Isaac lives in solitude. Left by his wife some time ago, here he is now in the darkest mourning. Alone, in this big ghostly-looking house, he keeps the door that leads to the bedroom of his son, Daniel, closed. His only companion is Rufus, the family dog, who is getting older day by day. Isaac struggles to recover from this loss, which left a black hole in his heart. Quaker normally guided by the words and the love of God, here he is lost, lonely, devastated by grief.
Lorrie, her neighbor, struggles in silence. Overwhelmed by work, in addition to having recently resumed her studies, how to hold on after the suicide of her son? How to imagine that his Jonah could have committed such a violent, definitive act? Kill, then die—leaving behind a bitter aftertaste of incomprehension, pain, hatred?
When everything seems to be definitely broken, the unexpected: one evening, as the cold falls on the city, Evangeline appears. This young girl, barely 16 years old, lying under a garden tree, is found by Rufus and Isaac. The man, in front of this lost soul, offers him to stay with him for a while. Later, he learns that she is pregnant. Even more: Evangeline knew Daniel and Jonah, and was with them shortly before the tragedy. Could the child be his son’s, or his best friend’s?
Very simply, the arrival of the young girl awakens in him, as well as in Lorrie, the need to forgive. To move on, to live again. It is finally through this perfect unknown that they manage to emerge from the torpor of mourning, looking forward, accepting human nature in all its complexity.
The narration is fragmented into three points of view, which respond to each other in a surprising way. First, Isaac, an “I” who seeks to regain some semblance of normality in an existence that has ceased to make sense. An “I” who plunges into religion, spirituality, in the hope of obtaining the answers to his uncertainties.
Then, an Evangeline, “she”, who is afraid of love, afraid of bringing down the stone walls built around her heart. “She” who has not known a father, who is probably no longer loved by her mother. “She” who, inside her body, feels a life growing, growing, growing. Finally, Jonah’s thoughts on the last day of his life. “The day I died”, which he recounts with dizzying fragility.
This young man who grew up with a father who was made violent by alcohol, and who ended up killing himself in front of his whole family. A teenager convinced to carry within him a darkness that finally cast its cruel claws on Daniel, whom he loved so much. A darkness that he knows will resurface again and again will hurt those who are dear to him—and that he cannot accept.
What Comes After is a wonderful novel, powerful and human, which shows that healing, forgiveness, can take many forms. And spring from the most surprising sources.