The Beginning of After is a story of hope and healing from Jennifer Castle, a powerful new voice in teen fiction.
When Laurel’s family dies in a horrific car accident, she struggles to put her life back together. She is now connected to David Kaufman, who lives down the block, and who lost his mother in the same crash. Both of their lives change—but not in the ways that they thought…
Castle blends tragedy with romance, teen angst, and wit in The Beginning of After, a bittersweet, powerful debut novel that stands as a testament to how people can survive the unthinkable.
How do you start over when your world ends in a single night?
- A Bond Forged in Tragedy: When sixteen-year-old Laurel loses her family, the only person who understands is David—the boy from down the street who also lost his mother in the same fatal car crash.
- Survivor’s Guilt: Laurel can’t escape the thought that if she’d gone with her family to get ice cream that night, things might have turned out differently, and they might all still be alive.
- An Unlikely Romance: Estranged for years, Laurel and David are drawn back together by their grief, finding comfort and maybe something more in the last person they ever expected.
- Finding a New Normal: A story about navigating the overwhelming first year of After—from prom nights and SATs to learning how to live with an empty house and build a new future.
"Castle expertly guides the narrative through the various stages of grief, refusing to shrink away from even the most difficult areas, where life and death collide. An honest look at grief that is both achingly real and powerfully hopeful."
