lapsed into silence to deal with her trauma. Ellie uses that classic tale The Secret Garden to reach out to Sophie much as her mother used it years before to reach out to Ellie in a time of grief. Over the course of the novel, Ellie comes to realize that Lucy's perfect life in London wasn't so perfect, and begins to address the problems in her own marriage that helped drive her out of the country.

      This book is features a compelling narrative that does founder a little toward the middle before recovering, but the emotional truths that Ellie comes to learn more than make up for that brief section. Definitely an excellent read that I for one found hard to put down. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      Wonderful, emotionally-charged, character driven story about loss, love and the power of the human spirit to adapt and change. You won't want to put it down.

      Publisher: On a cobblestone street in Notting Hill, Ellie Lerner's life-long best friend, Lucy, is stabbed to death in front of her eight-year-old daughter. Ellie, of course, drops everything - her job, her marriage, her life in the Boston suburbs - and travels to London to pick up the pieces of the life Lucy has left behind. While Lucy's husband, Greg copes with his grief by retreating to the pub, eight-year-old Sophie has simply stopped speaking.
      Desperate to help Sophie, Ellie turns to a book that gave her comfort as a child, The Secret Garden. As the two spend hours exploring the novel, its story of hurt, magic and healing blooms around them. But so, too, do the secrets Lucy kept hidden, even from her best friend. As Ellie peels back the layers of her friend's life, she's forced to confront her own as well - the marriage she left behind, the loss she'd hoped to escape, and the elusiveness of the place we choose to call home.
      A novel that will resonate in the heart of anyone who's had a best friend, a love lost, or a past full of regrets, AFTER YOU proves once again the unique and compelling talent of Julie Buxbaum.


      I thought this book was going to be fluff, finished quickly with no lingering attachments. I was wrong. This is an emotionally charged story filled with myriads of life-altering, painful events sure to test even the most stoic of individuals. Eight year-old Sophie's reaction to her mother's murder is an example of the emotionally taught, touching and relatable writing by Ms. Buxbaum. As Ellie supports and comforts Sophie and Greg, Lucy's husband, she struggles to cope with her own pain at losing her best friend. Ellie's grief forces her to confront her own actions, both recent and in her past. When nightmares ensue and secrets are revealed, relationships are questioned as well as what it is to feel secure and happy. The reader discovers that Ms. Buxbaum has written a complex and ultimately satisfying tale about loss, love, forgiveness and new beginnings.

      Ms. Buxbaum excels at creating some rich, complex, three-dimensional characters readers from all walks of life will find familiar. I was able to feel their pain, anger and their aggravations as well as relate to their times of joy. Several times I wanted to wrap my arms around Sophie and protect her, even read to her. I wanted to sit with Ellie over a cup of tea and commiserate while she tried to figure out her life and there were times I wanted to shake her! Ms. Buxbaum's characters dealt with real-life situations in realistic ways and the dialogue rang true, peppered with wry, sarcastic humor that offered welcome breaks from the tension in the story.

      Unfortunately, not all of Ms. Buxbaum's characters were developed as well as others. I regret not getting to know Ellie's husband, Phillip, and father, Christopher better. Though seemingly secondary characters, a better fleshing out would have helped the reader understand better Ellie's motivations and decisions. For example, one wonders why we aren't given more information and insight into the husband, who's role in Ellie's life is pivotal.

      A charming, yet ultimately unsatisfactory part of the book is when Ellie reads The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett with Sophie. Ellie hopes that Sophie will be able to "forget everything that has been lost and taken." for a little while, anyway. She introduces Sophie, an avid reader, to the book, counting on Burnett's magical story to distract Sophie and help her heal. The reader is reminded several times that Ellie and Sophie are reading The Secret Garden, otherwise it is seldom discussed beyond broad outlines. I expected that the reader would "hear" more about how the characters' story in The Secret Garden helped Sophie, and maybe Ellie, cope with their losses but that largely remained untold. I was disappointed that this wonderful book (if you've never read The Secret Garden, make sure you do!) didn't have a more substantial role in After You. .
    • 5/5
      When Ellie learns of her best friend’s, Lucy, tragic death, she puts her life on hold (including her own marital problems) to be with Lucy’s husband, Greg and daughter Sophie. As Ellie tries to cope with Lucy’s shortened life, she discovers Lucy’s hidden secrets that cause Ellie to question their friendship. After You is a book about personal healing after a loss. Whether it’s the death of a loved one, end of a relationship or the loss of innocence. After You explores the necessary steps to move forward and begin again where you are.
    • 4/5
      This is the story of how amazingly fast a life can change. One minute you’re living in a Boston suburb, the next you’ve gone to London, leaving behind your husband, your home and your job. You’ve found out your best friend has been murdered on a street in Notting Hill, right in front of Sophie, your best friend’s eight year old daughter.

      Thus begins the story of Ellie Lerner. Ellie is Sophie’s godmother and of course feels the need to rush to London to help her cope with her loss. But Ellie gives her husband back in Cambridge no idea if or when she might come home. She keeps insisting that Sophie needs her.

      This is very easy read with fascinating characters and a sharp, engrossing story. There were times that I just wanted to shake Ellie and ask her to look at what she was giving up. And although I found Ellie to be an extremely frustrating character, as her story unfolded, I came more and more to understand her choices and her decisions. The characters are very well drawn and believable. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well-told contemporary story.
    • 5/5
      wonderful book!
    • 4/5
      "The Secret Garden" was one of my favorite books when I was a little girl. The story of Mary, the little orphan girl, was one that all of us related to, even if we weren't orphans ourselves. Using this book as a healing tool, Julie Buxbaum's characters, Sophie and Ellie, are lead through the shock and grief of dealing with the murder of Sophie's mother and Ellie's best friend. Julie Buxbaum's writing is easy to read, and I related to her character, Ellie, as she dealt with not only the death of her best friend, but also of playing the role of mother to Sophie and dealing with a separation with her husband. Ms. Buxbaum weaves this tale, adding to it the background story of Ellie losing a baby and finding out her best friend carried secrets she hadn't shared. All-in-all, this book spoke of healing and finding peace in your life. It was more than enjoyable, and I will look for other books by this author to be enjoyed in the future.
    • 4/5
      After You didn't immediately hook me emotionally, though I WAS immediately intrigued by the plot. By the time I'd read about a quarter of the book though, my heart came along for the ride and I felt a connection with the characters that continued to deepen the more I read. These are fully fleshed out characters, glorious in all their human weaknesses and acts of rebellion and courage. At times I felt loving towards them, at times quite exasperated and that push and pull of emotions made the book seem all the more real. Even the dead woman, Lucy, was more alive and vibrantly written than the characters in most books. The relationship between Ellie and little Sophie was tender and so lovingly portrayed. The pain Ellie feels over her lost baby, Oliver, and the redemption and healing she receives from nurturing Sophie really touched me. The various marital relationships, actual, potential, and temporary all feel spot on in terms of the tensions, discord, ambivalence and deep, abiding love. In this book, as in life, there are no cut and dried answers, no easy cures. All the relationships are complex and bursting with life, even the relationship of the characters to books. I love how deeply Sophie and Ellie become enthralled with The Secret Garden and how that book itself becomes as integral a character as any of the human ones. The curative power of literature was a theme throughout After You. As a lifelong reader, that hit home. Bravo to Buxbaum!!! I will eagerly seek her other book, and hope for more to come. Thank you for selecting me as an early reviewer. I feel enriched for reading this book, and I know that at some point, perhaps on a cold, raw winter night, I'll turn again to its pages with a happy flutter in my heart.
    • 2/5
      The Secret Garden was one of my favorite books growing up and I loved how the author used it in the story. It was very moving and I enjoyed seeing how the characters developed throughout the story. From reading the cover and book description, I wasn't expecting the novel to be funny, but it was. I haven't read The Opposite of Love by Julie Buxbaum but I plan to get my hands on this book as soon as possible as I could barely put After You down!
    • 5/5
      Wonderfully written book about grief. Such a treat to read a sad story that ends with such a message of hope! The reader is immediately drawn into the lives of Sophie and Ellie - falling in love with their co--dependent relationship. The story continues at a great pace and is never predictable. In fact the author makes reference to a place in the book the could turn into a Hollywood movie cliche but doesn't. The story also highlights some great moments in historyfor the thirtysomething readers!! Really a great enjoyable read! Bravo!
    • 4/5
      About a hundred pages into this book, I was wondering how I got caught reading chick lit (nothing against chick lit) and one with a very unlikable main character. BUT somewhere along the way, I was pleasantly surprised by the turn the book takes and I found myself engrossed.

      Ellie's best friend Lucy has just been brutally murdered while walking her daughter to school. Ellie flies out to Notting Hill to comfort her husband Greg and daughter Sophie. She is overcome with grief at the death of her closest friend and she deals with her grief by wrapping herself in Sophie. They read The Secret Garden together as Ellie tries to get Sophie to begin speaking again, something she stopped doing after her mother's death, and as a way for Sophie to lose herself in a world outside of her present one that contains mostly grief and the violence of her mother's death.

      My problem with Ellie was that as admirable as her flying half way around the world to help her dead friend's family may have been, she abandons her husband under the guise of "Sophie needs me". I found myself rolling my eyes through at least 100 pages as it was hard to believe that this devotion to Sophie was totally selfless. There was something in there that felt very self centered and exceedingly selfish. What kind of person abandons their job and husband for an untold amount of time and expects everyone to just understand?

      But somewhere along the way as Ellie becomes more honest with herself, I began to understand her better and feel more compassionate toward her. It was obvious that she idolized her friend Lucy and in her mind Lucy had the perfect life: beautiful, rich and handsome husband, intelligent daughter, fabulous job and living in one of the best parts of London. But as Ellie begins to get a grip on the life she is loosing by her choices, she begins to examine herself and discover many things about her friend that she may never have allowed herself to see before now. Ellie begins to see how both she and her husband had lost themselves after the loss of their baby and despite living in the same house, they had become strangers to each other. This book tackles some very hard and compelling lessons about marriage and all relationships in general. While its not a "and they lived happily ever after" kind of end, it is hopeful and leaves the reader pondering it long after you are done.
    • 3/5
      This was a good book; I give it 3-1/2 stars. I enjoyed reading it, although I would not classify it as a must-turn-the-page-or-I'm-going-to-die-waiting-to-find-out-what-happens kind of book.

      It was a true-to-life story about the complexities and struggles so common in the family unit. I laughed, I cried, and I triumphed with the characters as they made progress with the things that haunted them the most. The book's premise, in my opinion, is that working toward redemption and finding forgiveness is essential to live a content life.

      The book also demonstrated to a point how society tends to believe that life is always greener on the other side, yet when we truly look into the depths of our soul, if we are willing to make a little effort, everything we've always wanted is right there in front of us.