"It has been years since I have been so rocked, so moved, by any book, as I have been by Here After by the earthquaking new talent Amy Lin. Lin invites us into this place of exquisite pain and beauty; what a great gift she has given us."
—Lauren Groff, author of Fates and Furies
"Here After is a searing account of a young couple's lost future and a writer's descent into the soul-ravaging, shape-shifting wilderness of grief. Amy Lin writes with devastating clarity about the wounds that do not heal, the stories that remain forever fractured, and love's enduring force. This is a profound and essential memoir."
—Laura van den Berg, author of The Third Hotel
"Here After is perfectly titled. Amy Lin's memoir of love and loss is heartbreaking and true. Having navigated my own path through grief, there was much I could identify with within these pages. Lin's writing is vivid, episodic, and unflinching—much like grief itself."
—Shannon Leone Fowler, author of Traveling With Ghosts
"Amy Lin knows her way around grief and its constant present tense. Grief is always with us; here are words to go with it, a writer who will accompany you on its long walk. This book made room for my tears and it will make room for yours if you let it."
—Matthew Salesses, author of Craft in the Real World
“This book is a little wonder—a clear, utterly courageous act of love.” —ELLE
“If you’ve ever known loss so cataclysmic that you want not stories of hope or survival, but ones that cry out in their brokenness—if you are looking for a place to meet your own pain or perhaps feel less alone with it—Here After might be the companion you need.”
—Esquire
“As the author navigates the wake of her inexplicable loss, readers will be both humbled by and grateful for the way she brings us into her world. A beautifully visceral and emotionally intimate depiction of young widowhood.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Lin’s memoir dazzles. Each chapter breathes with urgency… The tension between immediacy and memory lends the book an etherealness despite its raw, human vulnerability…written in poetic, fragmented chapters that convey how deeply people want to find words for what’s wordless, to discover meaning in the meaningless.” —Library Journal (starred review)
“Told in short, poetic vignettes that stun in their depth, love, and pain. It's heartbreaking, beautiful, and above all, honest with . . . a small light of hope. Highly recommended.”
—Booklist (starred review)
"Lin's performance of her memoir, told in vignettes of meeting and losing Kurtis, is so staggeringly beautiful that it will break your heart... Lin teaches us, or reminds us, that sitting with someone in their sadness is far more helpful than a futile attempt to distract someone from their grief."
—Audiofile
"Amy Lin’s book is one of the best memoirs and books about grief that I’ve read."—Susan Blumberg-Kason, Cha Journal
"This is the kind of book you give to your friends, you give to your mother, to your sister. Hey I even gave it to my therapist! It helps understand all encompassing grief so well. I would hold my husband close at night every night. I would see how absolutely AWFUL it would be to lose my best friend. Her short tid bits made them even more impactful, because life is lived in moments. Loved it. Loved it. Get it. Gift it. Share it."
—Andrea Iriarte, Molly's Bookstore, Melrose, Massachusetts
