A moving account of single fatherhood in the wake of bereavement, by the author of the international bestseller You Will Not Have My Hate

A moving account of single fatherhood in the wake of bereavement, by the author of the international bestseller You Will Not Have My Hate

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

Grief is a succession of transformations. You constantly change. This is what time does to everybody, in normal circumstances. But in this particular case, the changes happened more quickly. 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 discovering the joys of laundry to imagining the reviews he might receive as a parent, to dealing with the complicated emotions that arise around a new relationship, Antoine charts the course of their life together with remarkable humour and self-awareness. On a deeper level he discusses the difficultly of talking to small children about bereavement and the balance between trying to forget what we’ve lost and allowing ourselves to remember. 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.