After [Hardcover]

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2003

“A revealing, amusing book.”—San Jose Mercury News

“Naylor’s easy writing style keeps the story fresh. . . . A story of a likable man and his family, all of whom dearly miss the person who held them together.”—USA Today

“Popular fiction for intelligent readers, something always in short supply and always welcome.”—Washington Post Book World

Widower Harry is suddenly a single parent again, albeit of grown children. And women are pursuing him again. He is unprepared for any of this, and what results is amusing. Harry’s coping with parenthood and dating makes for an irreverent frolic.

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor is a recipient of a grant from NEA and winner of the Newbery Medal for Shiloh, a national bestseller.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Naylor's novel about 56-year-old Harry Gill's first year as a widower deals in the minutiae of daily life, focusing on the common but incontrovertibly human emotions surrounding death, marriage and family ties. Harry runs a garden shop in a Washington, D.C., suburb. When his wife dies of ovarian cancer, he grieves, but his grief is tempered with bouts of anger, exasperation and longing for other women. This longing is reciprocated. Neighbors, friends and even colleagues hurl themselves at Harry, who, although likable enough, seems to attract them simply because of his new status as an unattached man. Naylor, author of more than 80 books for young people and winner of the 1992 Newbery Medal for Shiloh, skips between an account of Harry's budding relationship with Iris, a 30-something boarder he takes in, and the dramas enveloping his children (one has marital problems; another struggles with a gambling addiction; a third lives with a partner he won't commit to, who's pregnant with their child). Naylor's concentration on the mundane makes for pretty dull reading, exacerbated by trite reflection ("He sat on the edge of his bed one Sunday morning, pulling on his socks and contemplating his golden years"). She spices things up with a little mystery, e.g., some minor vandalism (which turns out to be innocuous) and the discovery of a letter that says one of Harry's children isn't his own (which turns out to be fabricated). Still, readers grappling with the loss of a loved one may find solace in Naylor's unassuming tale.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

There aren't that many domestic dramas told from the older middle-aged male viewpoint, and Naylor's story of Harry Gill, who has lost his wife of 34 years to ovarian cancer, will appeal to readers of both sexes with its warm, candid depiction of love, grief, and community. Harry's goal is simple--"to survive the first year and show his grown children how it's done." He does that, even as he never denies his sadness. He returns to work in his Maryland neighborhood outside D.C., deals with his kids, hangs out at the local barbershop, fights off matchmakers, discovers secrets about his wife (or does he?), and begins to fall in love again. The appeal here is in the daily detail, as Harry mourns what he's lost, haunted by the intimate memories he can't relive with anyone else. This is, above all, a celebration of a happy marriage, and as such it represents quite a change of pace for celebrated children's author Naylor, whose Shiloh (1991) was a Newbery Medal winner. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Soho Press; First Edition edition (October 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569473544
• ISBN-13: 978-1569473542
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #138,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I guess I've been writing for about as long as I can remember. Telling stories, anyway, if not writing them down. I had my first short story published when I was sixteen, and wrote stories to help put myself through college, planning to become a clinical psychologist. By the time I graduated with a BA degree, however, I decided that writing was really my first love, so I gave up plans for graduate school and began writing full time.

I'm not happy unless I spend some time writing every day. It's as though pressure builds up inside me, and writing even a little helps to release it. On a hard-writing day, I write about six hours. Tending to other writing business, answering mail, and just thinking about a book takes another four hours. I spend from three months to a year on a children's book, depending on how well I know the characters before I begin and how much research I need to do. A novel for adults, because it's longer, takes a year or more. When my work is going well, I wake early in the mornings, hoping it's time to get up. When the writing is hard and the words are flat, I'm not very pleasant to be around.

Getting an idea for a book is the easy part. Keeping other ideas away while I'm working on one story is what's difficult. My books are based on things that have happened to me, things I have heard or read about, all mixed up with imaginings. The best part about writing is the moment a character comes alive on paper, or when a place that existed only in my head becomes real. There are no bands playing at this moment, no audience applauding--a very solitary time, actually--but it's what I like most. I've now had more than 120 books published, and about 2000 short stories, articles and poems.

I live in Bethesda, Maryland, with my husband, Rex, a speech pathologist, who's the first person to read my manuscripts when they're finished. Our sons, Jeff and Michael, are grown now, but along with their wives and children, we often enjoy vacations together in the mountains or at the ocean. When I'm not writing, I like to hike, swim, play the piano and attend the theater.

I'm lucky to have my family, because they have contributed a great deal to my books. But I'm also lucky to have the troop of noisy, chattering characters who travel with me inside my head. As long as they are poking, prodding, demanding a place in a book, I have things to do and stories to tell.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable and Real, December 15, 2003

By 

Paula D. Matuskey (Ellicott City, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: After (Hardcover)

I live in the Washington, DC area, so I loved the locale of the book, recognizing the names of the streets and stores. But what I really loved is the plot--that of following a widower coming through his grief. So often men die first. The story of a man surviving, and then finding a new life is really refreshing. And there are enough false starts in the story, as he finds his way, both with his children and with friends, that the story line flows quickly. A number of years ago, I read this author's non-fiction book, Crazy Love, and I was sorry to see that her other writing was primarily for youngsters. She has done a great job with this new book. I'll look for more from her.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Illuminating, October 31, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: After (Hardcover)

How wonderful to see first-rate fiction written from a middle-aged point of view that's neither sappy nor faux-hip. This is a beautifully told story of love, loss and renewal. I was suspicious that Naylor, best known as a children's writer, might not be up to the task, but she manages beautifully. Highly recommended as a good read...but with considerable depth as well. Try this one. You won't regret it.

4.0 out of 5 stars "popular fiction for intelligent readers", July 31, 2007

By 

Rosamond1 (Tidewater, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: After (Hardcover)

I've been a fan of Naylor's since reading her "K-Mart realism" novel, Unexpected Pleasures years ago. Although primarily a children's author, Naylor's written a handful of adult novels of which this is one of the best. After tells the story of the first 12 months of a 56-year-old man's adjustment to being a widower.

The novel begins the day after Harry Gill's much loved wife's funeral and Naylor takes us through some difficult but deftly rendered territory. She gets a lot right in this novel: the debilitating disorientation of the newly bereaved, the ineffectiveness of well-meaning friends and family members attempts to comfort, the overwhelming sense of aloneness felt by the remaining spouse, the insistence of daily living that keeps the bereaved functioning, and the inextricable connection between sexuality and death.

In spite of the subject matter, this book is by no means a downer. There's a lot of amusing and irreverent humor in it. Harry may be drowning in grief but there's too much going on around him he can't ignore, including a daughter whose husband "disappears" the day after the funeral, a son who's running from loan sharks, a crazy invitation he makes to a sensual neighbor woman, a statue of the Virgin Mary at his statuary repair shop that's "weeping" from one eye--and the discovery of a secret about his wife that forces him to re-examine everything he ever assumed about her and their marriage.

This is a good novel for summer reading. Well written with an intriguing plot and an adult look at something many of us will have to face someday. The Washington Post called After, "popular fiction for intelligent readers, something always in short supply and always welcome." I heartily agree.