The Beginning of After

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.

That was it.

The end of Before, and the beginning of After.

Sixteen-year-old Laurel's world changes instantly when her parents and brother are killed in a terrible car accident. Behind the wheel is the father of her bad-boy neighbor, David Kaufman, whose mother is also killed. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Laurel navigates a new reality in which she and her best friend grow apart, boys may or may not be approaching her out of pity, and overpowering memories lurk everywhere. Through it all there is David, who swoops in and out of Laurel's life and to whom she finds herself attracted against her better judgment. She will forever be connected to him by their loss—a connection that will change them both in unexpected ways.

Heart-wrenching and surprisingly witty, Jennifer Castle's debut novel is a testament to how drastically life can change in the span of a single moment.

“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.” - Kirkus Reviews

“This first novel takes some of its emotional clues from Gayle Forman’s breakout novel If I Stay (2009) and will be well received by Sarah Dessen fans.” - ALA Booklist

“The detailed writing and smart, realistically cool characters will be appealing to many girls. Offer this to teens who are waiting for the next Sarah Dessen book.” - School Library Journal